Rich Teen Drives Drunk, Kills 4, Injures 2, Gets No Prison Time

Safety
21

@Rick:

Severity of sentence imposed was due to perp being a minor.

Perp will be “on papers” for a decade. If he violates–even if not convicted of any other crime–he may well serve a substantial portion of that time behind bars. This is no “slap on the wrist”; it is a means to coerce him into good behavior for a decade.

If you look at the sentences handed out (generally) for deaths due to negligence, DWI manslaughter is punished at least as severely as the average “oops I killed you” offense. Way harsher than vehicular MS arising from medical disqualifications such as being legally blind, as was evidenced during my stay in State College PA: the DWI-MS was punished over twice as harshly as the "legally blind"MS occurring the same month.

Law has long distinguished between death by malicious intent vs negligence or carelessness. DWI sentencing is in line with other similar offenses; if anything, it’s on the harsh side.

22

@mean - You’re kidding right??

I can show you case after case here in NH and MA where someone who was DUI and INJURED someone getting 2-5 years of jail time. And that was their first offense EVER. And several were minors. One kid was 14.

The kid is 16 years old with obviously extremely lousy parents. This was not a simple mistake. And I seriously doubt this was the first time he ever drove drunk. Just the first time he killed someone. It’s estimated that a person needs to drive drunk almost 10 times before they are actually caught.

23

“his motorcycle was rammed head on by a visiting U.S. Attorney”

Hmmm…Could that visiting U.S. Attorney have possibly been Chris Christie, who is currently the governor of NJ?

Among the several MV incidents that took place during his tenure as U.S. Attorney for NJ, was an incident in Elizabeth, NJ, when he drove his BMW the wrong way down a clearly-marked one way street and hit another car (head on), that was going the right way. When the local PD arrived, he “pulled rank”, and was allowed to leave the scene w/o a breathalyzer test being administered, and w/o even receiving a summons for driving the wrong way on a one-way street.

On another occasion, he had a MV violation of some kind in the town of Lambertville, again pulled rank, and managed to walk away with no possible penalty.

In the aftermath of one of his MV incidents, it came to light that he had not possessed a valid driver’s license for an extended period of time. His excuse? “I never received the DMV notice for renewal.”

This guy is obviously running fast for the GOP nomination for POTUS in 2016, but when all of the current investigations into his awarding of contracts to insiders are finished, that information, in addition to his past exploits may just sink his ship.

Among the facts that might interest the American public (even though he worked very hard to conceal these facts during his NJ campaigns) are the following:

His only legal experience prior to being named US Attorney for NJ was as a lobbyist, and one of his clients was Bernie Madoff’s firm.

He was named US Attorney for NJ after his brother, Todd, made a few huge donations to the GWB campaign.

His brother, Todd, was one of several stock brokers who was indicted for insider trading, but after Chris became US Attorney, the charges against Todd were dropped, despite the fact that all of the other accused brokers from his firm were tried & convicted. The records for Todd’s case are, “sealed”.

While Chris was US Attorney, he was repeatedly warned by Bush’s Justice Department that he could not continue to bill both high-end hotel suites and lavish dinners to the government, yet he continued to do so. There are limits to how much the gov’t will pay for hotels and meals when somebody is “on duty”, and Christie managed to consistently violate these rules despite being repeatedly warned. In his case, “on duty” meant attending conventions or meetings in distant cities.

After being elected governor, he used his state helicopter repeatedly to travel to his son’s baseball games, and, in each case, one of his official SUVs was stationed at the landing site in order to drive him…perhaps…a few hundred feet to the stadium. In each case, this involved driving the empty SUV (+ support vehicles and personnel) about 100-150 miles round-trip, just so that our governor did not have to walk a few hundred feet.

So…let’s see…he claims to be a person who fights government waste, and believes in strong enforcement of the law. I wonder if he can spell, “hypocrite”.

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@meanjoe75fan: “Law has long distinguished between death by malicious intent vs negligence or carelessness. DWI sentencing is in line with other similar offenses; if anything, it’s on the harsh side.”

Thankfully, that is changing, and the mandatory penalties are getting harsher in some states. I know alcohol impairs judgment, but most people make the decision to go out drinking when they are still sober, and that makes their lack of planning for safe transportation a choice.

The logic is simple: cab fare is less expensive than a DUI. Even when you’re drunk, that basic logic applies. Add an unnecessary death to the cost of a DUI, and it becomes pretty obvious the penalty for vehicular manslaughter should be as harsh as first degree murder, because it takes premeditation to choose to go out drinking without making arrangements to get home safely.

25

Well, I can’t argue with your value system–dead is dead, after all–but at least we can agree that DWI MS penalties are in line with other non-intentional killling penalties…and thus, you have a problem with the Manslaughter/Homicide distinction generally, not specifically with DWI.

Me, I feel that centuries of case law are correct in maintaining a person who can hunt, prey, and kill a fellow human being is a particularly heinous sort, and needs to be punished even more severly than a person whose carelessness and selfishness culminates in the non-intended death of others. To punish the former MORE severely, it is logically necessary to punish the latter less severely.

(P.S. Perhaps the “lock 'em up” majority here will be pleased to condsider that–if he washes out of that half-million-dollar rehab, or “pees dirty” at ANY point the next decade–he is subject to serving time. If he’s as big of a screw-up as the story makes him out to be, he’s an odds-on favorite to get some time inside out of this.

Also, how long does $450k get you in rehab? It’s possible the judge considered jail, then gave him an equivalent-length stay in rehab. Locked up is locked up…)

26

Just for the record meanjoe, it was not the sentence that I have issues with. The judge has to weigh a lot of factors when passing sentence, it is NEVER as simple as it appears in the press. I just think that the “affluenza” defense is a load of bovine scat.

It is possible that the judge ignored that argument, but was compelled by other arguments. He may have also treated other less affluent offenders who had the same potential to contribute to society in the same way, other things we don’t know.

I also have an issue with someone who gets a new trial based on his former multi-million dollar team of lawyers were incompetent.

27

Ok4450 Good account.
I rest my case.

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@meanjoe75fan
You make some good points; now let me make mine. This is vehicular homicide and the young man was committing a crime (OUI) at the time. The obvious counter point is, if he were your, mine or any other average (not mean joe) joe ( I assume you are not rich ) he would be doing some jail time, either in juvenile correction or at least in a facility that allowed him out, only to attend the sessions offered. Not to have some form of incarceration at the expense of the father as part of the fine, is a travesty for all those who are now in and have been jailed for the same crime but were too poor to “buy” a defense. It’s continual situations like this that drives a wedge between the haves and have nots and can in some cases, insight negative behavior.

In my opnion there are three good reasons for incarceration. Punishment for the offender, deterrent to the innocent but at risk who might do the same thing, and closure for the victims and their family. This does none of that if the sentence needs an explanation.

@Whitey I have to disagree that it should be punishable as first degree murder. It does not meet he criteria for it. It was reckless but was not deliberate or premeditated.

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I agree with much of what you say. If this were an adult, I’d be inclined to agree with all of it.

However, I do not know to what extent the Judge’s hands were tied due to the fact perp was 16. It’s entirely possible a max sentence would be juvie 'till 18, then walk out a “virgin” (and a more learned crook).

In comparison, a long “locked ward” rehab, followed by a deacade of forced good behvior, seems more likely to correct/rehabilitate the offender. It also punishes daddy $450,000 worth.

As to which is more “punitive,” I’d sooner take two lousy years and be done, rather than have it hanging over my head for a decade…but then, I’m more of a “jump in freezing water” vs. “wade in inch by inch” kind of guy by nature.

30

The story adds fuel to the fire regarding buying justice. Those who have seen friends and family get multiple years of confinement at state prisons for victimless offenses will have another reason to resent the unequal justice meted out in this country.

31

@mean
I hear you and agree. But even a juvenile can be incarcerated for a length of time depending on state laws. If he is a juvenile, yes, when not tried as an adult, he could be released at some point with no criminal record. But at least, it woukd be understandable to the public. But incarceration I feel, even if just for a reasonable ( what ever that means) lengh of time should not have been neglected. Let his re education start after he serves time…he owes the public that at the very least for being responsible for killing 4 of it’s members while engaging in criminal behavior. Daddy punishment for me, doesn’t even enter the picture. He s driving a lethal car on our highways and we should be expecting mature adult " behavior". He should get some form of adult punishment.
Being a liberal weeny myself, I feel very conservative in matters like this when other peoples rights are taken away for the same offenses.

32

I also have learned this was not the offenders first Dui, he was found passed out drunk behind the wheel a few months prior, And he had another alcohol related incident which I couldn’t find anything else about. He lived in his own mansion, and was enabled by his parents.

I believe the Judge was paid off, a year ago the same judge sentenced a 14 year old who got in a fight, punched his opponent and the opponent fell, hitting his head, and died- to 10 years in jail. So age has nothing to do with the lack of prison.

There is a petition to disbar the judge on change.org

the whole story

33

His parents have criminal records as well, they have always used their money to make charges go away.

34

According to NBC news there are still two intoxication assault cases where no verdict has been entered, the prosecutor might still get jail sentences Under Texas juvenile law, the maximum allowable sentence in Couch’s intoxication assault case would be three years in a Texas Juvenile Justice Department facility; he would be released no later than his 19th birthday. We’ll have to see what happens next.

35

What a bunch of scumbags; the entire lot, from the young man clean through the judge. Maybe the office pool should be on how long it will be before the next incident. Odds are it will be long before the 10 years is up.

@VDCdriver, per Chris Christie, I’m a pretty conservative, former Republican and registered as an Ind. for about 15 years now but I could never stand Christie from the get-go. He just epitomizes all that’s bad in politics. On the other hand, I think ex OK Dem govenor Brad Henry was good and ex OK Rep govenor Frank Keating brings a whole new meaning to the word loathe. Current Rep govenor Mary Fallin is nothing more than a shallow political hack and is in office because the alternative was worse.

That being said, the Reps don’t have the market cornered on weasels. Our former Dem state insurance commissioner was arrested twice for DUI and skated both times with a no-contest plea.
He eventually went to prison but that was after being impeached for various crimes in the state Senate and convicted in state court.

Ex Dem Govenor David Walters should have gone to prison but skated on a very questionable guilty plea. Ex Dem Govenor David Hall did go to Federal prison.

Some decades back a 180 sitting and former county commissioners here (mostly Dems) were nailed by the FBI in a massive sting operation after getting caught with their hands in the cookie jar. This was stated by the FBI to be the largest governmental sting they had ever done and if the truth be known, that 180 number should be multiplied several times over.

You might like this one. A farmer went out to a pasture once to check on his cows and found a guy out there trying to steal an electric motor from a pumping unit on an oil lease. The guy got in a panic and bailed out but got caught because the farmer eyed the tag number of the car and called the sheriff. Those motors can bring 4-500 or more across the state line in Texas and theft is common…
The funny part is that the guy doing the thieving was a state corporation commissioner (oversees trucking, oil, gas, utilities, etc) and using his Mercedes to haul the goods.
The thought of an older guy trying to hogwrestle one of those heavy motors into the trunk of a Benz out in the sticks just cracks me up…

Guess I’ve digressed a bit… :slight_smile:

36

@ok4450-- Re: “per Chris Christie, I’m a pretty conservative, former Republican and registered as an Ind. for about 15 years now but I could never stand Christie from the get-go. He just epitomizes all that’s bad in politics.”

For somebody who does not live in NJ (and thus doesn’t get much of the news from w/in the state), you are very perceptive. His supporters say things like, “I like how he speaks his mind”, but speaking his mind includes calling teachers, “lazy” and “overpaid”.

At one of his highly scripted public meetings, he brought one female teacher to tears by browbeating her after she “dared” to ask a question that he didn’t like. On another occasion, he called an ex-Navy seal “an idiot” because he didn’t like that guy’s question. In other words, how dare anyone ask questions other than the ones that might make him look good.

He boasts about reducing taxes, but in reality he didn’t. Because he eliminated or reduced everyone’s tax rebate, the effective tax rate under his administration actually increased in most towns.

Both the Transportation Trust Fund (which pays for road construction) and the Open Space Trust Fund (which buys up farmland and forests in order to prevent development) are now down to ZERO dollars because he “borrowed” money from them in order to run the state. The result is that there is now no money for road repair or construction and no money to prevent further development and further congestion in our crowded little state.

However, he is continuing to borrow money from the big banks in order to run the state, at the same time that the state’s credit rating has been reduced during his tenure, which means that the state now has to pay higher interest rates on the borrowing that he continues to do. This guy has used the classic Smoke & Mirrors approach in order to make it seem like he is getting our house in order, when–in reality–he is demolishing our house just so that he can try to look good when he runs for POTUS.

He is counting on those from outside of NJ to not be aware of his sketchy record, but a recently-published book (Double Down is the title) has the details of the investigation that was done by Mitt Romney’s team when they vetted Christie as a VP candidate. The revelations in that book are a virtual bombshell, and I suspect that this information will come back to haunt him as he continues his effort to become the next GOP POTUS candidate.

Yes, he won re-election by a landslide, but that was only because his opponent was a very weak candidate who couldn’t seem to muster any significant support.

The most recent scandal–which is likely not known outside the NY/NJ Metro Area–has to do with the shutdown of several entrance ramps to the George Washington Bridge, in the town of Fort Lee. These shutdowns were unannounced (even to the local police), lasted for several days, and caused incredible traffic gridlock in the days just before the Gubernatorial election.

What does this have to do with our esteemed governor?
Well, the person who caused the entrance ramps to be shut down is Christie’s best buddy from high school days, who he appointed to a highly-paid job at the Port Authority, which administers the GW Bridge, as well as all of the regional airports, and most of the tunnels & bridges. His buddy claimed (after the fact) that the shutdown of these entrance ramps was for a “traffic study”, yet there are no records at the Port Authority of a traffic study. Now that guy has resigned.

But, you say, what does this actually have to do with Christie? The mayor of Fort Lee had refused to support Christie for re-election, and it is believed that causing a traffic nightmare in his city for several days was the political pay-back for this lack of support.

In the wake of the first round of investigations, another of Christie’s appointees to the Port Authority has resigned, and Christie stated that, “4 years is enough for political appointees, and I was going to replace him anyway”. That face-saving statement will only be believable IF Christie removes all of the members of his cabinet who have served for 4 years and replaces them also. We shall see if that happens, but I wouldn’t hold my breath until it does.

The bottom line is that Mitt Romney had very good reasons for rejecting Chris Christie as his running mate. The skeletons in Christie’s closet are so numerous that there is hardly room for his size 56 Extra Portly suits.

37

@VDC
Good summary. I wonder often how accurate projections for candidates are this far out. You make a good point about what we don’t know about a candidate. In a recent pole of Independents, Christy out poled Hillary. All of Hillary’s skeletons are out there and few of Christy’s are.

38

@VDCdriver, thanks for posting that info. If Christie happens to become the Republican nominee I may sit the election out if need be because he would never get a vote of mine. If that much is known then Lord only knows how many things have not surfaced.
It sounds like the best thing that could be done is deport him to the island that Tom Hanks was stranded on in Castaway and send Frank Keating with him. :slight_smile:

Regarding drunk driving and some people getting a free pass, consider this one although I can’t be too specific out of respect for the family. I dated a girl whose father was mildly well-off and a member of the country club. He used the CC as a means of rubbing shoulders with wealthy landowners in his occupation which was dealing with land leases. He passed on about 10 years ago and was a great guy, but he loved that fifth of Scotch a day.

While visiting with relatives one weekend he went to the CC and drove his sister’s car at her suggestion rather than move it out of the way to access his. About midnight and 3 sheets to the wind he headed back to the house and was stopped by the police who saw him swerving and make a left turn on a red light while not even slowing down.

That led to questions about why the car registration did not match his name and he explained in a slur who his brother in law was, although he was not doing it intentionally to try and pull rank. The police verified the BIL info very quickly. They handed his drivers license back, apologized for even stopping him, and allowed him to motor on home while drunk on his hiney. The police even followed him home to make sure he arrived safely.

The brother in law who owned the car? He was a sitting judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals, a position he still holds to this very day at 90 years of age with Senior status in the courts.

The GF’s father did get ticketed some months later but it wasn’t over drunk driving. He came home from the CC one Sat. evening pretty well tanked up and became irritated over the glow of a street light through the bedroom window. His solution was to grab his 30-06 deer rifle, step out into the front yard, and remove the light fixture from the pole.
He was fined for discharging a firearm in city limits (in a well-heeled part of town no less) and the utility company made him pay up for replacing both light and attachment arm to the pole.

39

The special treatment of distinguished individuals is all too common. Over the years I have heard many rumors of the well positioned being given a pass when involved in various illegal acts and personally seen 2 individuals be given rides away from automobile accidents that they seemed at fault in while obviously drunk. The 2 drunks were on the board of directors of a corporation whose vehicles I worked on. The fleet manager of the corporation used me to add to the confusion to overwhelm law enforcement. It’s amazing what a $250million per year company can get away with in a town of 30,000

40

Here in The great State of Indiana, a Indianapolis police officer was on duty and drunk and going to assist serving a warrant. He crashed into a group of motorcyclists and killed 1 or 2 and injured several. The cops who responded turned a blind eye and eventually when a blood draw was finally done he was .19 or so. The evidence was not handled properly and became a big problem trying to prosecute him.

While he was out on paid administrative leave for 2 years waiting for his case, he crashed his personal truck while… You guessed it, drunk. He was arrested this time and still faces charges stemming from that crash.

Its terrible that people who are judges, police, ect… have no ethics or morals, they are usually the scum of the earth… Power corrupts. Now I will say I am a huge supporter of fair honest officers that serve with integrity. Just not the bone heads.

We wonder why Indiana is such a terrible state to live in…

Lets not forget the 1988 Carrolton Ky crash where a drunk driver going the wrong way down the interstate hit a school bus head on and caused it to burst into flames, The crash killed 18 or 20 kids a the drunk driver got a whopping 10 or so years in jail… He is out now and probably still drives drunk.