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‘Affluenza’ drunk driver who killed four now free after serving two years
WaPo ^ | 04-02-2018 | Alex Horton

Posted on 04/02/2018 3:13:42 PM PDT by NRx

The math comes out to precisely 180.

That is how many days Ethan Couch served for each of the four people he killed while driving drunk on June 15, 2013. He was speeding at 65 mph when he plowed his father’s Ford F-350 into a group of people on the roadside helping a stranded motorist outside Fort Worth. He was 16 at the time.

Couch, now 20, was released from Tarrant County jail on Monday after serving two years, or 720 days, for a parole violation — not for the deaths of four people.

His release will close a chapter on the story of a teenager turned adult struggling with a bout of “affluenza” that his legal team claimed left him unable to tell right from wrong because of his family’s wealth. The case took a bizarre turn in 2015 after a video of Couch drinking, a violation of his probation, surfaced online and appeared to trigger an escape to Mexico with his mother.

The incident also prompted a national discussion about how privilege and money appear to bolster legal defenses beyond access to elite lawyers.

...Couch, drunk, with traces of Valium in his blood and driving a truck filled with seven other teenagers, left the dark two-lane road and crashed into Mitchell’s vehicle. The collision killed Mitchell, the Boyleses and Jennings before slamming into Jennings’s truck, sending the vehicle into traffic. Body parts and wreckage were scattered for nearly 300 feet, D Magazine reported.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Local News
KEYWORDS: affluenza; alcohol; couch; ethancouch; fortworth; mexico; tarrantcounty; texas
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Every time I am reminded of this @$$ hat my blood boils. He should have been jailed for life.
1 posted on 04/02/2018 3:13:43 PM PDT by NRx
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To: NRx

In the US you get all the justice you can afford, it’s just an inverse curve.


2 posted on 04/02/2018 3:18:34 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: NRx

What a disgusting joke. And yet the local rich guy here - John Goodman from Wellington, FL, decent guy but wrong place, wrong time to be drunk - his trial was a classic class envy showcase. Not saying he shouldn’t be doing the time. He took someone’s life. I’m saying so should this kid.


3 posted on 04/02/2018 3:21:56 PM PDT by time4good
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To: NRx

The argument was that his parents didn’t teach him right from wrong. If that excuse is to be accepted then both of his parents should have been tried and served a typical sentence for vehicular homicide and the kid put into a program to teach him right from wrong. The USMC might suffice for that.


4 posted on 04/02/2018 3:22:35 PM PDT by TigersEye (This is the age of the death of reason.)
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To: mad_as_he$$

Hey, it worked for Ted Kennedy. He murdered a woman and go away with it where an average Joe would have died in prison.


5 posted on 04/02/2018 3:23:05 PM PDT by TonyM (UPS)
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To: NRx

Obviously we must ban vehicles and certain vehicle features, it’s “common sense car control.”
/ Obvious sarc.

This idiot shouldn’t be free, the sentence didn’t fit the crime.


6 posted on 04/02/2018 3:23:37 PM PDT by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: NRx

As a FW resident, this hits close to home.

Tarrant County (Fort Worth) is jokingly called “Tolerant County” because of cr@p like this.


7 posted on 04/02/2018 3:23:54 PM PDT by fwdude (History has no 'sides;' you're thinking of geometry.)
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To: TigersEye

“The USMC might suffice for that.”


Or most FReeper parents.

.


8 posted on 04/02/2018 3:25:45 PM PDT by Mears
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To: fwdude

FW resident here as well (in spite of moniker). I remember how upset I was that this puke is only serving time because he screwed up his probation. His mom is in trouble again, I believe.

News story I heard on WBAP was interesting, “this boy, now a man” blech


9 posted on 04/02/2018 3:28:19 PM PDT by DallasGal (When your honor, integrity and trustworthiness are gone, you are nothing.)
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To: NRx
This punk will be back on the police radar in no time ...
the term is recidivism.
10 posted on 04/02/2018 3:32:01 PM PDT by BluH2o
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To: NRx

What an obscenity! I am surprised that this sentence stood without being overturned, so much for justice.


11 posted on 04/02/2018 3:36:03 PM PDT by The Deplorable Miss Lemon (If illegals are here to do the jobs Americans won't do why are so many illegals on welfare?)
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To: NRx

‘JuiceStice” ain’t what it used to be in Texas. It seems to have lost a bit of its bite.


12 posted on 04/02/2018 3:39:14 PM PDT by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
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To: DallasGal

I don’t think there is an ounce of remorse in him.


13 posted on 04/02/2018 3:43:34 PM PDT by fwdude (History has no 'sides;' you're thinking of geometry.)
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To: NRx
had it been my family it killed, the judge would never have seen this day...
14 posted on 04/02/2018 3:58:47 PM PDT by Chode (You have all of the resources you are going to have. Abandon your illusions and plan accordingly.)
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To: NRx

I believe in the Law until it interferes with Justice.


15 posted on 04/02/2018 4:05:41 PM PDT by SkyDancer ( ~ Just Consider Me A Random Fact Generator ~ Eat Sleep Fly Repeat ~)
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To: fwdude

Absolutely zero.


16 posted on 04/02/2018 4:07:32 PM PDT by DallasGal (When your honor, integrity and trustworthiness are gone, you are nothing.)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...
...“affluenza” that his legal team claimed left him unable to tell right from wrong because of his family’s wealth. The case took a bizarre turn in 2015 after a video of Couch drinking, a violation of his probation, surfaced online and appeared to trigger an escape to Mexico with his mother.
Thanks NRx.

17 posted on 04/02/2018 4:09:56 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (www.tapatalk.com/groups/godsgravesglyphs/, forum.darwincentral.org, www.gopbriefingroom.com)
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To: NRx

Since the State did not provide justice it appears fitting that a member of the family who were the victims of this criminal sees that a just punishment is administered. I know that would be my approach.


18 posted on 04/02/2018 4:11:51 PM PDT by glennaro
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To: NRx

Just saw this on the local news. I wonder how much the family paid the judge for his original ruling? This judge needs investigating....disgusting. Didn’t’ know right from wrong? What utter BS!


19 posted on 04/02/2018 4:33:27 PM PDT by Envisioning (Carry safe, always carry, everyday, everywhere.)
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To: NRx
the four people he killed while driving drunk

We need to ban this dangerous drug.

20 posted on 04/02/2018 4:46:52 PM PDT by NobleFree ("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
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