Posted on 12/13/2013 9:09:09 AM PST by ek_hornbeck
(CNN) -- American lawyers have never been accused of lacking creativity in seeking to justify the nefarious deeds of their clients. Texas defense attorney Scott Brown, however, appears to have raised the bar to a new level by asserting the newly minted defense of "affluenza" to obtain leniency in a tragic vehicular homicide case arising out of the reckless driving of his very drunk and very rich 16-year-old client, Ethan Couch.
Affluenza may be a contender for a collection of odd and unlikely defenses that can trace their lineage back to the infamous (and some even say apocryphal) "Twinkie defense." The notorious junk food defense was asserted in psychiatric testimony as part of a broad claim of diminished capacity caused by depression with at least some success in the 1979 trial of Supervisor Dan White for the assassination of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Although White was charged with murder, the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The Oxford Dictionary defines the condition as "a psychological malaise supposedly affecting young people, symptoms of which include a lack of motivation, feelings of guilt, and a sense of isolation." Defense attorney Brown apparently succeeded in convincing soon-to-be retired juvenile Judge Jean Boyd that this spoiled rich kid syndrome diminished Ethan Couch's capacity to distinguish right from wrong.
'Affluenza': Is it real?
In the face of prosecution demands for 20 years in the slammer, the judge responded with a sentence of 10 years of probation and rehabilitation. Couch's rich daddy proposes to fund a trip to a $450,000 a year California rehab facility that offers treatment to those with way too much cash and free time on their manicured hands. I wish I was kidding about this, but I am not.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Apparently, failing to take responsibility for your actions, even when they kill innocent people, is no longer a crime. It's a mental illness - at least if your parents are wealthy and influential.
“We are living in the age of insanity.” - George Putnam
Our neighbor’s son was driving under the influence of a LEGAL drug XANAX I don’t know if he had it legally or illegally, but he had a wreck that killed a 14 year old girl and injured her brother. They threw the book at him. I feel sorry for his parents, he is an only child. But as our late Texas Gov. Anne Richards used to say “if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime” Only time I ever agreed with her. Jeff pleaded guilty and got 20 years in prison. He is about 23 years old. He could have gotten about 60 years, as there were several charges against him. I hope and pray that he comes out of prison with a better attitude. He suffered from AFFLUENCY too. Only child, parents both made great salaries, probaby never told him no, dad used drugs with him at home. They grew their own pot. Jeff came over here so stoned one time, that was the last time we let him in the house. But I still pray for his safety in prison, and hope he learned a lesson. But I don’t know that prison will make him a better person. Will wait and see. But he did the crime, he is doing the time.
If the boy had Affuenza, then the Judge must have had Influencea, brought on by a massive injection of green backs into his bank account.
As I’ve said before, Texas is a big place to get lost in. It took over five years to find the bodies of Madaline Murray O’Hair and her adult kids.
Like the KNOCK OUT ‘game’ The liberal black leaders, and news media act like it is a game. People have DIED.
2013: Drunk rich kid gets into a car wreck, kills 4 people, maims several others. He's no longer reckless an irresponsibile, he's a victim of mental illness. The consequences: counseling at a posh facility.
I thought "affluenza" was a joke when I first read about it. Sadly, this joke actually wins in a court of law.
Remember that old song...
Don’t trust your soul to no backwoods southern lawyer.
The judge in the town has blood stains on his hands.
This judge must have been paid off.
John Roberts was blackmailed into voting FOR ACA, too. I am certain of that
I spelled it wrong, AFFLUENZA
That's how the Left pathologized "racism," "sexism," "homophobia" etc - taking people's natural reactions to circumstances and making those reactions seem like mental illness.
Similarly, in the hands of the right attorney, "drunk, irresponsible spoiled rich brat" has become a victim of a trumped-up mental illness. All by attaching the right name to it.
Actually, the cure is prison, sharing a cell with Bubba the Axe Murderer, who will make him his b*tch, and when he tires of the little punk, the b*tch of the entire rest of the prison. . .
July 18, 1969 - Drunk young US Senator crashes car, kills passenger... no charges.
There is nothing new under the sun.
The attorney who came up with this trumped-up "mental illness" line of defense and the judge who enabled it should share a similar fate.
You (or the writer) left out the part about the judge now being able to retire.
'Cause see, the ghetto dwellers they commit crimes for just the opposite reason. That's why you need to give them all your stuff.
As far as I’m concerned, people who use their wealth as a get out of jail card are just the opposite side of the same coin as people who use their race victim status as a get out of jail card. They’re one and the same (OJ Simpson benefited from both!), and those who defend either are fools.
1969: Drunk rich kid gets into a car wreck, abandons woman passenger to drown. The consequences: re-elected to the U.S. Senate from Massachusetts several times until he finally dies 40 years later.
Alinsky fascism: if you dont treat Obama daddy drunk driver as a celebrity beyond Hitler’s touch, you are racist.
RAce card, wealth card, antiwealth superiority marxist card... yep... all birds of a feather.
Meanwhile, the deaths of four Americans in Bengahzi on the watch of a very wealthy Secretary of State has been largely forgotten.
...to suffocate, not drown. There was air in the car.
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