This Day In History

Jul 20 1969
On live television, the world watches as Neil Armstrong steps foot on the Moon. That is, unless it was faked.

Jul 20 1973
In Hong Kong, martial artist Bruce Lee drops into a coma and dies of cerebral edema. He had been experiencing brain problems beginning in May, which included sporadic loss of consciousness. Lee's death transpires shortly before the release of Enter the Dragon, his most successful film.

Jul 20 1994
O.J. Simpson offers a $500,000 reward for information leading to the capture of the Real Killers. To this day progress remains elusive, although Simpson's golf score has improved somewhat.

Jul 20 2005
The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) changes the rating of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas from mature to adults only forcing a recall. The game had been distributed with a hidden sex game made unlockable by a clever hacker's modification titled Hot Coffee. The recall cost Rockstar Games millions of dollars although the incident generated lots of free publicity.

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This Day In History

Aug 31 1888
Jack the Ripper kills his first known victim, prostitute Mary Ann Nichols, slitting her throat from ear to ear.

Aug 31 1997
Lady Diana, and her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, killed in car crash inside a Paris tunnel.

Aug 31 1999
A video game machine explodes at an underground Moscow arcade, injuring perhaps thirty people and killing several others.

Mokena Slaying: Teen Pleads Not Guilty in Half-Sister's Death

Chicago Tribune - A Mokena teenager accused of killing his 4-year-old half-sister pleaded not guilty Monday in a Will County courtroom.

Keith Randulich, 18, is charged in the May 22 death of his half sister, Sabrina Clement.

In a statement allegedly given to police, Randulich, who remains in jail in lieu of $10 million bail, said he took the girl to the basement in their home, then cut her throat with a steak knife and stabbed her. Family members were at the hearing Monday but declined to comment.

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No Abuse in Murder Case?

JOLIET -- Though Keith Randulich told police he slit his 4-year-old half sister's throat after failing to get a gun he could use to kill someone he believed was molesting the girl, authorities say there was no sign Sabrina Clement was the victim of sexual abuse.

Will County Coroner Patrick O'Neil, whose office performed an autopsy on Sabrina, said Monday there was no evidence she was molested.

"As part of the autopsy protocol, especially when under these particular circumstances, that was looked at very closely, and there's no evidence of any abuse along those lines," O'Neil said.

His office gathered evidence for a sexual assault kit, which the coroner gave to Mokena police for testing.

Randulich, 18, 19433 York Drive, pleaded innocent Monday in Will County Court to two counts of first-degree murder. He wore glasses and sat shackled with several other Will County Jail inmates after Judge Richard Schoenstedt called his case. Randulich remains in jail on $10 million bail.

Half Brother Admits Slitting 4-Year-Old Sister's Throat

Chicago Sun-Times: Four-year-old Sabrina Clement had to die, her 18-year-old half brother told police, because he couldn't get a gun to kill the person he believed was abusing the little girl, according to court documents filed recently.

"It was me," Keith Randulich told police in a soft voice when they showed up to the family's Mokena home on May 22 and found him covered in blood, according to a search warrant affidavit Mokena police filed on June 9.

Randulich also told police later that night that he wanted to kill a person he thought had been molesting Sabrina for two years.

He got a firearm owners I.D. card and asked his mother on May 22 to buy him a gun, according to the affidavit.

When she refused, she and her son argued, so she left her 16-year-old in charge of the little girl while she and her husband went to her 14-year-old son's school, it continued.

Randulich said that person was too big to kill without a gun, according to the affidavit.

So while his 16-year-old brother was upstairs playing a wrestling video game, Randulich decided to slit his sister's neck because he thought "it would be quick."

He called 911, saying he "murdered his sister with a knife."

Aside from physical evidence taken from the home, police also recovered video games, a bunch of heavy metal CDs, clown masks and a book titled "Children At Risk: What You Need to Know to Protect Your Children."

Randulich is awaiting trial in the Will County Adult Detention Facility in lieu of $10 million bail. His attorney could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

His case returns to court on Monday.

Teen Who Killed Mother Over Video Game Gets 23 Years to Life

ELYRIA, Ohio - A Lorain County teenager who shot and killed his mother and wounded his father after they took away his video game learned his punishment Tuesday morning.

Lorain County Court of Common Pleas Judge James Burge sentenced Daniel Petric, 17, to life in prison with the eligibility of parole in 23 years. Prosecutors had asked for the maximum penalty of life in prison without parole.

"I remain fearful if Danny gets out of prison and somebody else takes away his new pasttime, whether it's a girlfriend that leaves him, this may be the next thing that happens," assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Tony Cillo told the judge.

"Daniel Petric received the only break that he's entitled to under the law, that he was too young to risk a death specification," said Cillo.

Petric, who was 16 at the time, was convicted of shooting both his parents in the head in October 2007 inside their home near Wellington. Susan Petric, 43, died. His father -- the Rev. Mark Petric, 45 -- miraculously survived.

Prosecutors say he told them "Close your eyes, I've got a surprise for you," before shooting them, and then tried to make it look like a murder-suicide.

Petric, who was tried as an adult, held back tears at times during the hearing. He stood to address the judge, but then sat down without speaking.

Defense attorneys argued that Petric's youth and addiction to the game "Halo 3" made him less responsible for the shooting. They say he often played video games 18 hours a day with little food or sleep. They say he may have been so obsessed with the game, where players shoot alien monsters that have taken over the Earth, that he didn't think death was real.

"The playing of the video games and the reality of shooting somebody in his case was blinded, it was merged," defense attorney James Kersey told the court. "He had no thoughts during this process. During this time, he was blinded that his parents might be dead, that they might never come back."

"His addiction was so strong, was running rampant in a tired, exhausted young man, that anybody or anything that stood between him playing the video game and not having his way was in peril," Kersey added.

Petric's father addressed the court, asking Judge Burge to give him a lenient sentence.

"I can't count the number of times that he's said, 'Dad I miss mom, I miss mom.' His pain runs very deep, and it should ... if his pain did not run deep, I guarantee you I would not be standing here speaking on his behalf," the Rev. Petric told the judge.

"I love you Danny," said the Rev. Petric, through tears. "I can see the pain and the guilt inside when I visit him. I look in his eyes and I see it, I see the sadness, I see the concern. He still does not understand why he did something so terrible, but he does admit to it and he admits that it was terrible."

Judge Burge addressed the issue of video game addiction during sentencing, and said that it was a factor in his final decision. He says he hopes more study will be done on the topic.

"I feel confident that if there were no such thing as violent video games, I wouldn't know Daniel Petric," he said.

The Petric family did not speak to reporters after the hearing. Daniel's attorney says that although they feel the sentence is too long, they are satisfied with it.

"They feel it could've been worse," said Kersey.

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