(male announcer) In the criminal justice system,
sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous.
In New York City, the dedicated detectives
who investigate these vicious felonies are members
of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit.
These are their stories.
Took longer than I thought.
Yeah, I had a little problem I had to straighten out.
I'm on Broome and Wooster. You got anything close?
All right, but hurry up, because I'm absolutely freezing.
[tires screech]
Unh!
[thud]
[groans]
(man on cell phone) Hello? Melody?
[moaning]
[car door opening and closing]
Melody?
[approaching footsteps]
What do we got?
Female, late 20s, no ID, no purse,
and not a whole lot of clothes.
Night desk said she was run over?
This is the first hit-and-run rape I've ever seen.
Car drives up onto the sidewalk.
She's standing right here when she gets hit.
Impact smashes her right knee, knocks her down.
She falls off to the side.
She left a trail of blood.
Some of the spots have been smeared.
Looks like she tried to crawl.
He only lets her get this far.
Perp came after her?
Car skids to a stop, perp gets out,
rips off her clothes, and takes her purse.
Wow.
He rape her here or somewhere else?
I don't know.
But this is where he beat her to death.
And no one to hear her cry for help.
Who called it in?
911. Anonymous.
Latifah took the call.
It came from a payphone uptown, quarter after midnight.
Okay, here's what I got.
(Latifah on phone) Police dispatch, what is your emergency?
(man on phone) There's been an accident. Corner of Broome and Wooster.
Pedestrian struck.
(Latifah) Where are you calling from, sir?
(man) I think she's hurt. Send a bus.
(Latifah) And that's it.
Payphone's at nine-seven and Lexington.
Thanks, Doll.
"Pedestrian struck. Send a bus."
Sounds like cop talk.
How does a cop on the Upper East Side
know about an accident downtown?
Unless he's the one who ran her over.
That's our Jane Doe. Rape exam found fluids.
M.E.'s running the DNA.
Anything off the canvass?
No, that area's pretty isolated at night.
She was hit below the knee,
so we figure it was a sports car.
Any forensics?
Black paint fragments. Lab's analyzing.
So...
here is our crime scene.
And here's the payphone where the 911 call was made.
Now, the 2-7 is the closest precinct,
but they had no mobile or foot patrols
anywhere near that phone. CSU's dusting for prints.
Maybe our guy was off duty.
I'll check with personnel for a list of cops
with black sports cars.
The body is covered with deep bruises
and puncture wounds.
He beats the crap out of her and then stabs her
with something like a screwdriver.
Either he was on PCP, or this is personal.
Stabler.
You want to go public, Captain?
If nothing pans out, we may have to.
When does your homicide course start?
Ah, two hours ago.
Get going.
Fin, you run this with Eliot.
Captain?
Crime lab's got something on the payphone.
(O'Halloran) Hundreds of prints all over the phone box.
Normally takes days to check,
but our caller made the job easier.
Handset's been wiped clean.
Fits our theory the guy's a cop.
He tried to get rid of the evidence.
Except he screwed up.
He cleaned the phone,
but he left a perfect index print
on the disconnect button.
Which gave us a ten-point match
to a member of the NYPD.
Tony Nasreddin, NYPD.
Temporarily assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
Her guy knows what happened last night,
but Lieutenant Moore's hiding him behind
some national security crap.
My guy doesn't know anything.
He made the 911 call.
He broke cover and every rule in the book
to make that call.
The Feds find out, and they'll have his detail.
(Kragen) You said he broke cover.
You were doing surveillance.
I can't say.
But he saw what happened?
He didn't see anything.
So he must've heard something.
Believe me, I'm sorry about your victim,
but I've gotta look at the big picture.
Take a look at ours.
That woman was run over, raped, beaten.
Please, just let us talk to Nasreddin.
[sighs] He's all we've got.
All right, I'll help you.
But this cannot go public or be used at trial. Agreed?
Agreed.
(Moore) We're running surveillance
on a crooked Filipino businessman who wires funds
to charities in the Far East who are known
to support terrorist groups.
Tony Nasreddin, Lori Anglin: Detectives Stabler and Tutuola.
What's this Filipino guy got to do with our case?
We've tapped all his phones.
Caught him having a conversation
with one of his... employees.
(man's voice) Hey, where've you been?
(Melody) Took longer than I thought.
I had a little problem I had to straighten out.
I'm on Broome and Wooster. You got anything close?
(man) Client in Chelsea. Want the address?
(Melody) All right, but hurry up, 'cause I'm absolutely freezing.
She's a hooker.
Our perp must have taken her cell phone too.
(man) Melody? It's 374 21st Street--
[crash]
(man) Hello? Melody? Melody?
[door creaking open]
(perp) That's a pretty name. Like music.
(man) Who's this? Where is she?
(perp) She can't come to the phone right now.
Now she wants to play with us.
[dial tone] That's it.
I knew something had gone bad.
I had to call it in.
Whoa, her pimp's cold.
Hears one of his girls get taken out
and doesn't do squat.
We want his name and a copy of that tape.
His name's Eddie Shaw.
(Eddie) Hold on!
I am busy. Come back later.
What the hell you doing?
We want to talk to you about one of your girls.
I don't have girls. Import/export only.
You running a prostitution service.
No. Companionship only.
My ladies are very intelligent, very respectable.
This lady's dead. Who is she?
Never seen her before.
Okay.
What do you say I call Vice, the IRS, and Immigration,
they come down here and beat up on your ass?
Okay, okay, I'll tell you. She's Melody Quinn.
She was Melody Quinn. She working last night?
Escort only. No sexual services.
We need a client list.
That's confidential.
Okay, you know? Fine.
You're gonna rot in jail until you remember.
Okay.
She have a boyfriend?
No. She was studying.
Uh, wanted to be a broker in Wall Street.
Here. 8:30 p.m. First client was Mr. Prasad.
Mr. Prasad!
Were you screwing this woman last night?
She visited my apartment.
We need you to provide a DNA sample.
As long as you don't tell my wife.
She was out of town last night,
and I gave in to temptation just once.
Really? The agency says you were
one of Melody's regulars.
You got a car?
(man) I don't have to answer that.
I hired Melody for a dinner date.
We didn't have sex.
You know, I didn't break the law.
And you can't prove that I did.
She's dead.
You were the last man with her,
so your DNA's gonna be all over her.
It might even prove you murdered her.
Okay, okay. We had sex.
But she was alive when she left, I swear.
What kind of car you drive?
Lincoln Navigator.
None of Melody's clients had access to a black sports car.
The fact that she's a hooker
explains the fluids in the rape kit.
You think she wasn't raped?
Hard to prove either way.
Cast the net wider, all her Johns.
Her parents are coming in from Detroit to ID the body.
Talk to them too.
What about the JTTF tape?
(Fin) TARU's still working on it.
Oh, Kathy dropped him off about five minutes ago.
Said she couldn't wait.
Dickie's staying with me for a few nights.
Say, kiddo! Stop looking at that stuff.
Is that woman dead?
Yes, she is.
How'd she die?
She was hit by a car.
An accident? No.
The car drove up on the sidewalk.
Did they take her money?
Yeah, they did. Let's get something to eat.
I bet they beat her up too.
Why would you say that?
It's just like the game, isn't it?
What game?
NtenCity.
Cap, Fin, have you ever heard of a game called NtenCity?
I'm driving along, okay?
I see a woman, so... I run her over.
Where did you learn this?
Everyone plays it.
I get out of the car.
(game character) Hey, baby, where you goin'?
Now, to get her money, I have to knock her out.
Make sure she can't fight back.
(game character) Where do you think you're goin', bitch?
Unh!
Got her. Now I gotta get the purse.
(game character) I said stay down!
Yeah. Gimme that!
Got me some more cheddar.
Look, my money supply just went up.
[turns off game]
They got the idea from the game.
Remember the voice on the tape?
"She can't come to the phone right now.
She wants to play with us."
Somebody's playing for real.
A lot of psychologists think there's a correlation
between violent crimes and media violence,
especially games.
Do you believe that?
I can think of a dozen murders in which computer games
were alleged to have influenced the killers.
Columbine's the obvious example.
Do you have any suspects?
No, we checked out family, friends, and clients.
Everybody has alibis.
So she could have been a random target.
That's an awful lot of rage to take out
on someone you don't know.
Unless the computer game contributed to the rage.
You got any pointers to help us find our player?
Your average gamer's probably male,
anywhere from 10 to 50 years old.
Thanks, Doc.
And if he's an NtenCit junkie,
he might want to brag about what he's done.
Who makes this crap?
(man) Yeah, I designed NtenCity. What's up?
Someone went out and imitated it.
Not again.
We got lawsuits coming out of our asses.
Every month some moron blames us for some crime
some other moron committed.
You don't seem too concerned.
Our games are cartoons. They're fun.
If a couple of idiots take them too far,
that's not our problem.
Well, it is now.
This woman was run down two nights ago
and beaten to death, just like in the game.
Jeez, lighten up, will ya?
That sequence was an Easter Egg.
A what?
That's a hidden treat players can access
for extra fun.
You're not as old as you look.
Come here.
So you're playing the game, okay?
And you see something anomalous.
Maybe a glow on the wall, a doorway.
You go through and you get something extra.
A weapon, money, maybe another cool sequence.
Who knows about the Easter Eggs?
Everybody.
You go online and the fan sites will tell you
where the Easter Eggs are hidden.
On these fan sites,
anybody talking about a woman being attacked?
We're about to launch NtenCity 2.
I don't have time to go trolling on fan sites.
I do. Move over.
That was Stabler. You stay and play. All right.
Cause of death was a subdural hematoma,
but she suffered before she died.
There were 42 points of impact
on her chest, back, arms, and head.
Guy's fists must be chopped meat.
I doubt it.
These bruises were caused by a man's shoe,
kicking and stomping.
Probably a size nine.
What about the puncture wounds?
They were a puzzle.
I had to cut the wounds out so I could dissect them.
This is your weapon.
Not my normal work gear,
but it's the annual M.E.'s dinner tonight.
Stiletto heels?
A woman stomped Melody?
Was there another woman's voice on that task force tape?
(perp) She can't come to the phone right now.
Now she wants to play with us.
That's a guy's voice.
But if I filter the background noise
and EQ the vocal spectrum,
we get this.
(perp) She wants to play with us.
(woman) Her jacket.
[rewinding tape]
(woman muffled) Dig her jacket.
That's a female's voice.
And they killed her for her clothes?
No, they were playing a game.
Munch has got something.
All right. Thanks.
Some geek wrote a new scene in the game
you can download off the net.
It first appeared late last night.
Here it is.
Okay, same old same old.
You run her over,
get out, kick her a couple of times, and then...
Watch this. Here's the new scene.
He tears her blouse off.
Cool, huh?
The detail about ripping her clothes off
was never released.
(Munch) Son of a bitch knew exactly what happened.
So, which one of you guys made this?
It can only be one person, a programmer named Stu Davis.
Why only him?
Well, Stu used to work here.
I had to fire him
'cause he snuck copulating bunny rabbits
into a children's game we make.
But we kept him on as a tester.
So he knows how to modify the game?
Oh, yeah.
Where's Stu live?
(Stu) Sorry, I don't know any murdered women.
Somebody dropped a little sequence about her
into NtenCity. Wasn't me.
We hear you're the only guy that could do it.
Well, you heard wrong.
Stuart Davis, this is a warrant
to search your apartment and computers.
Ow! Damn!
Out of my way.
You know, if you guys just tell me
what you're looking for, I'll help.
Yeah, help erase it.
Uh, here's something.
Email sent yesterday morning.
Hey, you know what? That's my private stuff!
You're not supposed to look--
Shut up!
"Spielmeister,
"wanna make NtenCity real Ntense?
Check out The Ledger page seven."
Will ya look at this?
And it's turned right to page seven.
"Mystery Woman Killed in Hit and Run."
Listen to this.
"Cops held back
"chick was half naked.
How about a game update."
L-M-A-O.
L-M-A-O?
Shorthand: Laughing My Ass Off.
That's funny.
Who sent you the email?
I have no idea, okay?
I get requests from goofballs every day.
You always do what goofballs ask?
If they pay well enough, yeah.
Got an email address?
Just a screen name: Lewddude.
Can you track it?
Larry Tauber, Police!
(Fin) Nobody's here.
Here's a picture of Lewddude.
All right. Get that out there.
El, maybe the guy couldn't stop playing.
Yeah, or partying.
A woman's purse.
It's Melody Quinn's driver's license.
Genius really knows how to cover his tracks.
He didn't go too far.
Genius forgot his car keys.
Little black sports car.
Registered to Larry Tauber.
Blood and skin. We'll test it.
(radio) Unit six? O'Halloran.
SVU there? Yeah, they're here.
Tell them we got their guy. Spring and ten.
They found your guy. Ten blocks away.
Heard the call go out. It's your guy.
ID was in his pocket.
Looks like he was run over, then beaten to death.
Larry Tauber.
Someone's playing the game again.
Cause of death was massive head trauma
and multiple fractures,
but Larry Tauber wasn't murdered.
Suicide.
He sustained one blow to the head
from a sharp metal object.
CSU found blood and brain matter on the edge of the dumpster.
Remember that scaffolding?
He must've jumped off of it and hit the dumpster.
Any evidence he was pushed?
Not from the trajectory of the fall,
and there were no defensive wounds or torn clothes.
But his blood alcohol level was four times the legal limit.
Killed himself out of drunken remorse.
What he did to that girl, I'm not shedding any tears.
DNA proves his car ran her down,
but I don't think he killed her.
His feet are size 11.
Shoes that kicked Melody to death were size 9.
So he goes ten blocks to kill himself.
What's wrong with his own roof?
I can't answer that, but I can tell you
what he was doing before he jumped.
See the glitter on his pants?
Known in the trade as booty dust.
Larry had himself one last lap dance
before he took the plunge. [sighs]
Well the only strip clubs around that alley
are by the West Side Highway.
Yeah, I know. Can you believe it?
Police. Ladies, can we get a minute?
That all you need, honey?
Either one of you recognize him?
Yeah, I do. He was here last night.
Remember the sad dude?
He was literally crying in his beer.
His friend tried to cheer him up
with a couple bottles of Dom.
His friend?
Good-looking kid.
Too young to be at the club, but guess his ID was okay.
You got security cameras?
Yeah, but they're like the plumbing,
don't work.
Did you hear anything these guys were talking about?
Not really.
Younger one even paid for me to give sad eyes a lap dance,
but it was like raising the dead,
if you know what I mean?
Okay, we're gonna need you ladies to come down
to the precinct and talk to a sketch artist.
How many people do you put at the crime scene?
Maybe three.
Unidentified male, unidentified female,
and Larry Tauber.
Now, we got two possibilities.
Either Tauber made the kids take part--
Why do you say they're kids?
The voices sounded young.
18, 19.
Tauber's nearly 30.
So he led them into the crime,
and then killed himself out of guilt.
Or, he's the patsy. Kids used him.
His apartment, his computer, his car.
Maybe used him to buy drugs, alcohol.
Can you prove any of that?
Look, Tauber left Melody's purse in plain sight.
He didn't even bother to fix his car?
It's like he wanted to get caught.
But he's dead, so he can't tell us.
(Fin) But the car can.
The crime lab ran tests on it.
The driver's side door gives off a weird metallic creak
that's audible on the task force tape.
They tracked each set of footsteps.
They're 95% certain that the guy that got out the driver's door
is the same one that picked up Melody's phone
and talked on the tape.
His voice wasn't Tauber's.
They're also pretty sure that only two people
got out of that car.
And the second one was wearing high heels.
So Tauber just stayed in his car?
And did nothing while a helpless woman
was brutally murdered.
I'm sorry, but "95% certain" and "pretty sure"
don't add up to beyond a reasonable doubt.
(Stabler) Look. If these kids were using Tauber,
somebody must have seen them together.
As soon as the pole dancers are done,
canvass Tauber's neighbors.
Try this first.
Day after the murder, Tauber received 12 calls
from a cell phone belonging to one Louise Karnaki.
17 years old.
Larry's a loser.
I don't hang with him anymore.
(Fin) Then why call him so often?
Dunno. See how he's doing?
Not too good. He's dead.
Oh, my God...
poor Larry.
Where were you three nights ago?
At home. Can you prove it?
Why should she?
Hey, Louise. I'm Elliot.
Nice boots. Very sharp.
They're mine. How'd you get 'em?
Something called a search warrant.
What is this? Turn on the lights.
Let me do my magic trick.
Now, Louise, this is a lumalight.
What it does is show up blood and skin fragments,
like, for example, if there just happened
to be some on your boot here.
Will you look at that?
I don't know what that is.
(Stabler) It's blood.
There's some on the toe also.
Now what we're gonna do is compare the DNA on this boot
to that woman's DNA.
And when they match, which they will,
we'll be charging you with murder.
You gotta help me.
I wanna talk to the ADA.
Mr. Delroy?
If my client cooperates, what are you offering?
Nothing. She's a murderer.
Now if she tells us what happened,
I might ask the judge to take it into account
during sentencing.
Did you attack that woman?
Yes.
Who else was there with you?
Larry Tauber.
And who else?
Nobody.
Not even him?
Give us a name.
Please don't tell him I told you.
Name.
Garrett Perle.
Police!
It's open.
Hey, guys, what's going on?
Police. Stand up.
Sure, just a sec.
Bastards deleting files!
Temper, temper.
Garret Perle, you're under arrest for murder.
Get that computer.
(Garrett) Be my guest, there's nothing on it.
Anyway, whom am I meant to have murdered?
Melody Quinn. Doesn't ring a bell.
You have the right to remain silent.
You give up that right. Stop!
He's got a degaussing loop.
What the hell is that?
Powerful magnetic strips.
We just wiped his hard drive.
This is Melody Quinn. Remember her now?
I'm sorry, but I don't.
First you ran her down, then you kicked her.
42 times.
[scoffs]
Awful.
That's a Marine tattoo, isn't it?
Have you ever killed anyone?
You have, I can tell.
You too.
Were you a gang banger before you became a cop?
I've often wondered what it would be like
to kill someone.
So how was it?
I've murdered people in games, hundreds of them.
I've blown their heads off, eviscerated them.
I've even used a little kitty cat as a silencer.
But it's not real, you know?
You don't get the bam!
The kick, the juice.
But you guys, you know.
You know.
And you don't?
You don't.
Because you're gutless.
You couldn't even face her, could you?
You had to use a car
to knock down a woman?
Even then, you couldn't face her.
You had to sneak up behind her as she was crawling away,
and then you kicked her?
You're nothing but a scared little punk.
You wanna know what it's like to kill someone, huh?
And you gotta stare 'em right in the eye
so you can smell their fear.
Leave me alone, okay? Stop it.
We don't even need this little freak.
We've got our witness.
She's lying.
How do you know that?
It was Larry Tauber.
Doesn't sound like Tauber.
(Eddie on tape) Melody?
(Garrett on tape) That's a pretty name. Like music.
(Eddie) Who's this? Where is she?
(Garrett) She can't come to the phone right now.
Now she wants to play with us.
Where did you get that?
That's enough for a positive voice ID.
You're done, Garrett.
But it's Larry's fault. He made me do it.
Out you go, gentlemen.
I'd like to speak to my client alone.
With Louise's eye-witness testimony,
Gates will try and cut a deal.
So what are you gonna do?
I may offer Louise Man-one to make sure
she gives us this creep.
Oliver, how will you be earning your fee this time?
Easily.
Not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.
You gotta be kidding me.
Garrett was enthralled with an older man, Larry Tauber,
who plied him with alcohol, got him to play
violent video games for hours on end.
And then took him on a joyride
and made him play the game for real.
So Garrett admits
he killed Melody.
No, he admits that he had no idea what he was doing,
whether it was wrong or right, fantasy or reality.
See you at the arraignment.
Gates thinks this defense will fly?
Computer game violence is a hot issue.
If Gates can deflect blame onto the game makers,
his job's half done.
Make a deal with Louise Karnaki.
Don't get your hopes up.
Her family just fired her public defender,
got a lawyer from Henshall and Langan.
How can they afford that?
They can't, but Garrett's family can.
They'll pin the crime on the game
and the dead man, Larry Tauber.
Cap, it's the lab for you.
What about the surveillance tape?
What surveillance tape?
The Joint Terrorism Task Force
was running a covert op on Melody's boss.
They caught the start of the murder on audio tape.
Including Garrett and Louise's voices.
And they sure weren't confusing fantasy with reality.
I need to hear that Task Force tape.
We got it on condition we wouldn't use it at trial.
You agreed to that?
I didn't have a choice.
Well, neither do I if it's my only evidence
of Garrett's state of mind, so where is it?
Somebody from the U.S. Attorney's Office
removed it from the lab 20 minutes ago.
(man) You can't have it.
As soon as that tape appears in discovery,
the defense will want to know context, provenance, everything.
It won't affect any ongoing operation.
I can't risk surveillance of a vital target
and the war against terror becoming front page news.
That's more important
than letting two psychopaths walk free?
Frankly, yes.
If this tape's your only evidence,
you should ask the NYPD to get off their asses
and find you some more.
I met your vital target.
This guy's no terrorist, he's a sleazy joke.
I need the tape, Raul.
I said you can't have the tape because there is no tape.
We've got no tape and no deal with Louise.
I'm gonna be fighting this with my arms
tied behind my back.
Forensics prove Garrett and Louise
kicked a woman to death.
They can't wiggle out of that.
Gates is running a psych defense.
He's gonna blame everything on the game and Larry Tauber.
And the only way to beat it is to prove they knew
what they were doing.
One way to beat a psych defense
is with a psych offense.
Let me find out if Garrett and Louise
are innocent pawns or cold-blooded liars.
How many hours a day do you play games?
Five or six.
What's the longest that you've ever played?
Eighteen hours.
You get tired?
I never noticed.
Do you stop to eat or drink?
Don't feel the need.
How do you feel after you're finished playing?
Like I'm King of the World.
Then what do you do?
Play again. What else?
Larry mind you hanging around so much?
Mind?
We were the best thing that ever happened to him.
Larry like to watch her beat up women.
In the game or on the street?
Wherever. Turned him on.
It was the nearest he got to screwing her.
Louise got off on it too.
Garrett made me tease him.
You didn't like that?
I wasn't interested in Larry.
You and Garrett have sex?
Yes. He's crazy about me.
Yeah, but the game is better.
Better than sex.
And the rush is more intense.
See, I control the world, pull everyone's strings.
In the game, of course.
When else do you feel the rush?
Driving fast.
How fast?
120 miles an hour on the BQE at 2:00 in the morning.
That's pretty dangerous.
That's why it's a rush.
What about the other drivers?
They get out of the way.
What if they can't?
Oops.
He's a manipulative little prick.
He took Larry Tauber to that club, he got him drunk,
and manipulated him right off that roof.
I wouldn't put it past him.
Garrett's an adrenaline junkie and a narcissist.
He knows right from wrong.
He just doesn't give a damn.
And Louise?
She's in love with him.
She'll do whatever he wants.
Do you think these computer games
influenced his behavior?
Kids like Garrett are so numb
that they need constant stimulation.
Computer games fill that void.
If they're susceptible to violence,
then this could exacerbate that,
but I don't believe a game ever made anyone commit murder.
So Garrett's psych defense is a crock.
Yes. His mind is clear as a bell.
Hah, thought I'd find you in here, Casey.
Motion to submit Garrett for a neuropsych examination.
Garrett has volunteered to undergo a PET scan
while he plays the computer game NtenCity.
An experiment with a single subject
is meaningless.
We'll repeat an experiment
conducted by doctors in London that showed
that game play flooded the brain with dopamine.
What's that supposed to prove?
That dopamine intoxication
caused by addictive game playing
changed Garrett's brain, and therefore,
he wasn't responsible for his actions.
Are you worried about objectivity, Casey?
Because Dr. Huang is welcome to conduct the test.
The computer relays the game into these 3D goggles
so that Mr. Perle can play the game
while he's in the scanner.
Cool. Can I get a pair of these?
His head's immobilized so that head movement
doesn't distort the scan.
We'll inject him with carbon 11 raclopride
to tag the dopamine receptors.
And then we'll draw blood throughout the scan
to measure how game play affects
the dopamine release in his brain.
You can start.
Garrett plays these games up to 40 hours a week.
It's amazing he found the time to commit murder.
Let me know when you have the results.
[game sounds]
(Huang) No question.
Garrett's dopamine level increased
while he played the game.
What effect did that have on him?
He felt high, euphoric, as if he'd just
taken a small dose of speed.
So the PET scan does prove game play made Garrett Perle
less able to control his actions?
On the contrary, almost any enjoyable activity
would show the same increase in dopamine.
Driving a fast car,
playing sports, even playing chess.
Thank you, Doctor.
Isn't the release of dopamine
what makes a drug like cocaine so addictive?
Partly.
And heroin so addictive?
Dopamine contributes to addictive behavior, but--
And doesn't the PET scan show
that computer games are just as addictive?
As addictive as heroin or cocaine?
No.
But they are addictive.
Do you believe that violent video games are dangerous?
(Huang) Not in themselves, no.
But didn't a Dr. David Grossman compare violent games
to military battlefield simulators,
where they train real soldiers to kill?
It's much more complicated than that.
Why?
A violent video game
teaches its players to kill automatically.
Yes or no?
Yes.
Thank you. But there's an enormous difference
between the cartoon violence of video games
and violence in real life.
So do you think that Garrett and Louise
would have gone out joyriding that night
if they hadn't have played the game?
(Huang) There are other factors--
Did the game give them the idea to get in the car?
Yes, but--
Did the game give them the idea to run over
Melody Quinn and beat her to death, yes or no?
Yes, but having--
Thank you, Dr. Huang. Nothing further.
Do you regret what you've done?
Yes. I'll never forgive myself.
[sniffles]
Do you want to take a break, Mr. Perle?
No, I can manage, thank you.
You've testified that you and Louise ran over Melody Quinn
because you thought you were still playing a game.
Yes. Nothing seemed real.
So even when Melody was screaming
and crying for mercy,
you thought it was part of the game?
They scream in the game too.
But you kicked her to death.
You expect the jury to believe that you didn't know
a real woman was bleeding and dying under your feet?
I swear to you, I didn't.
How could you not know?
Because I didn't know where I was.
The streets we were driving down were streets from the game.
The people were characters from the game.
I saw this woman on the sidewalk,
and she had a short skirt.
Larry said, "Get her. Get the hooker."
It was like I was still in his apartment.
And he's breathing down my neck, shouting at me,
"Go on, hit her! Hit her, do it!
"She's getting away! She's still moving!
Stomp on her! Do it! Do it!"
(Judge) Mr. Perle.
Mr. Perle, control yourself.
So you always do whatever Larry says?
I wish I was brave enough to stand up to him, but I wasn't.
I'm sorry.
(Judge) Do you want to continue with this witness,
Miss Novak?
I do, your honor.
It's late.
You can resume tomorrow.
This court is adjourned.
I hope you've got something. I'm getting killed here.
We got a connection between Garrett and Tauber's death
on Tauber's computer.
TARU found a big chunk of encrypted code
on his hard drive,
sent to him two hours before he killed himself.
Who sent it?
Same creep that added the naked victim sequence
to the game, Stu Davis.
We're holding him in the crime lab.
Now, Stu, you sent Larry Tauber a self-deleting email.
We found it on his computer.
He opened it, he read it once,
and, poof, it disappeared.
But only as far as his hard drive.
So you're gonna tell us what it says.
Listen, all right, I've got nothing to do with this.
Yeah, you do.
Because the guy you sent the email to is now dead.
Eventually he'll break the encryption,
and when he does, I will arrest you
for conspiracy to murder.
Stu, start decrypting.
Start!
God, he said it was just a joke.
This is ridiculous, man, I'm a programmer,
not a killer.
I swear to God,
I never knew anyone was gonna get hurt.
(computer game voice) You killed her, Larry.
You kicked that poor woman to death.
Cops are coming for you, Larry.
You can run, Larry Tauber,
but you can't hide. [laughter]
(Novak) Lights, please.
So whose face is that on the screen?
Larry Tauber's.
People's exhibit 11.
A check for $1,000 made out to...
Stuart Davis.
And whose signature is that?
Mine.
You paid Mr. Davis $1,000
to send that email to Larry Tauber. Why?
I don't know.
You don't know?
No.
Larry got that email two hours before he killed himself.
Did you want to push him over the edge?
No.
Then why would you send it, huh?
Did the game make you do that too?
No.
Then why?
It was a joke.
First you say kicking a woman to death is a game,
and now this is a joke?
Do you think this is funny?
You're confusing me.
You weren't confused.
You knew exactly what you were doing.
You were afraid Larry was going to turn you in
to the Police.
So you preyed on him until he killed himself.
Larry Tauber, murderer. LMAO.
What does that mean, LMAO? Why don't you tell us?
Laughing my ass off.
What--I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
Laughing my ass off.
Larry's dead, Melody's dead,
and you're laughing your ass off?
Yeah, you bet I am.
'Cause you are a joke.
This whole damn thing is a joke.
Nothing further.
"Video game violence has a horrifying potential
"to promote acts of violence against real victims
and desensitize children to the real thing."
That's what the American Medical Association
had to say in their testimony to Congress.
Now, does the games industry care?
Listen to them describe their latest hit.
"You can still beat up the hookers
"and steal their money.
"You can run over cops and shoot and kill
"the ambulance drivers
as they come in to pick up the dead."
Now, you take that attitude and that product
and you put it in the hands of a young man
who has a history of addictive and risk-taking behavior,
and you are going to create a tragedy.
And that is what happened here.
The game NtenCity transported two teenagers
to a fantasy land.
It made them high.
It fed them a vile idea,
and then it taught them how to execute it.
They were not in control of their actions.
And, therefore, they're not guilty.
Did Garrett and Louise get the idea from a game?
Yes.
But we get ideas all the time.
From books, from TV, from friends.
From life, from everywhere.
We don't act on them.
We know that the idea doesn't justify the deed.
Don't let Mr. Gates blind you to the facts.
Real people ran over a real person.
And then they beat her to death.
Melody Quinn felt real pain.
She bled real blood.
And she died a horrible and lonely death.
It was not a game.
Now, did Melody's killers
know what they were doing?
Well, their taunting of Larry Tauber,
the one member of their trio with the humanity
to feel regret,
proves that they did.
Garret Perle said it himself, it was a joke.
Well, you know what?
Murder is no joke.
So don't let them use a game as an excuse
for their cruel and callous actions.
As to the defendant Garret Perle,
the charge of murder in the second degree,
how do you find?
We find the defendant guilty.
As to the defendant Louise Karnaki on the charge
of murder in the second degree,
how do you find?
We find the defendant guilty.
Defendants are remanded until sentencing.
This court is adjourned.
[bangs gavel]
Aw, shut up.
Bang bang, you're dead.
(judge) Get him out of here.
Game's over. You won.
We won the case today.
Two guilty verdicts.
That's good.
What are you playing?
Hockey.
Got him. What a hit!
Do you have to play that all the time?
Why not?
I like it.
I know, but maybe we can play something together, you know?
Like what?
I don't know, um...
cards, Scrabble?
Or maybe we can just talk.
Okay. Talk.