Teen Kills 4; Judge LITERALLY Lets Him Off Because He is Rich!

Obviously, everyone is going to agree this is massively f-d up. Just hearing the father's sorrow is heartbreaking. This touches upon the class (and the linked racial) divide in America.

"Tell me again how there are not two Americas and two sets of rules. Does anyone for a second think if this kid was poor and black he would not be facing death row?"

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/11/1262005/-Teen-Kills-4-Judge-LITERALLY-Lets-Him-Off-Because-He-is-Rich?detail=facebook

WED DEC 11, 2013 AT 12:31 PM PST

Teen Kills 4; Judge LITERALLY Lets Him Off Because He is Rich!

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I wish this was a snark. But this is so shocking it makes me ill.

16-year old Ethan Couch was driving drunk at THREE times the legal limit and had Valium in his system. He plowed into four people going 70 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour zone, killing them. Other victims are severly injured; one has severe brain damage. Even after he killed those people, he was uncooperative and combative with the emergency services and walked away from the police saying "I'm outta here".

He pleaded guilty, of course. But Ethan's parents are very, very, very wealthy. (We are talking the 1%.) They hired an attorney that brought on a psychologist to say Couch was "a product of wealth" and was used to getting "whatever he wanted". Because he was so afluent and accustomed to never having consequences, the attorney argued that he should get therapy as opposed to jail.
This was the argument, mind you, used in the defense:

He said Couch got whatever he wanted. As an example, Miller said Couch's parents gave no punishment after police ticketed the then-15-year-old when he was found in a parked pickup with a passed out, undressed 14-year-old girl.
Miller also pointed out that Couch was allowed to drive at 13. He said the teen was emotionally flat and needed years of therapy. At the time of the fatal wreck, Couch had a blood alcohol content of .24, said Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson. It is illegal for a minor to drive with any amount of alcohol in his or her system.


Prosecutors tried to get 20 years. The Defense argued for therapy and probation.
Texas State District Judge Jean Boyd sided with the Defense and gave him probation:

(Video below. If embed no work--here is link to news report.)

The kid is not remorseful in the slightest. I'm sure he always expected to get off. The families are devastated.

Tell me again how there are not two Americas and two sets of rules. Does anyone for a second think if this kid was poor and black he would not be facing death row?

Disgraceful.

I hope a civil lawsuit is underway, this is one time I really hope the affected families take everything away from the kids parents and leave them with nothing. Then they can't say it was a product of wealth, I'm just really at a loss for words. I haven't followed this so I can't comment too much on anything but just the overview gives me a knot in my stomach.

I think that judge needs to be investigated. I'm thinking he took a bribe or something.

Looks like Texas REALLY wants to beat Florida as the country's worst state.

AND FLORIDA!

What a jackass!!! Is this a good example of why minimum sentences are a must? Has anybody snopes this yet? It sounds too crazy....

Oh good, lets blame Texas for this asshole's actions. 

"Does anyone for a second think if this kid was poor and black he would not be facing death row?"

While i certainly agree there are unfortunately many times two sets of standards in the criminal justice system. This quote is patently false. They legally could not even apply a capital punishment to this case. There is no direct intent and therefore legally speaking no murder charges could be considered regardless of skin tone, class, etc. and that's even if he was charged as an adult. Even so in the Modern US System only one person under the age of 17 has been sentenced to death row (and surprisingly it wasn't in Texas..)

If you going to post an article as an opinion, at least use something from somebody who has even a basic, simplistic understanding of how the criminal justice system works not whatever the hell that was.

Edit: Also, though money is a petty concern compared to human life, but I can't be the only one thinking that the victims & victim's families now have one hell of cause for a civil trial. I mean the kid's own defense was that his parents ruined him with their wealth and behavior, in short they are responsible for his actions. I'm going to bet some lawyer is already talking to them and saying the next step is to take all the wealth from this family and I would absolutely & completely support that action.

mrsilkunderwear said:

Oh good, lets blame Texas for this asshole's actions.

Click to expand...

Strawman. Not one person here is blaming Texas for the kid killing and maiming several people in a drunken rampage, but for the unequal sentencing of this kid because his family has money and influence. Even if this kid can be rehabilitated, what does that say about all the other kids that can be, but become worse due to access to better programs because their parents don't have the same kind of resources? What does that say about the poor quality of the justice system, itself?

For someone that bitches about the simplicity of "common sense" all the time, you sure don't use much sense at all.

Oh right...you have shitty reading comprehension. Nevermind.

Duo_Maxwell said:

"Does anyone for a second think if this kid was poor and black he would not be facing death row?"

While i certainly agree there are unfortunately many times two sets of standards in the criminal justice system. This quote is patently false. They legally could not even apply a capital punishment to this case. There is no direct intent and therefore legally speaking no murder charges could be considered regardless of skin tone, class, etc. and that's even if he was charged as an adult. Even so in the Modern US System only one person under the age of 17 has been sentenced to death row (and surprisingly it wasn't in Texas..)

If you going to post an article as an opinion, at least use something from somebody who has even a basic, simplistic understanding of how the criminal justice system works not whatever the hell that was.

Click to expand...

Two things: The quote isn't based on on the presumption that if charges were the same, a black kid wouldn't have gotten the death penalty either, but more along the lines of "if the kid were black, he'd face more severe charges or face stiffer penalties," which are both corroborated by both crime and incarceration statistics.

Secondly, your statement about "the Modern US System only one person under the age of 17 has been sentenced to death row" is dishonest as hell and it didn't stop because states just wanted to stop executing minors, which is the exact term used that made the execution of minors unlawful. Nice rhetorical trick there.

Edit: Also, though money is a petty concern compared to human life, but I can't be the only one thinking that the victims & victim's families now have one hell of cause for a civil trial. I mean the kid's own defense was that his parents ruined him with their wealth and behavior, in short they are responsible for his actions. I'm going to bet some lawyer is already talking to them and saying the next step is to take all the wealth from this family and I would absolutely & completely support that action.

Click to expand...

If the family can afford $450k on rehab, I'm pretty sure that they can recover from having their accounts emptied from the civil law suits because they can always make more. Chances are that this will be settled out of court and that the family has already hidden a lot of their wealth.

"I shouldn't go to jail because I'm used to getting everything I want."

"Okay, you're not going to jail."

It's like some kind of Jedi mind-trick.

dohdough said:

Looks like Texas REALLY wants to beat Florida as the country's worst state.

<insert bugs.bunny.sawing.off.texas.gif>

Click to expand...

you could just picture tx instead lol

The rich kid aspect makes this a good story to hype up for page views, but when it comes to driving there is so much leeway in general. I have heard of people with multiple DUIs who still drive. If you just say the sun was in your eyes you can run over as many people as you want.

From simple infractions to major accidents, we treat driving almost as if it's a right and not an inherently dangerous activity that requires training and skill. We could end drunk driving tomorrow if we wanted to, but hey, bars have parking lots for a reason.

dohdough said:

Strawman. Not one person here is blaming Texas for the kid killing and maiming several people in a drunken rampage, but for the unequal sentencing of this kid because his family has money and influence. Even if this kid can be rehabilitated, what does that say about all the other kids that can be, but become worse due to access to better programs because their parents don't have the same kind of resources? What does that say about the poor quality of the justice system, itself?

For someone that bitches about the simplicity of "common sense" all the time, you sure don't use much sense at all.

Oh right...you have shitty reading comprehension. Nevermind.

Click to expand...

Sorry I just thought you guys implied it. My mistake!

dohdough said:

Two things: The quote isn't based on on the presumption that if charges were the same, a black kid wouldn't have gotten the death penalty either, but more along the lines of "if the kid were black, he'd face more severe charges or face stiffer penalties," which are both corroborated by both crime and incarceration statistics.

Click to expand...

And corroborated by this very same judge. http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Decision-in-16-year-olds-drunk-driving-case-raises-questions-about-judges-previous-decision-235688241.html

But, News 8 discovered the same judge sent a 14-year-old black boy to prison in March 2012 for killing one person with a powerful punch to the ground in 2011.

Click to expand...

Apparently the judge pushed for rehab in this case as well, but the wildly different outcomes in these two cases certainly lend further evidence to the wealth and racial divide in the justice system.

I take some comfort in the belief that Couch will undoubtedly violate his probation at some point, and if/when that happens I hope he gets what's coming to him.

But, Cruezot said the judge was following the law.

"We don't know any of the information that was given to the judge and what she had to take into consideration to come to the conclusion," Cruezot said. "And, without that, it's hard to say she made a bad decision."

But, News 8 discovered the same judge sent a 14-year-old black boy to prison in March 2012 for killing one person with a powerful punch to the ground in 2011.

The teenage suspect’s name was never made public since he was prosecuted as a juvenile.

"Just after 10 p.m. on October 6, the teen was riding in a Cadillac with two friends when he suddenly jumped out of the vehicle in the 1700 block of Vaughn Avenue and punched [Mark] Gregory, who was 5-foot-1 and weighed 106 pounds,” said the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office in a statement. "Gregory’s head struck the pavement and he died two days later."

The 14-year-old boy admitted to the crime and never expressed remorse for the murder, according to prosecutors.

Still, Gregory’s mother, Anita Lauterbach, said she remembers the judge pushing for rehabilitation, much like the Couch case.

"She wanted to send him to one of these special places in Arizona, but no one would take him," Lauterbach said. "We were horrified. We just couldn't believe it. The district attorney and I were just sitting on pins and needles. But, when nobody would take him, [it was] a sigh of relief."

Deliberately punching someone is a little different than unintentionally killing people while drunk driving. The no remorse bit is telling also. Don't most European countries have a "lose your license for life" style DUI punishment? And I think its a first offense type judgment. Maybe we should try that here.

The difference is the reverence we give to driving and drivers, like it's some kind of right. I believe that driving with a .24 BAC is an intentional act where there's a high probability you will kill someone.

Everyone got it wrong. This kid didn't get off because of money, he got off because we live in a "it's not his fault" society. If it was his parents' fault the kid killed some people, then Osama Bin Laden's parents need to be charged with war crimes. Same goes for Hitler's mom and dad.

In fact, let's just blame Adam and Eve to save time.

Spokker said:

The difference is the reverence we give to driving and drivers, like it's some kind of right. I believe that driving with a .24 BAC is an intentional act where there's a high probability you will kill someone.

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Yeah, it seems like drivers generally get lighter sentences as long as they don't hit and run. Though I'm still surprised (and disappointed) that his defense worked.