About the "Affluenza" Drunken Teen

[adavid]

I told my wife last night that there is something about this case that strangely, we have not heard about in the MSM.
Doesn't everyone remember times when watching the news, we hear about a minor committing a crime so bad, that we remember hearing a quote like this;
"The local prosecutors say that the serious nature of the crime is so bad, that they will petition the judge/court to TRY HIM AS AN ADULT.

Why haven't we heard this?

[seveneyes]

1. Related to intent

If the drunken teen had targeted and intended to kill the victims, I'm sure they would petition to try him as an adult.

[Romulox]

2. He intentionally engaged in behavior that evidenced a reckless disregard for human life.

I don't think there is a good argument surrounding "intent"; being drunk isn't a defense to any crime, and the requisite intent to prosecute a reckless homicide is the intent required to engage in the reckless behavior.

[HappyMe]

3. I don't know.

He got drunk, knew he was drunk and drove anyway. I think some sort of manslaughter/homicide charges should have been filed.

[dionysus]

5. 4 counts of vehicular homicide and felony DWI *should* be worth several years in the clink.

[HappyMe]

8. Those charges should have been filed from the get go.

If people want to get serious about drunk driving deaths, it's time to call it homicide.

[Feral Child]

4. The same reasons as the preposterous sentence:

Last edited Wed Dec 18, 2013, 12:33 PM - Edit history (1)

money and political influence.

TPTB are getting very casual about their double-standard, evidence of their contempt for public opinion.

Nobody that matters will complain...

[Mojo Electro]

6. I've noticed that too...

Though I don't know what "PBIB" means.

But as far as the system that allowed this, they no longer even attempt to keep up the veneer of fairness. They used to at least *try* to maintain that illusion. Now it's just blatant, they come right out in the open with it. "We're letting this kid off because he's rich."

You hit the nail right on the head.... "nobody that matters will complain"

[Feral Child]

9. Oops!

Typo, TPTB. I'll edit.

And, thanks for your comments.

[Mojo Electro]

11. Ahh.. "the powers that be"

that one I get.

[warrior1]

7. why can't he be resentenced

this isn't like a double jeopardy cases. Judges have thrown out sentences before. Just do this and give him some years behind bars.

[Swede Atlanta]

10. Look, I am all for giving young people a break.....

we have all made mistakes and done stupid things, especially when we were "young and foolish".

I get that. But this wasn't just a prank of throwing eggs at the principal's car or putting a non-poisonous snake in a teacher's drawer. This was consuming alcoholic and enumerating substances to the point that he was unable to control a motor vehicle. His voluntary actions of consuming alcohol resulted in deaths and the paralysis of a young man.

The "defense" of well my Mommy and Daddy never taught me right from wrong or to respect others is NO defense. I am not opposed to the judge taking his circumstances into consideration but the sentence was absolutely WRONG.

This is especially true when the same judge has sentenced similarly-aged poor BLACK youths to lengthy sentences when the black youth may have been involved in the commission of a felony but did not pull the trigger that resulted in the death of another.

We can argue that the little rich white boy didn't set out to do anything wrong whereas the black boy did want to rob someone and that makes a big difference.

If you are going to cut the rich little white boy a break and let him go to a Ritz-Carlton rehab facility and sentence the poor black boy to decades in prison you either like oligarchy or are a racist.

The judge should be relieved of his position, disbarred and have any pension terminated.