Dustin Lynch's mug shot
Posted on 12/12/2003 12:20:53 AM PST by yonif
Though an alleged teen killer claims a popular violent video game had nothing to do with his murdering a young girl, the victims father and others are convinced Grand Theft Auto III inspired the boy to bludgeon and stab his friend to death.
Dustin Lynch's mug shot
Dustin Lynch allegedly stabbed JoLynn Mishne in the side with kitchen knife after bashing her with a bedpost. Her father, Mickey, found her in a pool of blood on her bed with a pile of clothes heaped on top of her.
The then-15-year-old Lynch, a runaway, had been staying with the Mishnes in Medina, Ohio, for about a week after JoLynn, a high-school junior, begged her father to let him stay with the family, the Cleveland Scene weekly reports.
During his week's stay with the Mishnes in the fall of 2002, Lynch reportedly played the video game GTA III for hours at a time. It is a violent crime fantasy in which players earn rewards for assaults, carjackings, and murder, the Scene reports. The game has been highly successful, winning numerous game-of-the-year honors and becoming the best-selling game of 2001.
The violent nature of the game and critics' contention that youthful players act out what they see has fingered GTA III in the Lynch case.
'Grand Theft Auto Vice City' sizzles with violence (Rockstar Games)
In October, attorney and activist Jack Thompson filed a $246 million lawsuit against Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., GTA III designers Take-Two Interactive Software and Rockstar Games, and Wal-Mart, in connection with a Tennessee case in which two teenage stepbrothers killed one person and injured another by shooting rifles at passing motorists, the Scene reported. The teens claimed GTA III as inspiration.
"I think the video game industry is about as evil as any entity in America is," Thompson told the paper. "I'm out to take their money from them – and it's blood money, in some of these instances – and give it to the people who have been harmed by them."
Thompson contacted JoLynn's father, Mickey Mishne, upon hearing about the girl's murder. After learning about the game and recalling Lynch's behavior, Mishne became convinced the boy was inspired by GTA III. Lynch's favorite GTA III murder weapon reportedly was the baseball bat.
Mishne likely will be a part of a civil suit targeting GTA III.
"We are on a crusade," he told the paper. "We'd like to see everybody who has one of the [games] turn them in, like they do with rifles and pistols. We want to put them out of business."
Dustin Lynch, sitting in jail awaiting his murder trial, recently responded to several written questions from the Scene.
When asked why he killed JoLynn, Lynch responded, "I killed JoLynn for my own personal satisfaction. I yearn to see blood, it's a need or an addiction and also a fetish. I'm just obsessed with it all."
Though Lynch could possibly benefit from claiming he was a victim of the video game, he is denying that's the case.
"Old man Mishne and whomever else believes that GTA III influenced me to brutaly [sic] kill JoLynn ... they are all idiots!" Lynch wrote to the Scene. "I killed JoLynn Mishne for my own personal satisfaction, not because of a video game," adding that he "did her a favor and satisfied all my needs while doing it!"
Lynch, now 17, claims to have begun thinking about murder at an early age: "Ever since I was 6 years old, I've wanted to kill someone," he wrote. The teen claims to have killed 35 people, though there is no evidence backing up his assertion.
The alleged killer is scheduled to face trial as an adult on Jan. 12 and faces up to 30 years in prison without the possibility of parole.
"The only people I care about is Adolf Hitler and myself! Heil the fuehrer! Hitler is God!" he wrote to the paper.
The young man says he's not afraid of prison, hoping to get his high-school diploma and write a book while there.
"I might be small, but I know how to handle my business," he writes. "I'm a 'Lynch,' it runs through [our] blood. Just like jail!"
Lynch claims he'd like to be executed eventually.
"When my book is complete and I'm ready, I'm going to kill someone else so that I can get the death penalty. I took so many lives and I'm just curious to know what it's like to be dead. Is there an 'after life'? etc. I want to die by lethal injection. I think that is better than any other method (ex. – killing myself, or by some horrible death). …"
The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports Lynch's mother, Jerrilyn Thomas, says in the past two months, her son has attempted suicide at the jail, refused to cooperate with his attorney, wrote incriminating letters to Mickey Mishne and stopped communicating with her.
Asked if he was disturbed, Lynch wrote to the Scene: "I AM NOT DISTURBED AT ALL! Like I said, I have certain needs, desires and a fetish. Cutting myself is a fetish. I feel so powerful when I do it, kind of like I'm on coke. Each slice I take is like hooting another line! I'm fascinated by the sight of blood, and when I'm locked up the way I am the only blood I can get is my own."
Great, so now we can be defenseless and bored.
This kid actually opening admits and takes responsiblity for killing this girl and everyone else involved still want to blame something else.
Yes this kid deserves to go to jail, BUT everyone else involved needs to be locked into an insane asylum for life.
"I think the video game industry is about as evil as any entity in America is," Thompson told the paper. "I'm out to take their money from them ? and it's blood money, in some of these instances ? and give it to the people who have been harmed by them."
Thompson contacted JoLynn's father, Mickey Mishne, upon hearing about the girl's murder.
I wonder if Mr. Thompson has ever read the Model Rules of Professional Conduct?
What is this kid, some bizarro reincarnation from 1962? Anybody search his room/car for a flux capacitor?
We ought to do this sick little f*ckhead a favor and remove him from the gene pool - with extreme prejudice!
I'm afraid the whole thing may have to be euthanized. I'm so very sorry.
Amazing what video games can do these days.
"Oh dad, please...PLLEEEAAASSEEEE let this runaway boy that we dont know come live with us...whats the worst that could happen?"
jesus...I hope charges are filed against the father
Veteran Freepers remember Jack Thompson, who registered at FR in 1998 and incessantly posted his baseless accusations that Janet Reno (to whom he lost a DA election in Florida) was a habitual drunk driver whose violations were covered up, and that she was captured on videotape frolicking with call girls.
He eventually started carping that he also had inside knowledge about Senator Dan Burton cheating on his wife with an assistant -- again, without a shred of evidence (which didn't stop the MSNBC.com gossip columnist from publishing the quasi-rumor). He castigated Freepers (like myself) who said he should shut his trap if all he's got is his word and no on-record sources, and his furious retorts finally ired Jim Robinson enough to delete his threads. That just made him madder, and he started baiting JimRob by accusing him of censorship. He was then banned outright, leading him to join the forces of the Washington Post Group and the L.A. Times Company in their suit against Jim and FR. As you know, FR survived the media giants attempts to kill it.
Jack will continue to pop up whenever some post-pubescent video game-playing loser kills someone. He's the go-to guy for media attention on the violent games.
He certainly sounds like he had a screw loose. He was a runaway, this is what happens when transients are brought into a house. Yes I know that the daughter vouched for him. When I was in high school a parent wouldn't let a member of the opposite sex stay over for weeks at a time. That is something straight out of tv (Facts Of Life?). If he left or someone else threw him out, that is a danger sign.
The main task as I recall was to shoot different still and moving objects (like a shooting gallery) but the bonus rounds were set in a torture dungeon and the shooter would sadisticly shoot off bits of flesh of imprisoned live humans.
This was the most sadistic and graphic video game I ever saw. As bad as it was, I have not heard any crimes attributed to this hideous machine.
Chiller was the most infamous arcade game ever. The main point of this game is to shoot helpless humans in the most gory manner possible. It is amazing that this game somehow slipped past the watchdogs back in 1986. I envy you. I never saw a real one. I have the game on my computer though. Yeah, I'm REALLY into it!
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