Author Topic: I wish this was an onion article  (Read 7903 times)

slugsworth

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I wish this was an onion article
« on: December 12, 2013, 06:48:29 PM »

gecko10x

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #1 on: December 12, 2013, 07:09:54 PM »
My wife told me about this today and I was absolutely horrified!

LalsConstant

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2013, 06:00:52 AM »
My ex-uncle killed two people and did tens of thousands of dollars orthodox of property damage and endangered dozens of others while DUI.

His sentence?   7 years probation thanks to some careful maneuvering by an expensive attorney with lots of intellect and no scruples.  I will spare you all he details.  And no this wasn't in Texas.

I feel for the families of the victims because I have been there.  They have been robbed of closure and any sense of justice or that society at large cares they have been wronged.

I at least got closure when the legal defense my murdering bastard ex uncle paid for bankrupted him.   He tried to do it again and was quite surprised his free public defender did not lie about his medical conditions for him and this time his ass was off to jail.

This kid has the resources to get away with it again next time.  And there will be a next time because he did not learn anything.

He got a better deal than my uncle though, 2.5 years per cold blooded slaughter is better than 3.5 so I guess negligent manslaughter is cheaper in bulk.

randymarsh

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2013, 06:42:45 AM »
Stories like these have me conflicted.

There should be consequences when you fuck up this badly. Probation and a stint at Club Rehab is not any sort of reasonable consequence. 4 people are dead, more seriously injured, and this dude is just continuing on as normal.

On the other hand, I don't know if locking him up for 20+ years really does anything. Prevent him driving impaired again but it's possible he would turn his life around. The people aren't coming back regardless. He also is 16 and while you know right and wrong at that age, it's not a secret that teenagers have poor impulse control and aren't good at decision making.

Then again, driving 30 MPH over the speed limit, drunk, and high on Valium at 16 was never even on my radar.

I don't get why the judge couldn't have given like 1 year or something? The article doesn't mention anything about his license being revoked either. Surely it was revoked for 10+ years...right?

rocksinmyhead

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2013, 07:17:31 AM »
Then again, driving 30 MPH over the speed limit, drunk, and high on Valium at 16 was never even on my radar.

Right?!??!

I don't get why the judge couldn't have given like 1 year or something? The article doesn't mention anything about his license being revoked either. Surely it was revoked for 10+ years...right?

Agreed, on the point that 20 years/completely destroying his life might be overkill due to his age, but the kid NEEDS to go to prison, even if it's just for a year. He needs to realize HE FUCKING KILLED PEOPLE and when you do that, you get locked up. Hopefully that will cure his "affluenza" (although he may then just become your standard run-of-the-mill degenerate)

Dezrah

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2013, 07:48:34 AM »
If the defense's theory was that this was basically his parent's fault for not teaching him about right/wrong and upholding consequences, I think there's a good case for a wrongful death civil suit from the victims' families.  If successful, that could very well wipe out everything the parents own.  Again, nothing can bring the victims back, but perhaps it can help.

AustinKat

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2013, 09:19:12 AM »
If the defense's theory was that this was basically his parent's fault for not teaching him about right/wrong and upholding consequences, I think there's a good case for a wrongful death civil suit from the victims' families.  If successful, that could very well wipe out everything the parents own.  Again, nothing can bring the victims back, but perhaps it can help.

Workin' on it: http://www.cleburnetimesreview.com/local/x439239957/Fifth-lawsuit-filed-against-teenage-drunk-driver

CommonCents

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2013, 09:31:35 AM »
Agreed, on the point that 20 years/completely destroying his life might be overkill due to his age, but the kid NEEDS to go to prison, even if it's just for a year. He needs to realize HE FUCKING KILLED PEOPLE and when you do that, you get locked up. Hopefully that will cure his "affluenza" (although he may then just become your standard run-of-the-mill degenerate)

Let me preface this with saying I'm horrified at the sentence.  That said, regarding "needing" to go to prison, I will say I've heard that statisically, young people who go to prison basically tend to come out as hardened criminals rather than reformed.  Unfortunately, they learn bad behavior - or rather, ways of committing crimes while in there.  (I'm not sure if these studies adjust for people who committed crimes like this versus say, premeditated murder.)

mpbaker22

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2013, 09:45:13 AM »
20 years would have been a bit much, but I heard he would have been out on probation in 2.  I think they could have done a lot better than this bullshit.  Obviously it wasn't done on purpose, but he killed FOUR people.  How do you not go to prison?

rocksinmyhead

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2013, 09:54:35 AM »
Agreed, on the point that 20 years/completely destroying his life might be overkill due to his age, but the kid NEEDS to go to prison, even if it's just for a year. He needs to realize HE FUCKING KILLED PEOPLE and when you do that, you get locked up. Hopefully that will cure his "affluenza" (although he may then just become your standard run-of-the-mill degenerate)

Let me preface this with saying I'm horrified at the sentence.  That said, regarding "needing" to go to prison, I will say I've heard that statisically, young people who go to prison basically tend to come out as hardened criminals rather than reformed.  Unfortunately, they learn bad behavior - or rather, ways of committing crimes while in there.  (I'm not sure if these studies adjust for people who committed crimes like this versus say, premeditated murder.)

Yeah, I hear ya and that totally makes sense. I feel like this is a somewhat unusual situation, though. I guess by "needs to go" I just meant without the shock to the system of ACTUALLY GOING TO PRISON (especially "shocking" because probably no one he knows has ever gone to prison), I don't see how his behavior is likely to change.

CommonCents

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2013, 12:12:42 PM »
Agreed, on the point that 20 years/completely destroying his life might be overkill due to his age, but the kid NEEDS to go to prison, even if it's just for a year. He needs to realize HE FUCKING KILLED PEOPLE and when you do that, you get locked up. Hopefully that will cure his "affluenza" (although he may then just become your standard run-of-the-mill degenerate)

Let me preface this with saying I'm horrified at the sentence.  That said, regarding "needing" to go to prison, I will say I've heard that statisically, young people who go to prison basically tend to come out as hardened criminals rather than reformed.  Unfortunately, they learn bad behavior - or rather, ways of committing crimes while in there.  (I'm not sure if these studies adjust for people who committed crimes like this versus say, premeditated murder.)

Yeah, I hear ya and that totally makes sense. I feel like this is a somewhat unusual situation, though. I guess by "needs to go" I just meant without the shock to the system of ACTUALLY GOING TO PRISON (especially "shocking" because probably no one he knows has ever gone to prison), I don't see how his behavior is likely to change.

I don't disagree.  I just wish we had a better system overall.

MrsPete

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #11 on: December 13, 2013, 04:58:48 PM »
My daughter told me about this story today, and I asked her where the judge's new beach house is located.  I can't see why any judge would make so stupid a decision. 

I suppose the kid's untouchable now -- he cannot be re-tried for the same crime.  But the judge should be disbarred.  Or disciplined in some way for making such a horrific choice. 

However, I do believe that he'll get what's coming to him in the end.  He does have 10-years of probation, and I'd be surprised if Mr. Affluenza could go that long without doing something else stupid -- and that'll put him behind bars.  Hopefully. 

Jamesqf

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #12 on: December 13, 2013, 07:59:36 PM »
I really think the 'affluenza defense' might backfire on the parents.  They, or at any rate the lawyer they hired, effectively admitted in court that the kid's actions were their fault.  That's going to make it pretty hard to defend the wrongful death/injury lawsuits - and I expect there's a lawyer feeding frenzy going on right now trying to sign up victims' families. 

I suspect kiddo isn't going to be in that fancy rehab for very long, after mom & pop lose everything.

mm1970

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #13 on: December 13, 2013, 08:10:21 PM »
Many years ago that happened here (google David Attias) and he basically got away with it due to insanity, and now he's "cured".

Capsu78

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2013, 08:09:17 AM »
Horrified as well...
A couple of points-  This kid wouldn't have lasted a night in county jail- just a fact.

However, when I heard the defense, and the role the kids parents played in rationalizing the defense, I thought "Why not give the parents the choice to serve the sentence to them for 10 years each for "reckless parenting".

But if you click the link above about the lawsuits that are being filed, I now realize their world is about to come crashing down on the them- truck registered to his fathers business, his business will be up for grabs by the lawyers of relatives of the victims...who will get a "check", but nothing that can ever make them whole.

This family is going to be destroyed... they threw everything at saving their kid, which has to be a tough nightmare for any parents.  This kid and his family did not catch a break , other than not losing their son to the sexual abuse of a prison.   Their are truly no winners here.

And as someone who sometimes stops to try to help people in distress, this story just gives me one more reason to worry about doing it.

Annamal

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #15 on: December 16, 2013, 12:03:18 PM »
I'm really suprised that the choices came down to cushy rehab or sending a 16 year old to jail.

Was restorative justice not an option?
http://www.restorativejustice.org.nz/cms/default.aspx

I mean, it usually happens in addition to other elements in a sentence but it appalls me that the kid couldn't even be bothered apologising to the families of the people he killed.

MgoSam

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #16 on: December 16, 2013, 12:13:54 PM »
I don't know if it is all judges in TX, but many of them are elected. So if this judge is publicly electable, bribes are essentially legal. If he gets removed from office because of a public uproar, he likely will get a cushy job working as a consultant for this defense lawyer's firm, or some other perch. And this is all perfectly legal, so far as I can tell.

MilStachian

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #17 on: December 16, 2013, 12:32:42 PM »
Hopefully the families will sue the kid and his parents in civil court, bankrupt them, and force them all to come to grips with their terrible character and lack of virtue.  Maybe once they have nothing they can rebuild themselves as better people.

mustachejd

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Re: I wish this was an onion article
« Reply #18 on: December 19, 2013, 11:01:40 AM »
Ugh, when I first heard about this, it made me so angry because it hit too close to home.  I'm working on a case where the defendant drove drunk and ran over and killed his wife.  Because of his connections and money, he was charged and convicted only of the DUI and received only minimum monetary fines and a license suspension.  But instead thanking his lucky stars that he only got hit with the DUI, he's actually appealing the decision based on some stupid technical argument.