SANTA FE — A state court has rejected a move to reinstate a lawsuit against makers of a video game played by a teenager who killed three of his family members in 2004.
The killings occurred on newsman Sam Donaldson's ranch in southern New Mexico.
The lawsuit had alleged that the video game "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" contributed to the killings because Cody Posey played the game "obsessively" and it trained him to act out the violence when he shot and killed his father, stepmother and stepsister in July 2004. He was 14 at the time of the killings.
Posey's father worked as foreman on Donaldson's ranch.
The lawsuit contended that Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. and its subsidiary, Rockstar Games, and Sony Corporation of America should have foreseen that the game "would spawn such copycat violence." Sony produced the PlayStation 2 on which Posey played the video game.
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The lawsuit was filed by Verlin Posey, brother of Paul Posey, the teen's father; and Pat and Leona Basham of Elephant Butte, parents of Tryone Posey, the teen's stepmother, and grandparents of Marilea Schmid, the teen's stepsister.
The teenager was convicted in 2006 and sentenced as a juvenile to remain in state custody until he is 21.
Jurors convicted Posey of first-degree murder in the death of his 13-year-old stepsister; second-degree murder in the death of his stepmother and voluntary manslaughter in the death of his father.
A state district court judge in Bernalillo county had dismissed the wrongful death lawsuit for failure to provide a valid legal basis for the damage claim. The state Court of Appeals on Monday tossed out an appeal of that decision, saying the notice of appeal in the case had not been filed on time.
An Albuquerque lawyer who helped bring the lawsuit did not immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the court's ruling.
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