PADUCAH - A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a $33 million lawsuit that sought to place indirect blame for the 1997 shooting spree at Heath High School in which three students died. <br>
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The suit claimed the makers of video games, a pornographic Web site and a movie studio were to blame for Michael Carneal's actions. <br>
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The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found that it was (in the court's word) ``simply too far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom.'' <br>
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In its unanimous ruling Tuesday, the court upheld a lower court's ruling that dismissed the case. The lower court had noted the companies couldn't have known that someone would commit such a crime after playing the games or viewing the movie or Web site. <br>
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The appeals court also said the content of the video games, movie and Internet site are protected by the First Amendment right to free expression.
