Normally I'm a bit more neutral in the matter, but...
Cases such as this demonstrate gross false correlation. If I eat a lot of hotdogs, then go shoot up a bunch of cows, was it my thirst for grade-C cow meat that drove me to my crime? In the case of videogames, it's hard
not to find a kid that doesn't play them, and given the sales stats for the GTA franchise, it's hard to find a teen that doesn't have at least some passing interest in it.
Basically people are scapegoating. Kids steal cars and shoot motorists. They blame the game developers to further the perception that they are ignorant to the nature of their crime, and thus don't qualify as dangerous offenders. The prosecution encourages such claims because it gives the relatives of the victims someone to sue.
Unfair stereotyping? Sure, but when you're accused of commiting murder, you're in a position to scapegoat everyone and everything, and games are very convenient thanks to their controversial nature in North America.
Kids have always stolen cars and shot other people. It's called youth crime. It existed long before videogames, and it'll exist long after. Videogames just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The issue of videogames being free speech is controversial, albeit noting that they've already been ruled exempt from such protection. It wasn't the judge's fault in the case, but rather a gross handling of the case by all parties involved. The industry has a really poor habit of shooting itself in the foot whenever called to trial, and the free speech issue has been no exception.
The real problem that games face is that they're consistently characterized either as contentless drivel (like board games), or by their more formal classification as real-time interactive simulations, a title that doesn't suggest a dependence on free speech for its realization. It doesn't help that the industry constantly fights to avoid the same sort of outside moderation and legislation that other forms of entertainment-based "free speech" are subject to. "Kids should be allowed to buy Grand Theft Auto without parental consent at Walmart" isn't the most convincing argument for the parental majority.
