That, ahem, symbol of ethical integrity Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has joined the public outcry against the criminal sentence given to Ethan Couch, the teenager who drove a pickup while intoxicated and caused an accident that killed four pedestrians and severely injured two of his passengers. Couch got off with a 10-year probated sentence and became the nation’s whipping boy.
Dehurst lost his father to a drunken driver as a toddler, and so the issue is personal to him. It was also personal when he called Allen police earlier this year and tried to curry favor for a jailed relative (see above link).
Dewhurst wants a state Senate panel to look into whether intoxication manslaughter sentencing is tough enough. Surely the politically savvy Dewhurst never considered that linking his name to the collective consternation over Couch would give him internet cred.
At least Dewhurst is questioning the system rather than attacking the kid (unlike many vengeance-minded Americans). Couch’s attorneys used the so-called “affluenza” defense, meaning the defendant’s wealthy upbringing and pampering meant he wasn’t completely responsible for his poor judgement.
Couch faced 20 years in prison, but District Judge Jean Boyd ordered him to rehab and sentenced him to what most people deemed a slap on the wrist.
Maybe it was.
Still, Couch was involved in an accident, not a premeditated act of violence. It’s unsettling to see and hear so many people across the country calling for a 16-year-old boy to be hung by his toenails over a fire pit.
Affluenza my ass
Many Americans recognize that for all the families who lost their loved ones the verdict handed down to Ethan Couch was NOT JUSTICE. Call it what you want but FOUR PEOPLE ARE DEAD. One remains a VEGETABLE.
And Ethan Couch gets to jet set off to a California spa that is masquerading as a rehab facility for a year for walks on the beach, yoga classes, cooking classes and equestrian therapy. If you can’t see something is wrong with that you definitely must be from Texas.
It’s not “vengeance” Americans want. It’s fairness.
Delores,
I agree with everything you said….except the apparent “slap” towards Texans. I am a Texan, and I can assure you, I’ve not heard ONE person who agrees with this verdict or the author’s summary.
Not sure where you are from, but it is a bit ignorant to assume “Texans” are ignorant by what has happened.
“It’s unsettling to see and hear so many people across the country calling for a 16-year-old boy to be hung by his toenails over a fire pit”….
Funny, I haven’t heard any cry for such a punishment towards this sad unfeeling human being. I don’t think I’m alone in the feeling that the human being who apparently shows NO REMORSE about what he did is basically getting to go to counseling (and horseback riding, etc.) instead of actual punishment.
Perhaps the author would feel different if her loved ones bodies were found in her front yard and she had to continue to live in that presence EVERY DAY knowing the “human being” who did this is still living the privy lifestyle, with NO REMORSE. At what point should he begin to feel something?
I pass by this accident site frequently as it is appx. 2 miles from my home. I pray the families who have been affected can get justice in some way for what they have gone through.
The outcome of this stinking tragedy is not hard to figure out. The paid-off retired judge will kick back in retirement. Expect the miserable, snot-rag brat to never, ever recieve justice, however he will remain rich, and he will continue to be a pure loser. We can predict the pustule of a Tea-Bagging Mama clearly to avoid squareing up her outrageous sins. The sobering deal here is, this is nothing new hereabouts, no way Jo’se. In the same half-witted, Tea-Bagging stronghold of Cleburne, Tx., an impecunius, mentally retarded, young man recieved 75 years in a notorious Texas rat-hold of a prison a month ago.This sentence was for posession of a quarter of a hand-ful of weed. Anyone see anything wrong? Anyone with a hair on their butt? Should we all wave the flag and kiss Donald Trumps stinking ass? Our citizens should be throwing a fit, what the hell????
Whose on first?