Affluenza - WTF!

Thai said:
Sometimes, I just don't understand our system. How can the judge sleep at night after that stupid decision?!
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Probably his mansion and his 2014 Benz C-class gets him counting sheep! He's just as cold as the kid who committed the crime. It's all about counting your benjamins these days unfortunately. May the lives lost rest in peace!
 
The judge is a female, Jean Boyd. Her term ends in 2014. Her contact info is on page 6 of the linked document. I couldn't cut and paste a pdf. I bet her email is full!

http://fwrw.org/images/Tarrant_Co_Elected_Officials.pdf


The kid was tried in Juvenile Court. Usually in felony case the Juvenile Court certifies the case to Circuit (High) Court. It was a win for the defense when it stayed in Juvenile. That was the real outrage. In Juvenile Court he can only be sentenced as a child and can only be held until his 21st birthday. The sentence to the spa like rehab facility for two years is followed by 10 years of probation. I take comfort in the belief that he'll screw up.

Meanwhile there are 5 civil suits filed against the kid, his dad, and his dad's company which owned the truck he was driving. Also one of the seven passengers in the bed of the pickup is paralyzed.
 
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The psychologist speaks (videos of the interview at the link):

Psychologist Who Helped Teen Get Probation After Killing 4 In Drunk Driving Accident Defends 'Affluenza' Diagnosis - Business Insider

The psychologist who testified in defense of the 16-year-old drunk driver who killed four people and received no jail time is defending his controversial stance that the boy was afflicted with "affluenza" — meaning the boy's wealth caused him to not associate his bad actions with consequences.
On "Anderson Cooper 360" Thursday evening, Dr. Dick Miller got into a frustrating exchange with host Anderson Cooper over the sentencing of Ethan Couch — he faced 20 years in prison but instead got 10 years probation — along with the rationale behind a recommendation for treatment instead of punishment.

"I don't believe going to the penitentiary was best for him or the state of Texas, and [the judge] concurred," he told Cooper.

Cooper brought up a similar case ruled on by the judge a year prior, in that a 14-year-old African-American boy who killed one person was sentenced to 10 years in juvenile detention.

"It had nothing to do with his color. It had nothing to do with his wealth," Miller said of the reasoning behind his recommendation for Couch's much more lenient sentence. "[It] had nothing to do with any of those things. It had to do with what I thought was best for him and the state of Texas."

In one of the more heated exchanges of the interview, Cooper and Miller got into a debate over use of the term "kill" when talking about the four people who died in the accident (begins around 5:30 mark in second video).

"If you kill four people, you can't use that as an excuse, can you?" Cooper asked of the doctor's "affluenza" defense.

Here's a partial transcript of what followed:

MILLER: "When you use the term kill, and people out in America hear that, it implies that there was some motive, that the motive was not good. I think these parents, I think this kid, I think that all of my patients, about 90% of them — their motive is totally honorable like yours is tonight.

Like you, you know, all the people I've watched on CNN, I'm not going to question their motive. I think their method leaves something to be desired. When Nancy [Grace] says 'he murdered four people' — I'm thinking try another method Nancy, you're an attorney."

COOPER: "Are you saying he didn't murder — he didn't kill four people?"

MILLER: "He did not murder four people. It's a legal term."

After dispensing with the term "murder," Cooper asks, "He killed four people, yes?"

"Four people died," Miller said.

"Four people didn't just magically die," Cooper said. "He slammed his vehicle into four people. Correct?"

After a rather exasperating back-and-forth, Miller finally admits that four people were in fact killed by Couch.

Couch's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when he plowed into four pedestrians last June, the LA Times reported. He was driving along with seven people in his Ford F-350 truck, and they had reportedly stolen two cases of beer from a store.
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How many "Ethans" around there?

Ethan continues to be spoiled by his parent's money.

Just think how many "Ethans" are out there. You will be surprised there are a lot. I talked to a lot of cops who patrolled the rich neighborhoods of the Eastside of Seattle. Whenever they make a traffic stop and a rich teenager is behind the wheel and will not answer any question. Their lawyer is on speed-dial and calls their lawyer right away. And who gave all these instructions? Of course, their parents.
There was one Bellevue cop who gave a ticket to a teanage boy for driving 85 on a 35mp zone. The cop put the speed down to 55 to get this boy out into deeper trouble. The boy did not even thank the cop. Then when the well-connected dad learned about it, he used his influence to dig up dirt against this cop. They made this poor cop's life a living hell. Eventually, he was dismissed. All of these eastside cops knows the story so they are extra careful at dealing with all these spoiled "Ethans" driving around w/o any respect for the cops, the law, and the general public.
 
I don't know that the judge is a huge liberal just based on this story.

Plenty of rich conservatives have access and power within a community to influence a judge.

I would have thrown the book at the kid, but sadly in this case that would only mean incarceration until age 21.
 
RunninInGA said:
The psychologist speaks (videos of the interview at the link):

Psychologist Who Helped Teen Get Probation After Killing 4 In Drunk Driving Accident Defends 'Affluenza' Diagnosis - Business Insider
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I wonder how much the good doctor was compensated for his professional, unbiased opinion? :rolleyes:




RunninInGA said:
Was this insinuated somewhere and I missed it?
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I called the Judge a bleeding heart. That could be where Brian got the 'huge liberal' idea.
 
Life simply isn't fair and those who continue to grasp with this often harsh reality need reminded. Shame when it's with the death of innocents.
 
OJ, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy... having money and getting away with crimes is nothing new.

02SE said:
Wouldn't it be ironic if this little punk, Ethan Couch, when he is out driving drunk again, hits and kills Judge Jean Boyd's family.
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For shame, what would Paul Walker say??? Too soon?
 
The difference, is that the punk kid was found guilty of driving drunk, and several innocent people died as a result of his drunk driving.

As of today, the official cause of the Paul Walker/ Roger Rodas crash has not been released. Supposedly that information won't be released for 90 days.

Trying to imply there is some correlation between the two incidents at this point in time, is simply lame.
 
Not trying to make a correlation between two completely unrelated incidents but stating that it would be ironic if a group of innocent people died in a DUI wreck just because they were related to that judge seemed contradictory to the strong stance you took against me saying that the GT wreck involved excessive speed because I was speculating. I think that's what [MENTION=77530]RunninInGA[/MENTION] was getting at.

And I'll pm you about the wreck investigation once I get back from the gym so as to not clutter this thread with back and forth about that.
 
"Last year Judge Boyd sentenced a 14 year-old African-American boy to 10 years in a juvenile detention center because he punched a man which resulted in the man hitting his head on the pavement. The man died but it was not the result of an intentional act, more of a reckless one.

If the black kid does not have wealthy parents, then can’t the same apply — meaning, coming from a background with few resources, wouldn’t his childhood be more of a hindrance than Couch’s? I don’t know the teen’s background or whether he’s from an affluent family, but it appears that the Judge’s ruling is askew in both cases."
 
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