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NPR: No Jail for Teen with "Affluenza" Who Killed 4 In Crash


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http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/02/06/272385603/no-jail-for-teen-with-affluenza-who-killed-4-in-crash

Betcha didn't see this coming from Texas

A Texas judge has rejected a request from prosecutors that she send a teenager to jail for driving drunk and causing a crash last year that killed four people and seriously wounded two others.

The case grabbed attention across the nation in December when the boy's attorneys argued that the 16-year-old defendant suffered from "affluenza" — effectively, that he was coddled too much by his wealthy parents, who have never held him accountable for his actions.

The Texas teen who was legally intoxicated last June when he caused a crash that killed four people and seriously wounded two others, was in a Fort Worth court Wednesday. Note: NPR avoids identifying minors who are prosecuted as juveniles or are victims of crimes. Other news outlets have reported his name, however.

District Judge Jean Boyd ruled then that the teen would get 10 years of probation for causing the deaths. It was conditioned on his getting long-term psychological and addiction treatment. If the terms of the probation are violated, the teen could be put in prison.

The boy's parents agreed to send him to an undisclosed rehabilitation center in California that would reportedly cost them $450,000 a year — though there was no word on exactly how long he would likely be there.

Wednesday in Houston, Judge Boyd turned down a request from prosecutors that the teen be put in prison for up to 20 years for crimes related to the severe injuries suffered in the crash by two other teens. One of those young people, the Los Angeles Times writes, "suffered a brain injury and is no longer able to move or talk."

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Not that it will make any difference to the families who lost or had people injured, but I hope they sue the holy living hell out of that family.

IIRC, both the parents and their company are facing lawsuits, since the truck he was driving was a company truck. And I vote for "sue their pants off"...leave them with abso****inglutely nothing.
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I want to be critical, but…When I was young, and stupid, I drove drunk.  Really drunk.  I have driven the wrong way down a one way street, with my closest friends in my car.  It happened when I was 19/20 and it happened again when I was in my 30s.

 

I was lucky.  We were all lucky.  

 

And how old is this kid?

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I want to be critical, but…When I was young, and stupid, I drove drunk.  Really drunk.  I have driven the wrong way down a one way street, with my closest friends in my car.  It happened when I was 19/20 and it happened again when I was in my 30s.

 

I was lucky.  We were all lucky.  

 

And how old is this kid?

 

 

I was lucky I was never hit by a drunk driver but I never drove drunk.  btw, there is no excuse for the second time when you were in your 30's.

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I want to be critical, but…When I was young, and stupid, I drove drunk.  Really drunk.  I have driven the wrong way down a one way street, with my closest friends in my car.  It happened when I was 19/20 and it happened again when I was in my 30s.

 

I was lucky.  We were all lucky.  

 

And how old is this kid?

I dont think anyone is above reproach when it comes to some decisions.  The difference is how we handle the consequences of our actions.

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While any kid (spoiled or not) is perfectly well-equipped mentally to make the decision NOT to drive drunk, I do "get it" that the parents should be held ultimately responsible. 

 

I know this isn't really feasible, but if this nation saw one set of parents do jail time for their under-age child's horrible crime, it just might make better parents out of a lot of people and force teenagers to think twice about not thinking at all.

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Counch was 16 at the time of his DUI/mansluaghters. He allegedly blew 3 times the limit and also tested positive for Valium at the time of the crash..and if I recall, he stole the alcohol to begin with (2 cases of beer I think - video surveillance caught them).

 

He committed several felonies and he get's off by going to a Betty Ford (so to speak) clinic.

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I dont think anyone is above reproach when it comes to some decisions.  The difference is how we handle the consequences of our actions.

 

I agree to an extent but...

 

It's one thing if you have legitimate alcoholism that needs to be treated or you're a kid (without a developed pre-frontal cortex).  But if you are a grown man, it's time to act responsibly.

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Among the dead are 24-year-old Breanna Mitchell, whose car had broken down on the side of the road; Hollie Boyles and her 21-year-old daughter Shelby, who lived nearby and had come outside to help Mitchell; and Brian Jennings, a youth pastor who was also playing the role of good samaritan. Two of the seven passengers riding in Couch's truck were also seriously injured.

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Playing devils advocate so here's something brought up in the articles. He was tried as a juvenile, which is the issue here. Any jail sentence he received would be over on his 18th birthday then, so the judge took the avenue to keep him "under the thumb of the justice system" for the longest time possible.

 

Driving a car is an adult responsibility, and he committed an adult crime here. He should be going to adult jail as a result.

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I know one thing for sure.... i should've gone into the "rehab" business.  

 

$450k per year per resident???

really!!??

 

nothing but the nations finest for their little idiot, hell a good hotel room with room service probably would cost that in Cali.

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For the life of me I can't understand why you all hate the job creators so much. I mean, this kid's parents worked hard over the years to be able to provide him with the best justice money can buy. You have more money, you get more justice, what's the problem?

Being serious, I said at the time that those who saw the OJ trial as being about race really missed the point. As with our political system, the so-called justice system in this country has become a total joke, nothing more than a system of legalized graft.

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