Kentucky school shooting lawsuit dismissal upheld

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> <br> The suit claimed the makers of video games, a pornographic Web site and a movie studio were to blame for Michael Carneal&#39;s actions. <br> <br> The Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati found that it was (in the court&#39;s word) ``simply too far a leap from shooting characters on a video screen to shooting people in a classroom.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In its unanimous ruling Tuesday, the court upheld a lower court&#39;s ruling that dismissed the case. The lower court had noted the companies couldn&#39;t have known that someone would commit such a crime after playing the games or viewing the movie or Web site. <br> <br> 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.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/8/201976