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I came across this a few days ago and I was surprised after the last thread that it wasn't posted yet.
Texas 'affluenza' teen jailed for two years A Texas teen who avoided prison over a fatal drink-driving crash by claiming he suffered from "affluenza" has been sentenced to nearly two years in jail.
In 2013, Ethan Couch killed four people when he rammed his truck into a crowd, but he avoided prison.
On Wednesday, the 19-year-old was ordered to serve four consecutive 180-day jail sentences - one for each of his victims.
He broke his probation when he fled to Mexico in December.
It is thought he took flight because a video emerged of him at a house party, and any evidence he had been drinking alcohol might have seen him put behind bars.
A psychologist at his original trial argued that his privileged upbringing meant his parents had not taught the then 16-year-old a sense of responsibility.
The expert called the condition "affluenza", a term not recognised by the American Psychiatric Association.
Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation centre. That sentence was roundly criticised at the time as too lenient.
Although prosecutors were limited due to Couch's age, his current sentence was longer than expected.
If he had violated his probation as an adult, he could have faced decades in prison.
No longer a minor, Couch will serve his time in an adult prison.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36040878
It seems to be a bit short for everything that happened, but I can understand the decision made. How do you feel about the sentence?
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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The sentence is basically a revision of the original sentence for causing death by dangerous driving. Since he committed that offence as a teenager he would have been given a shorter term than an adult committing the same crime, so it's approriate that he be given a juvenile sentence now although he is now of age.
IDK what the typical term is for such a crime in the USA. In the UK you can get up to 14 years as an adult, which makes two years for killing four people seem pretty light, to be honest.
However as the perp is now an adult he will do the time in adult prison, which will no doubt be a lot tougher.
If you believe in rehabilitation there isn't any point in putting a silly 18 year old away for 10 years.
If you believe in rehabilitation there isn't any point in putting a silly 18 year old away for 10 years.
That's a rather huge "If". In my observation Americans don't generally care about rehabilitation. Retribution is generally the number one concern, followed distantly by deterrence and community security. The criminal is generally viewed as something subhuman here, less than even an animal. You show someone a video of a trainer beating a dog and there will be calls for the guy's head, you show a video of a guard beating prisoner and you get calls of "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".
You have to remember this is a country executes more people than the rest of the western developed world combined, by a factor of about three. This is country with 6-7x the prisoners per capita of to its peers. This is a country that sentences children as young as 14 to life without the possibility of parole.
Take that all as you will. Obviously it makes me rather uncomfortable and I don't really approve of the situation. Others are damn proud of the way we handle things and would if anything say we need to double down and get even harder in our stances on crime.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2016/04/20 11:12:33
If you believe in rehabilitation there isn't any point in putting a silly 18 year old away for 10 years.
That's a rather huge "If". In my observation Americans don't generally care about rehabilitation. Retribution is generally the number one concern, followed distantly by deterrence and community security. The criminal is generally viewed as something subhuman here, less than even an animal. You show someone a video of a trainer beating a dog and there will be calls for the guy's head, you show a video of a guard beating prisoner and you get calls of "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".
You have to remember this is a country executes more people than the rest of the western developed world combined, by a factor of about three. This is country with 6-7x the prisoners per capita of to its peers. This is a country that sentences children as young as 14 to life without the possibility of parole.
Take that all as you will. Obviously it makes me rather uncomfortable and I don't really approve of the situation. Others are damn proud of the way we handle things and would if anything say we need to double down and get even harder in our stances on crime.
Good points.
Drunk driving is a huge problem here in the US (and maybe everywhere else in the world?). I think the penalty for this should be stiff, especially if you injure or kill someone as a result of drunk driving. Isn't it a felony crime in Canada? But here, we have a scale of inebriation levels with various penalties.
He's young but that's not an excuse. He got off lightly IMO.
Well. 2 years may not seem like a long time but, for a kid in his position, will feel like an eternity. (For the record I do not condone the lenience of the sentence).
Plus he is going to have to tow the line, not only of the prison and its rules but the interactions of the prison population.
When to get up, when to shower, when to eat, where to sit, what to say....
Is there a US equivalent of our rule 45 (segregation for the prisoners own protection). Will he serve all his time inside?
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/20 15:54:29
Yeah, there are systems in place to segregate prisoners who might be considered high profile from the general population. Now whether or not Mr. Couch is part of that is not certain.
Mr. Burning wrote: Well. 2 years may not seem like a long time but, for a kid in his position, will feel like an eternity. (For the record I do not condone the lenience of the sentence).
Plus he is going to have to tow the line, not only of the prison and its rules but the interactions of the prison population.
When to get up, when to shower, when to eat, where to sit, what to say....
Is there a US equivalent of our rule 45 (segregation for the prisoners own protection). Will he serve all his time inside?
2 years for the murder of four people...yea...AFTER he fled to Mexico.
I guess one can hope he becomes a victim during a prison riot.
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curran12 wrote: He'll probably have a harder time getting parole for sure. But that said, he probably won't serve every day of the 2 year sentence behind bars.
I only hope that, with all the damage that has been done already, that another life isn't ruined by this, or by those with a vengeance hard-on.
Alternatively I can hope the opposite.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/20 16:24:18
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Mr. Burning wrote: Well. 2 years may not seem like a long time but, for a kid in his position, will feel like an eternity. (For the record I do not condone the lenience of the sentence).
Plus he is going to have to tow the line, not only of the prison and its rules but the interactions of the prison population.
When to get up, when to shower, when to eat, where to sit, what to say....
Is there a US equivalent of our rule 45 (segregation for the prisoners own protection). Will he serve all his time inside?
2 years for the murder of four people...yea...AFTER he fled to Mexico.
This is the nagging part for me as well. He fled to Mexico after seemingly violating his previous sentence knowing what he did was wrong. In the Netherlands the maximum sentence for a minor of 16 and up is 2 years (or getting tried as an adult). Which is what he seems to have been given, but is there no time served for trying to escape? To me this seems to be the crux of the matter.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/20 16:57:55
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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AlmightyWalrus wrote: While we're on the subject, what's the legal limit for DUI (alcohol) in the US? I'm assuming it varies from state to state, but roughly?
0.08% Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) on a breathalyzer. It's Federally mandated.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/20 17:23:09
Mdlbuildr wrote: Wasn't the two year sentence for parole violation? He should serve the whole amount since it's technically his second offense.
Yes, this new sentence is specifically for violating his probation. Probation violation carries a maximum penalty of 180 days. This judge decided that, as the original probation was for four counts of murder, then he could say it was a violation of the probation for each of those four, this invoking 4 180 day sentences. That's how they explained it on the radio news when it was announced, anyway.
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Mdlbuildr wrote: Wasn't the two year sentence for parole violation? He should serve the whole amount since it's technically his second offense.
Yes, this new sentence is specifically for violating his probation. Probation violation carries a maximum penalty of 180 days. This judge decided that, as the original probation was for four counts of murder, then he could say it was a violation of the probation for each of those four, this invoking 4 180 day sentences. That's how they explained it on the radio news when it was announced, anyway.
Okay, thanks. I thought I read that somewhere, too.
Mdlbuildr wrote: Wasn't the two year sentence for parole violation? He should serve the whole amount since it's technically his second offense.
Yes, this new sentence is specifically for violating his probation. Probation violation carries a maximum penalty of 180 days. This judge decided that, as the original probation was for four counts of murder, then he could say it was a violation of the probation for each of those four, this invoking 4 180 day sentences. That's how they explained it on the radio news when it was announced, anyway.
Yeah, it's called stacking. An adult charged with 4 counts of intoxication manslaughter (second degree felony) would be looking at 2-20 each, so 8-80 if the judge allowed them to stack. Here, the judge was probably just trying to salvage what he could since the defendant had not been certified as an adult.
hotsauceman1 wrote: It is always .08.
Now depending on your class of lisense it can be lower. bus dirvers it is .02
Having a number of truck driving, and CDL holding friends, the answer is pretty much always "half of what everyone else gets"
So in my area .04 is one level and .08 is the bad one. For CDL people, it's .02 and .04 respectively.
And I agree with guys like Frazz.... this punk is getting off way too lightly. It's a shame the judge couldn't say 2 years, without the possibility of parole. Even then... I think 2 years is a joke, even if the justification is that they are punishing him for only the parole violations.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/21 02:01:44
If you believe in rehabilitation there isn't any point in putting a silly 18 year old away for 10 years.
That's a rather huge "If". In my observation Americans don't generally care about rehabilitation. Retribution is generally the number one concern, followed distantly by deterrence and community security. The criminal is generally viewed as something subhuman here, less than even an animal. You show someone a video of a trainer beating a dog and there will be calls for the guy's head, you show a video of a guard beating prisoner and you get calls of "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time".
You have to remember this is a country executes more people than the rest of the western developed world combined, by a factor of about three. This is country with 6-7x the prisoners per capita of to its peers. This is a country that sentences children as young as 14 to life without the possibility of parole.
Take that all as you will. Obviously it makes me rather uncomfortable and I don't really approve of the situation. Others are damn proud of the way we handle things and would if anything say we need to double down and get even harder in our stances on crime.
Good points.
Drunk driving is a huge problem here in the US (and maybe everywhere else in the world?). I think the penalty for this should be stiff, especially if you injure or kill someone as a result of drunk driving. Isn't it a felony crime in Canada? But here, we have a scale of inebriation levels with various penalties.
He's young but that's not an excuse. He got off lightly IMO.
Very true. Over 10,000 people a year are killed by drunk drivers.
Has there been any article about the victims? The whole discussion seems horrendously sanitized to me. Those people had families, possibly now orphaned, so the cost in lives destroyed is much higher than "four people" sounds. It would be one thing if justice were served, but I can't imagine what a surviving parent or child is going through watching this douchemaster skate through this farce.
SlaveToDorkness wrote: So.... He's still not paying for killing four people? Just for violating parole?!
They can't try him again for the original crime because of double jeopardy. All they can do is punish him for his more recent crime of parole violation.
SlaveToDorkness wrote: So.... He's still not paying for killing four people? Just for violating parole?!
They can't try him again for the original crime because of double jeopardy. All they can do is punish him for his more recent crime of parole violation.
And he was a minor at the time of the first crime(s)
Wealth, genes, cultural bias and a propensity for the absurd are all to blame for the original sentencing.
BobtheInquisitor wrote: Has there been any article about the victims? The whole discussion seems horrendously sanitized to me. Those people had families, possibly now orphaned, so the cost in lives destroyed is much higher than "four people" sounds. It would be one thing if justice were served, but I can't imagine what a surviving parent or child is going through watching this douchemaster skate through this farce.
I looked around a bit and this was the best I could find, its quite long so I will post the relevant part in a spoiler:
Spoiler:
What the Victims Were Doing Before the Crash
On the night of June 15, 2013, Eric Boyles and his wife, Hollie, were enjoying a night at their Burleson, Texas, home, catching up with their 21-year-old daughter, Shelby, who was home on break from nursing school. After dining on a family favorite meal of fried chicken, Eric Boyles said the three curled up on the couches in their living room to watch a movie.
Down the street, Kevin and Alesia McConnell were hosting a high school graduation party for their family friend, Evan Jennings. As the party wound down, Pastor Brian Jennings, Evan's father, loaded up his white pick-up truck with the tables and folding chairs they had borrowed from the church for the party.
"It was an awesome night. If I had to choose the way I wanted to spend my last night to see Brian, you know, that's how I would have set it up," Kevin McConnell told ABC News' "20/20."
In the same neighborhood, Ethan Couch, then 16, was having a party of his own. Couch, who had allegedly been living unsupervised at his parents' second home on Burleson-Retta Road, invited over a few friends and the teens spent the night playing beer pong and taking shots of the grain alcohol Everclear, according Garret Ballard, one of Couch's friends who was at the party.
What Brought Everyone to Burleson-Retta Road
Around 11 p.m., the movie that the Boyles family was watching had just ended when Hollie and Shelby noticed some commotion outside of their house. Eric Boyles said the three walked out the front door to find a wrecked Mercury Mountaineer had spun out and crashed into their neighbor's culvert.
The shaken up driver 24-year-old Breanna Mitchell was on her way home from a catering job. While Mitchell used Shelby Boyles' cell phone to call her mother for help, Eric Boyles carried a mailbox that had been knocked over by the Mountaineer up to his house.
Meanwhile, at the McConnell's, 12-year-old Lucas McConnell asked his mother if he and his friend, Isaiah McLaughlin, could ride with his godfather, Pastor Brian Jennings, to help return the tables and folding chairs that the families used for the graduation party.
As the three were traveling down Burleson-Retta Road, they saw the Mountaineer on the side of the road and Jennings pulled over to help. Lucas McConnell told "20/20" that the pastor told the two boys, "Y'all sit tight, I'll be back in just a minute."
"And that was like the last thing that he said to us, and then he just got out of the car," McConnell said.
And back at Ethan Couch's house, the party was going strong until Starr Teague, the only teen at the party who wasn't drinking, told Couch she needed to get to a convenience store. Despite many of the teens telling Couch he was too drunk to drive, all eight of them piled into Couch's red Ford F-350, six in the cab of the truck and two in the truck bed.
In deposition tapes obtained by ABC News, Teague testified, "I was very, very hesitant. It didn't feel right getting in."
The Moment of the Fatal Accident
As Pastor Jennings, Hollie and Shelby Boyles and Mitchell were waiting on the side of the road, Ethan Couch pulled out of his driveway. A highly-intoxicated Couch sped down the narrow two-lane country road, reportedly travelling at nearly 70 miles per hour and even playing chicken with oncoming cars, according to Tarrant County Assistant Criminal District Attorney Richard Alpert.
In deposition tapes obtained by ABC News, Couch's friend, Starr Teague, testified, "I was yelling at him that he needed to get over. And when he swerved, the back tires jerked, and we skidded off into the side ditch."
Another passenger in the truck, Garrett Ballard, testified he "just remembered seeing something in the road and then loud bang, then I remember being in the air."
Couch's reckless driving set off a chain reaction that resulted in a horrific and fatal scene. Assistant Criminal District Attorney Richard Alpert explained to "20/20" that swerving back over caused Couch to go off the road and hit the disabled SUV and all four people standing around the car. Couch's truck then hit Brian Jennings' vehicle and knocked it across the roadway into on-coming traffic.From inside his home, Eric Boyles heard an explosion that shook his house.
"I didn't know what it was. I didn't think that it would involve my wife and daughter. But I knew immediately it wasn't good," Boyles told "20/20."
He went back outside in search of his wife and daughter and was horrified at the chaotic scene unfolding in front of his house. Car parts, bodies and debris were scattered everywhere, he said.
"Once I found Hollie and, and I knew that ... she was gone. Then it was a matter of 'OK, so where is Shelby?'" Boyles said. And about 20 feet down the road, Boyles found the body of his daughter thrown up against a fence.
Kevin McConnell, Pastor Brian Jennings's best friend, then drove upon the wreck.
"The debris in the road that I saw was the chairs that we had been taking back to the church and my heart just sank. I was like, 'Oh, my God, it's Brian,'" McConnell recounted. McConnell scrambled out of his car and found Jennings lying in a ditch.
Just moments later, Brian Jennings' wife, Shaunna Jennings, who was driving home from her son Evan Jennings' graduation party, arrived on the hellish scene. "I saw him [Brian] and knew that it wasn't good because I could see Kevin was doing CPR on him. It's almost like watching a movie. It's not like it's happening to you. But it was," Shaunna Jennings told "20/20."
Where Ethan Couch Was Found After the Accident
News of the horrific accident on the quiet country road quickly spread on social media. About a quarter mile from the scene of the wreck, Shanna Clark and her teenage son, Corbin, were driving down the road when they came upon a passed out teenager lying in a ditch. Shauna pulled off the road to tend to the shaggy-haired teen who was only wearing a pair of swim trunks.
"Stay with him," Shanna Clark recalled to "20/20" instructing her son. "I am gonna go down here and try to find help."
Corbin Clark told "20/20" that a disoriented Couch, who had a scratch on his back and blood on his chest, eventually woke up.
"'Hey man, I am, I am Ethan, I can get you out of all of this.' And I was like ... I guess he thought I was involved," Corbin Clark recalled.
Once Shanna Clark arrived back at the scene with officers, she said Couch resisted their attempts get him medical attention. As the officers tried to calm him down, the belligerent teen struggled and said, "I can't afford an ambulance. I can't afford this."
What Happened After Ethan Couch Admitted Guilt
Following the crash that rattled the tiny town of Burleson, prosecutors charged Ethan Couch with four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault. Couch admitted guilt, and the sentencing hearing that followed garnered international attention and sparked outrage.
At the December 2013 hearing, Couch's powerhouse legal team called prominent psychologist Dr. G. Dick Miller to the stand to testify on Couch's behalf. Miller claimed that Couch's wealthy upbringing and a lack of consequences for his actions caused him to suffer from "affluenza."
During his deposition, Miller said he had "strongly" recommended in the criminal sentencing that Couch needed to be separated from his parents and that their parenting "strongly enabled" the deadly accident.
Assistant Criminal District Attorney Richard Alpert said Miller "got up there and he talked about the fact that the reason for this crime was he was a child of privilege and his parents didn't say no to him. It was ridiculous."
But while the prosecution advocated for 20 years behind bars, the judge sentenced Ethan Couch to 10 years of probation and time in a rehab facility.
What Happened to the Victims and Their Families
Since the fatal June 2013 crash, six separate civil suits have been filed against Ethan Couch, his parents, Tonya and Fred Couch, and the Couch family business, Cleburne Sheet Metal.
Family members of victims who were killed in the crash -- Pastor Brian Jennings, Breanna Mitchell and Hollie and Shelby Boyles -- have all settled their suits.
The family of Sergio Molina, a teen who was thrown from the bed of Couch's truck, filed and settled a suit on his behalf. Molina suffered a serious brain injury and can no longer speak or move.
Additionally, the families of Lucas McConnell and Isaiah McLaughlin, who were in Pastor Brian Jennings's white truck at the time of the crash, filed and settled suits with the Couch family.
All the cases settled without the defendants admitting fault.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2016/04/21 09:34:46
Sorry for my spelling. I'm not a native speaker and a dyslexic.
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