Prosecutors say they can't appeal teen's probation sentence in 'affluenza' DWI deaths

[Newsjock]

Source: Associated Press

Prosecutors said Monday that a North Texas teen's probation sentence for a drunken wreck that killed four pedestrians frustrates them, too, but they haven't found a way to seek a stiffer sentence.

The case of 16-year-old Ethan Couch has stirred outrage both in Texas and nationally, with both the presumptive Republican and Democratic nominees for Texas governor ripping the sentence in recent days. Couch was driving in June with a blood alcohol level of 0.24 percent — three times the legal limit for an adult — when he rammed his pickup truck into a crowd of pedestrians in rural Tarrant County, killing four people and severely injuring two others.

District Judge Jean Boyd gave Couch 10 years' probation last Tuesday after a sentencing hearing in which Couch's attorneys argued his wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility — an affliction one witness called "affluenza." Prosecutors had asked for a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

Melody McDonald, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office in Tarrant County, which has been inundated with calls for action in the case, said Monday that prosecutors frustrated by the sentence could not find any roads to an appeal.

Read more: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/headlines/20131216-tarrant-prosecutors-say-they-can-t-appeal-teen-s-probation-sentence-in-dwi-deaths.ece

[Glassunion]

1. It's not the kids fault

His parents are rich and white.

He can't go back and be un-rich any more than he can stop being white. I think it's covered by the ADA.

[leftyohiolib]

2. well then fire the prosecutor and take his license

[FrodosPet]

4. Poe's law check

???

[Jim__]

3. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll

&feature=player_detailpage

[exboyfil]

5. I would like to see how other drunk driving deaths

involving juveniles have been handled in the past in Texas. Here are some examples I was able to find:

************************
This is exactly on point and the damage done is less than Couch -

http://www.tdcaa.com/node/1543

A 16-year-old boy was sentenced Monday to 20 years in prison for driving intoxicated and causing a collision in Tyler that killed a pregnant woman and seriously injured a young girl.

Jaime Arrellano, of Carthage, pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxicated manslaughter and one charge of intoxicated assault. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for causing the death of Martha Fidela Mondragon, 31, of Tyler, in the June 23 wreck. Arrellano was also sentenced to 16 years in prison for causing the death of Ms. Mondragon's unborn child and 10 years for injuring 6-year-old Bianca Mondragon.
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http://www.wlwt.com/news/local-news/butler-county/Driver-pleads-guilty-at-fatal-crash-trial/-/13601510/19358822/-/nwuj6/-/index.html

17 year old driving on suspended license killed motorcyclist when he turned into him.

Hensley was sentenced to a suspended six-month sentence in the juvenile prison system, 200 hours of community service and was banned from obtaining a driver's license until he is 21.

Here is an adult:

"A Texas woman who caused a deadly crash after consuming 21 drinks in four hours and driving the wrong way on a highway was sentenced to 38 years in prison Friday.
In a surprise move Thursday, Nicole Baukus, 23, changed her plea to guilty and was sentenced on two counts of vehicular manslaughter homicide and one count of vehicular assault."


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2383940/Nicole-Baukus-Sobbing-wrong-way-drunken-driver-killed-teenagers-binging-alcohol-sentenced-38-years.html#ixzz2nhaGvQdv
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It is who you know:
http://www.tdcaa.com/node/1211
"A judge's daughter convicted of intoxication manslaughter for a drunken driving crash that killed her boyfriend will serve four months in the county jail as a condition of her probation.

But Elizabeth Shelton, a 20-year-old University of St. Thomas student, avoided a trip to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice largely because the victim's family pleaded for leniency, one juror said Tuesday.

The daughter of state District Judge Pat Shelton was allowed to go home with her mother after the jury's verdict was announced, marking an end to her seven-day trial. She will be on probation for the next eight years. The family declined to comment."

She will remain free until she completes her classes in December. Then she will begin to serve her jail term, the minimum required for probationers convicted of intoxication manslaughter.

She also must pay a $10,000 fine and will face a five-year prison sentence if her probation is revoked.

Again it is who you know. She had been drinking prior to crash but off course since she rabitted they did not get a reading. Some reason she was found not guilty of leaving.

"A Texas jury recommended 10 years of probation for a former state legislative aide who struck and killed a woman with her car then drove away."

Gabrielle Nestande, 25, was spared the sentence of up to 10 years in prison that she could have received for criminally negligent homicide in the May 2011 death of Courtney Griffin, 30, of Austin, the Austin American-Statesman reported Friday.



Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/02/24/Driver-gets-probation-for-traffic-death/UPI-55931361760497/#ixzz2nhbHHRGb


Another adult
The former Tech student, who is now 23 years old, was sentenced last week to 15 years in prison for intoxicated manslaughter with a vehicle. She will have to serve half her sentence before she is eligible for parole.

The greatest tragedy in the case was the death of a 54-year-old woman in the high-speed rear-end collision on Oct. 23, 2010. Three others in the car with the victim were injured, as was a passenger in the Tech student’s car.
http://lubbockonline.com/editorials/2012-12-05/our-view-sentence-manslaughter-case-should-send-powerful-message#.Uq_Q5PRDuSo

Maybe Texas has gotten softer over time

Dec. 15, 2004, 8:40PM

Jury shocks courtroom, sentences teen to prison

Associated Press

LONGVIEW -- An East Texas jury shocked a packed courtroom Wednesday when it sentenced a high school junior to nine years in prison for killing a former schoolmate in a drunken driving collision.

Many of the 80 people who attended the sentencing gasped and some sobbed as the judge read the verdict for 17-year-old Natalie Michelle White. The Pine Tree High School student pleaded guilty a week ago to intoxication manslaughter in the August death of Lauren Mackenzie Frazier, 18.

White's attorney Ebb Mobley had asked for 10 years probation for his client, who was 16 at the time of the wreck. Mobley said he has not decided whether to appeal and declined to comment further.

[Kimowen84]

6. I was also convicted to prison

Age 19 I unfortunately caused my friends passing, in a car accident where my blood alcohol content was .09, just above the legal limit.
At age 23 I pled guilty with no plea bargain ever being offered. A few months later exactly four years after the accident I was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Of which I did 3 1/2 years and still had 4 1/2 years on parole. I did well before I went to jail and have done well since being home. My parents are also wealthy and white.