A murder case has overtaken Boston for the last couple of weeks. 19-year-old special-needs student John Odgren is accused of fatally stabbing a classmate at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School three years ago and is currently on trial. It was just released today that Odgren claims he watched a violent online cartoon on his computer in which faceless cartoon characters stab and shoot each other, red blood exploding out of their wounds, a computer expert testified today.
Andrew Winrow, a computer expert who did a forensic examination of Odgren’s computer for Middlesex District Attorney Gerard T. Leone’s office testified today. Winrow said that at 5:58 a.m. on the day of the killing, Odgren went to a website and viewed Madness Avenger, a Flash movie. Odgren, who was then living in Princeton and being driven to school, was picked up at 6:05 a.m. Odgren also told a friend he had a keen interest in how the public viewed him. “I had someone Google my name and I had 49,000 results,” Odgren said in the conversation.
While this is certainly not the first case of violence being attached to online activities, it seems to be one of the most disturbing. Apparently, Odgren is concerned with his online popularity (just like most kids his age) and was willing to go to extreme lengths. This article raises some potent questions. Many of which don’t have answers and probably never will.
- Who is responsible for the content on the Internet?
- Should there be an age minimum to violent content?
- How can you prevent violent acts in real life using the Internet?
Just some simple thoughts that are probably circling the minds of the jurors and families involved in the Odgren case.
