So it looks like the other 16 year old who was sentenced to 20 years didn't even have a criminal history.
"Gladstone argued that Miller had no real criminal history" according to that article.
GUILTY TX - Ethan Couch 'Affluenza Teen' DUI driver who killed four gets probation, 2013 #2
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So it looks like the other 16 year old who was sentenced to 20 years didn't even have a criminal history.
"Gladstone argued that Miller had no real criminal history" according to that article.
A quick question, was Ethan charged with the theft?... That's what the difference is.
Please see post #356 by LillyP.
I finally found the link & yes, the daughter did seem like a level headed person, well spoken, & quite normal & nice. I feel sorry for her!! Of course, none of us gets to choose our parents. Some of us luck out & are blessed, others not so much so. Poor girl told her mom just a week before the wreck that Ethan would be drinking if left to live alone in the Burleson house. Mom ignored her! I'm so sorry for the daughter if she is receiving any flak for her mother's actions. It must be heartbreaking.
Yes that's what the articles seem to always focus on is the charge for stealing the vehicle.
It still doesn't make sense does it? Ethan, just 4 months prior was caught by police for another alcohol related offense and was still on probation for it the night of the 4 killings. He hadn't finished his community service hours, was the getaway driver caught on camera for stolen alcohol and also had Valium in his bloodstream (according to that 20/20 episode it said he had valium in his body)
I'm just wondering why wasn't Ethan charged with theft or anything for being the getaway driver when his friends stole the alcohol. I saw the video footage of it on the news a long time ago. Does anyone know where to view that video again?
Virgil certainly looks like a wolf. I really hope his wild instincts kicked in & he managed to survive. I don't imagine that he had a cushy life living with the Couch family. IMO, it would not be very pleasant living with a bunch of drunk, stoned people.
Everyday Grace
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Only thing I've read that says how it came to be that Ethan was driving his father's pickup that night:
http://www.dmagazine.com/publicatio...a-the-worst-parents-ever-ethan-couch?single=1
If not the case, I haven't seen or read it.
Possible that circumstances of Ethan's prior interaction with law enforcement re alcohol being conflated with the fatal night?
From the same article:
I've seen nothing that said that Ethan stole any vehicle. Another case that was compared with his was Eric Bradlee Miller who stole a truck. http://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article3840394.html#storylink=cpy Anything posted about EC stealing a truck is wrong AFAIK.
KaaBoom
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So if a drunk kid steals his parents car and kills four people, he gets probation. But if the kid steals someone elses car and kills just one person, he gets 20 years in prison. Because who he stole the car from is so much more important, then the fact that four innocent lives were lost, that the punishment increases from zero time to 20 years.:facepalm:
Judge Jean Hudson Boyd sure has a lot of supporters here.
So if a drunk kid steals his parent’s car and kills four people, he gets probation. But if the kid steals someone else’s car and kills just one person, he gets 20 years in prison. Because who he stole the car from is so much more important, then the fact that four innocent lives were lost, that the punishment increases from zero time to 20 years.:facepalm:
Judge Jean Hudson Boyd sure has a lot of supporters here.
I've asked you this repeatedly, and I haven't seen any response.
What source do you have that he stole the truck? I've posted articles that state the father lent it to him.
When you make claims on this board that are verifiable, you need to provide a link or concede you don't have a source.
Thank you.
MADD files petition to have Ethan Couch moved to adult court.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/loca...tition-have-couch-moved-adult-court/78622646/
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/loca...tition-have-couch-moved-adult-court/78622646/
I believe Tonya goes for her bond hearing either at 1:00 or 1:30 CT. I'm hoping that we can see it livestreaming either at nbcdfw.com or wfaa.com. I want to emphasize that this is only speculation on my part but if I can confirm, I will post it as a fact.
Yes, 1:30 central time today. I wonder how much "buffer" time her lawyer plans to build in to his travel today so that he doesn't have it announced nationally that he didn't show up to court with his client.
This should be an interesting reduction in bail hearing. Bail, as I understand it, is based on two things:
1. Gravity of the crime - hindering apprehension isn't a big crime
2. Flight risk - her flight risk is pretty significant, but maybe not since Ethan is now incarcerated
3. Ability to "write off" bond money without much difficulty - we'll see. That's the part that will be interesting today - how much disposable income does she actually have?
Additionally, it seems today she might enter a formal plea.
http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2016/01/11/affluenza-mom-tonya-couch-seeks-bond-reduction/
KaaBoom
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You are missing the entire point. Auto theft does not trump murder charges, ever (unless a large amount of money happens to change hands). I dont care if he stole the truck or not. We all know that the other kid, didnt come from a rich family, who gave him his own car at age 13. That doesnt make Ethan Couch better then the other kid, just because he is richer. Ethan Couch stole beer from a Walmart, so he is not beyond stealing, if thats what he has to do to get what he wants. The ONLY difference in the two cases was the amount of money their parents had, and the fact that one kid got his own car at age 13.
The contention was made that the judge made a totally reasonable and logical ruling. Whoever believes that I challenge you to find another case where a judge sentenced someone to 20 years for DUI manslaughter, but suspended the sentence, because they didnt steal a car in the commission of the crime. If you can find another case like that I will guarantee you that money played a roll in that case too.
Kaaboom, I think you're the one missing the point. As the law is written, accidentally causing someone's death in the commission of another felony is a much greater crime - under criminal statutes - than accidentally killing someone while not committing a felony.
Ethan wasn't committing a felony when he accidentally killed the 4 people, and Miller was when he accidentally killed the one person.
That's the point. Ethan didn't steal the truck he was driving, and Miller did and that changes the law. Not that I necessarily agree with it, but it's the law.
And the other point is, it's against board rules to purposely perpetuate a statement that isn't true.
And all you have to do is google "probation for DUI manslaughter" and you'll get hits that will take you all afternoon to read through. It's not uncommon.
Thank you for posting this. I signed the petition. It says they need 30,000 signatures by his next court date and right now it shows they only have under 500.
I wonder if they reach their goal of 30,000 - does this sort of petition have any real impact on the decision?
eta:
Also, This is the worst possible thing that could happen to Ethan now, right? All we can hope for is that the court transfers this to adult probation and then if/when he violates the adult probation then his luck has finally ran out and he would be headed to jail for a long time. If it doesn't get transferred to adult court, then it's all over for him in a few months? I still am not understanding this part .
Let's say this does not get transferred to adult court...then what? What is going to happen after he turns 19 since he is still on the original 10 year probation. This part really confuses me. If he gets lucky again and they don't transfer this to adult court what are his consequences going to be in the future while he is still on the 10 year probation seeing as they can't even hold him in jail past 19 as of now.
Cobra Jet
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So if a drunk kid steals his parent’s car and kills four people, he gets probation. But if the kid steals someone else’s car and kills just one person, he gets 20 years in prison. Because who he stole the car from is so much more important, then the fact that four innocent lives were lost, that the punishment increases from zero time to 20 years.:facepalm:
Judge Jean Hudson Boyd sure has a lot of supporters here.
We have the best judicial system in the world but it is far from prefect. People with money are always going to have a much better likelihood of being acquitted. In my opinion there are several reason, but I will list two. First and I don’t think this can be overstated, they can afford the best lawyers. In the case of the poor kid that killed one person he likely had one public defender without much experience. That public defender likely has a huge case load and can’t spend nearly the time required to mount a proper defense. In the case of Ethan Couch, I’m guessing he had an experienced “Law Firm” work on his case. They would have had a whole staff of people helping to get him acquitted. They are working hard to get their client little or no jail time and they are good at what they do. They have resources that the public defender could only dream of.
My second point is that I think people tend to place the wealthy above the rest of us working class folks. They tend to be more educated (perhaps not in this case) then us, dress nicer and so on. This type thing can sway people’s judgment even if only subconsciously. Remember that judges are not poor people. They are well paid and well educated and even though they are required to by unbiased, I’m sure that they can relate more to the wealthy person that they don’t see very often in their court much more than the poor people that they see day in and day out.
I think that the two things I listed are far more likely the cause of the disparity in the verdicts than bribery. I don’t know this judge and I’m not a supported but I would need some actual evidence that a bribery took place before I’m willing to call it such and I’m not even sure that the Couch family has the kind of money that it would take to outright bribe a judge
A little story to demonstrate my reasoning:
A good friend of mine was in sales and needed to wear a suit when visiting clients. He’s not a wealthy person what so ever. One day he was at the car dealership getting his car serviced. He is standing in line behind a man wearing jeans and a T-shirt. The guy in front tells the service manager he will need a loaner car. When it’s my friends turn, he tells the same service manager he will need a loaner car. Only one of them were given a loaner car. My friend was convinced it was because he was wearing a suit. Some may disagree, but he has countless stories of being treated better when wearing a suit then when wearing jeans. I think that perception counts more than we would like to think.
So if a drunk kid steals his parent’s car and kills four people, he gets probation. But if the kid steals someone else’s car and kills just one person, he gets 20 years in prison. Because who he stole the car from is so much more important, then the fact that four innocent lives were lost, that the punishment increases from zero time to 20 years.:facepalm:
Judge Jean Hudson Boyd sure has a lot of supporters here.
It's been explained umpteen times that Texas has had a shift in judicial philosophy about how to handle teen offenders since that kid got the 20 years in prison. Continuing to insist that pointing this out is de facto support for her EC sentence is highly disingenuous.
Don't know if it's been mentioned already, but MADD is circulating a petition asking that EC be transferred to adult court. I'm not sure if one has to be a Texas or even Tarrant County resident to sign it. It didn't make that clear, or perhaps I missed it.
http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/loca...tition-have-couch-moved-adult-court/78622646/
ETA: Okay, I see this has already been posted. Apologies.
All very good questions.
I signed the petition, though don't know if it will have any impact. They have 1066 sigs as of the time I signed it a few minutes ago.
Patently false, once again. The contention was made that the judge used logic based on a shift in judicial philosophy that occurred recently in Texas, which attempts to save juveniles rather than locking them up and throwing away the key. It's logic most (if not all) on this board disagree with in this instance, as it never appeared that this kid was salvageable, given his parents' refusal to work to teach him the concepts of responsibility and accountability. It's also logic which is probably not uniformly applied, subject to conscious as well as unconscious biases.
You insist that she applied no logic at all, reasonable or otherwise, and was paid off. Please link the source which provides proof of your accusation.
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