Teen who killed 4, hurt 9 others in drunk driving just gets probation

reply to post by opethPA

Additionally cry me a river that this kid is only 16. The minute you decide to get behind the wheel you are accountable for your actions. I would say they should ban him from driving forever but it doesn't matter..criminals like this are selfish until or if they find sobriety for life and the chances are he will do it again and when he does, and if he kills yet another person he should never see the light of day again.

Your not a criminal for life when your 16. Do you remember when you were 16? You probably thought like most people that you had the entire world figured out and every adult on the planet was some kind of raging idiot for disagreeing with you.

I get where your coming from and this kid really, really messed up but age does play a factor in situations like this. I agree about his license though, I don't think he should be allowed to drive until he is off probation, that would be when he's 26 and we can all only hope he will understand the gravity of what he has done by then.

Should he violate his terms, hurt anyone else, ever again in this manner, I'll jump right on your bandwagon and advocate for throwing away the key.

Helious
Your not a criminal for life when your 16. Do you remember when you were 16? You probably thought like most people that you had the entire world figured out and every adult on the planet was some kind of raging idiot for disagreeing with you.

I have to put a disclaimer any time I post on threads like this because probably like many people here I lost a very close friend to a drunk driver so if i come off totally unreasonable it's not directed at anyone here.


The difference being..
When I was 16 I got yelled at by the bank manager for skateboarding on his property.
This selfish , pathetic, waste ended 4 lives and impacted 9 others.

reply to post by Helious

Do you remember when you were 16? You probably thought like most people that you had the entire world figured out and every adult on the planet was some kind of raging idiot for disagreeing with you.

Not every adult. Just most. And I still do.

If I had got busted at 16 with an alcohol violation I would have taken it seriously.

More serious than say… getting drunk and driving instead of following through with the terms of my parole about a prior alcohol incident. I would have attended that class and done the community service. I wouldn't have drink again and then driven shortly after getting cited for it.

Being young and dumb might make someone 'innocent' but like I said before this has to take a back seat to the bigger picture. Preventing future harm to innocents. Has he given reason to believe he's not safe in society right now?

Yes. Yes he has. He clearly was not taking the matter seriously. He was clearly not following through with the terms of his probation. The resulting deaths are clearly connected to that fact.

I agree about his license though, I don't think he should be allowed to drive until he is off probation

One glaring issue with this. He wasn't listening to the rules before, what reason do we have to believe he will listen to this one and not drive without a license? None really.

Should he violate his terms

We are in agreement there except I think he already has.

I just don't think we should risk it by giving him yet another chance to screw up. I think he needs prison time. How much I don't know. Like you said this isn't about vengeance, I don't think we should look at this like we are trying to ruin yet another life, but instead potentially save some. Maybe a couple years so he literally can't drink and drive for a while, and truly get the message across society is not okay with drunk people accidentally killing our families.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


I have to agree with you. My God, he killed 4 people! Four families are forced to live the rest of their lives without their precious loved one. The kid was already in trouble and went on to kill four people.

reply to post by Lucid Lunacy


My stance on this isn't concrete, I have found myself conflicted half way through typing even though I think the thoughts out of my head were completely rational. I stand behind what I said and what I think but with that said, I did not have his prior history before making those statements and in point of fact, I think I stated at some point that would be an additional factor.

I by no means am trying to limit or minimize the damage that this kid has done, it's frankly horrifying and unthinkable. I only tried to interject some rational thought about what should be done after a tragedy like this has already happened but mind you, I am not without outrage and anger about the scenario, it's horrendous and a serious problem in our country.

reply to post by Helious


No I wasn't getting the impression you were undermining or minimizing the tragedy.

I too was trying to interject rationality. I also stand by what I said. I think he's given us sufficient evidence to show he's not to be trusted, that he's not safe, for the time being. I think it's completely rational for us to take measures to prevent him potentially harming other innocent people right now.

Alcohol abuse wrecks too many lives and remains with a high death rate of circumstance so why should it remain legal when ALOT of people are DEAD from those drunken criminals. I mean its ridiculous that nothing has been done to outlaw it.

0 Tolerance for accidents through drunken driving.

This what happens when the country is ruled with money and entitlement.

I wonder if this would be the sentence for a poor kid.

the little twat would need locked up for his safety if any of those 4 had been my family i would do doughnuts on top of him with a car and claim i had lost control .

i am no angel when it comes to dui [ drunk driving ] a police man i know told me if you added the twice i was caught up in alchol terms it came to a inch in the bottom of a pint glass that inch of beer cost me £1650 plus 4 years off the road and i was not involved in any accident or anything .

this rich boy will have someone do his driving and if he is ever in trouble he will be out very soon because mom&dad are greasing the pockets of someone high up

Execution of the law is a good deterrent, unless of course it isn't as in this case where neither the guilty nor those contemplating driving at twice the legal BA will bat an eye at doing it again.

What makes this kid's life so valuable as to preclude any real punishment?
Poor kids get years for far lesser offenses than the deaths of 4 people but can't afford a great lawyer like this kids can.

Maybe they didn't want to scare any of the other well-to-do by thinking they too could be brought to justice for any crimes they commit, accidental or otherwise. In my mind drunk driving is no accident.

Given this was his second offense, not only should they have thrown the book at him, they should have buried him under the library.

Just because he's on probation doesn't mean he can't do the same thing all over again.
Chances are he will out on the road wasted again.

Had this kid been black we wouldn't have even heard about it because he would be starting his 25+ year sentence the following week after the accident

Given the albeit brief insight into his character provided by the article I guarantee he'll be violating probation left and right which will get him locked up repeatedly and his probation extended indefinitely unless he transforms into a completely different person.

He isnt really getting off all that easy. Once somebody with his personality type is "in the system" he'll never get out unless he gives up his life and starts a new one under a new identity in a new country and even then he'll just keep behaving badly and it will catch up to him all over again.

This is his chance to live a better life. Chances are he won't take it.

He must be from one of those 'special families'. He should be in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. There's people out there who was driving drunk, wrecked, and hurt their passenger who got 20 years. This is disgusting and someone needs to step in and do what is right. The prosecutor should be fired immediately and the judge investigated and fired immediately.

hknudzkknexnt
reply to post by buni11687

 

What do you want an eye for an eye? Haven't you heard that makes the whole world blind..

That is a tragic case. He needs to learn the value of human life, as well as everyone else.

But by ruining someones life make the world better?

Hell I don't know maybe force the guy to do good things. '

Or we can start up public hangings again.

Because honestly I think that would be effective

edit on 10-12-2013 by hknudzkknexnt because: (no reason given)

Because there is no rhyme nor reason to the penalties for intoxicated manslaughter in Texas. One person kills one other and gets 25 years, another kills four and gets probation. It's crap. I just hope that civilly, the parents of those he killed win quite the giant settlement from his parents since the justice system let them down so terribly.

hknudzkknexnt


What do you want an eye for an eye? Haven't you heard that makes the whole world blind..

No he should be sent down for 25 year like any other person who doesnt come from a privlaged family would!

All I can say is
W................T....................F?



Im speechless?


HOW THE HELL IS THAT EVEN A DEFENCE!!!!!!!!

How is being rich and spoiled a defence in the USA? HOW?!?!

The little **** should be big buba b***h right now.

Helious

You are suggesting basicly that another life be lost because of this tragedy and while I completely understand the outrage, I'm not sure I agree with the inferred remedy.

He should go to jail like anyone else would have!

Or is it too commiunist to have the same set of laws and punishments for the poor and rich?

Well...charming. I love how the defense used the arguments that Couch was a product of wealth and basically got whatever he wanted. The moment the judge ruled along with the defense's wishes, well, that's exactly what the judge did, too. The judge gave the kid and his family what they wanted--no jail time and some time in a fancy rehabilitation center.

Learning value = the kid gets whatever he wants no matter what he does or how many are injured/killed.

fred couch (ethan couchs father) is president of cleburne metal works llc.
i think the least we can do is spread the word and hit them in their wallets

here's hoping one of the hundreds of mass murderer's on the go in america pay's this kid a visit sometime soon if rumors are true in the uk papers you can get a junkie to kill someone for $60 dollars in some places .