RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Affluenza?

Anderson Cooper hammers psychologist who diagnosed lethal drunk driver with ‘affluenza’
By Arturo Garcia
Thursday, December 12, 2013 22:42 EST
Anderson Cooper 121213 [CNN]


CNN host Anderson Cooper grilled the psychologist who testified in court that the 16-year-old Texas drunk driver who killed four people suffered from “affluenza” and could not be held responsible for his actions.

Cooper pointed out to guest G. Dick Miller that District Judge Jean Boyd sentenced a 14-year-old poor Black teen to a 10-year-sentence within the state’s juvenile justice system, while Miller’s client, 16-year-old Ethan Couch — an affluent white teen — was given an extended probation in what Cooper described as resort-like conditions.

“Why is that okay for a 14-year-old poor kid, but for a 16-year-old well-off kid, they get to go have equine therapy,” Cooper asked Miller. “Does that seems fair?”

“There actually are Black people who have money, Anderson,” Miller responded. “I don’t know why you continue to make this a racial thing. I treat all races.”

Prosecutors argued for Couch to receive the maximum 20-year sentence for his actions on June 15, when he killed Hollie and Shelby Boyles, Breanna Mitchell and Brian Jennings. According to CNN, Couch reportedly told a passenger in his old car, “I’m Ethan Couch, I’ll get you out of this.”

The Boyles and Jennings were helping Mitchell, whose vehicle had broken down, when Couch crashed into them. His blood-alcohol level was later measured at 0.24, more than three times the legal limit for adults. CNN reported that the family of another victim, Sergio Molina, are filing a separate suit against Couch’s family. Molina was left paralyzed after the crash.

Miller testified that Couch’s parents used him as a tool for power grabs within their relationship while they were together, causing the teen to practically raise himself and use money to settle disputes instead of apologizing.
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“I’m Ethan Couch, I’ll get you out of this.”

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It's a ruling that could only have come from a liberal judge, with some agenda other than the law.

Judge Jean Boyd is a Republican judge who has presided over the 323rd Family District Court since 1995. Her office can be reached at 817-838-4600.

Affluenza?

Sounds like what the Kennedy family and various liberal celebutards suffer from. Oh, yeah. My wife, too.

texnat.org

Judge: Probation for du Pont heir in daughter rape because ‘he would not fare well’ in prison
By Tom Boggioni
Sunday, March 30, 2014 18:13 EDT


A Superior Court judge who sentenced an heir to the du Pont fortune to probation for raping his 3-year-old daughter wrote in her order that he “will not fare well” in prison and suggested that he needed treatment instead of time behind bars, according to Delaware Online.

Court records show that in Judge Jan Jurden’s sentencing order for Robert H. Richards IV she considered unique circumstances when deciding his punishment for fourth-degree rape. Her observation that prison life would adversely affect Richards confused several criminal justice authorities in Delaware, who said that her view that treatment was a better idea than prison is typically used when sentencing drug addicts, not child rapists.

Jurden gave Richards, who had no previous criminal record, an eight-year prison term, but suspended all the prison time for probation.

“Defendant will not fare well in Level 5 [prison] setting,” she wrote in her order.

“It’s an extremely rare circumstance that prison serves the inmate well,” said Delaware Public Defender Brendan J. O’Neill, whose office represents defendants who normally cannot afford a lawyer. “Prison is to punish, to segregate the offender from society, and the notion that prison serves people well hasn’t proven to be true in most circumstances.”

O’Neill explained that he has previously argued that case if a defendant was too ill or frail for prison, but he had never seen a judge cite it as a “reason not to send someone to jail.”

He added that the public might come to see Richards sentence as the result of “how a person with great wealth may be treated by the system.”

According to court records Richards is listed at 6 feet, 4 inches tall and weighing between 250 and 276 pounds.

Court records do not cite any physical illnesses or disabilities.

Richards, who is unemployed and supported by a trust fund, owns a 5,800-square-foot mansion in Greenville , Delaware, and also owns a home in the exclusive North Shores neighborhood near Rehoboth Beach.

His great-grandfather is du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont, and his father is Robert H. Richards III, a retired partner in the Richards Layton & Finger law firm.

The rape of his daughter came to light in December of 2007, when the girl, then 5, told her grandmother that Richards sexually abused her.

The grandmother, Donna Burg, said that the girl reported that her father told her it was “our little secret” but said she didn’t want “my daddy touching me anymore.”

The girl said her father molested her in the bedrooms of both her mother and brother in their home, according to the arrest warrant.

His wife, Tracy Richards told police he admitted abusing his daughter, when she confronted her then-husband, and that he explained , “it was an accident and he would never do it again.”

A lawsuit filed by his then-wife also accused him of molesting their 18-month-old son.

Richards was arrested and then freed on $60,000 secured bail while awaiting trial on the charges that could have put put him behind bars for years.

While defense attorney Joseph A. Hurley said that it makes sense to him that the judge would be concerned about Richards’ time in prison, stating, “Sure, they have protective custody, but that is solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. We’re not a third-world society,” Kendall Marlowe, executive director of National Association for Counsel for Children, said that individuals who abuse youngsters deserve to be punished.

“Child protection laws are there to safeguard children, and adults who knowingly harm children should be punished,” said Marlow.

“Our prisons should be more rehabilitative environments, but the prison system’s inadequacies are not a justification for letting a child molester off the hook.”

Affluenza alert: Rich Ferrari-driving businessman gets work release after 7th DUI
By Scott Kaufman
Sunday, May 18, 2014 15:16 EDT


Angry citizens are vowing to march on the Thurston County courthouse to protest the arrest of a wealthy man who was sentenced for just a year of work-release after his seventh arrest of driving under the influence.

Shaun Goodman was arrested after leading police on a chase that reached speeds of in excess of 100 miles per hour. Henry Griffen, a passenger in the Ferrari Goodman was driving, jumped out of the car when Goodman slowed down to take a corner. He then called 911.

“I jumped out of the car and now I’m calling you guys because I’m scared he might be looking for me,” Griffen told the 911 dispatcher. “He smoked them man. I mean he went so fast.”

At his sentencing hearing, Judge James Dixon noted that he not only had six previous DUIs, but had also recently graduated from a DUI course in Thurston County.

“This is akin to an individual with a loaded gun walking though downtown firing rounds,” Dixon said.

Nevertheless, when Goodman petitioned Judge Dixon to allow him to attend the Super Bowl in New Jersey for “what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see his hometown team play in the Super Bowl,” the judge allowed this “loaded gun” to leave the state to attend the game.

Now, instead of facing time in jail, Goodman was sentenced to a year of work release. The protestors contend that his sentencing indicates that the court system treats the rich differently than it does the poor when it comes to DUI offenses.

“And the judge has said at some point that he’s an important businessman in the community,” local resident Sam Miller said. “It wouldn’t be fair for him [and] his employees would suffer if he went to real jail. And my question is — what about the people that might suffer if he kills somebody?”

The lightness of Goodman’s sentence resembles the recent case of Ethan Couch, whose lawyer claimed he was not culpable in the deaths of four people he killed while driving drunk because he suffered from “affluenza.”

Watch video about his initial arrest via KOMO below.
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