Let’s review the facts:
Ethan and his friends were driving stoned.
They attacked, without provocation, a group of people at night that they didn’t know.
They got out of their vehicle to engage in a physical altercation.
At every phase, they were in the wrong.
If you think this behavior is normal or innocent, you have a screw loose.
They intended to give him a justifiable ass whooping. They did not intend to kill him. They were convicted of aggravated assault and will do jail time.
The sentence is just.
“They intended to give him a justifiable ass whooping. They did not intend to kill him.”
When you stomp on an unconscious person’s chest so hard that you leave a boot print on their chest and kick them in the head so hard that you break their neck, that’s not intended as an “ass whooping”. That’s intended to kill.