ELYRIA, Ohio- A judge on Monday convicted a teenager who shot and killed his mother and wounded his clergyman father over a video game dispute.
Defense attorneys for 17-year-old Daniel Petric didn't contest that Petric shot his parents in October 2007, but insisted that the boy's youth and video game addiction made him less responsible.
But Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Burge said that was not a defense and there was evidence of prior calculation and planning.
Petric was convicted of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and other charges. He faces a maximum possible penalty of life in prison without parole. The judge didn't set a sentencing date.
Prosecutors said Petric planned to kill his parents because he was angry that his father would not allow him to play the video game "Halo 3," in which players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth.
During the trial, deputy prosecuting attorney Anthony Cillo described Petric as a cold, calculating killer who plotted to murder his parents, Mark and Susan Petric, and make it appear to be a murder-suicide by putting the gun in his father's hand.
Cillo referred to a report produced by the defense in which juvenile psychologist Steven Neuhaus said that Petric said he had planned the murders for a week.
Defense Attorney James Kersey had said Petric was obsessed with the "Halo" series of video games, which he played 18 hours a day when he had the chance. Petric used his father's key to open a lockbox and remove a 9 mm handgun and the game.
Mark Petric, who is a minister at New Life Assembly of God in Wellington, testified that his son came into the room and asked: "Would you guys close your eyes? I have a surprise for you."
The father testified that he expected a pleasant surprise. Then his head went numb from a gunshot. His wife, Susan, 43, died of gunshot wound to the head.
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