by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
UPDATED: The recent case of Ethan Couch, 16, out of Burleson, Texas has been previously addressed on this blog (here and here) in general terms of the fundamental unfairness and apparent bias of the plea deal and in psychological terms concerning both the social isolation wealth can engender and the consequent lack of empathy that creates. Let’s look at this in a little more detail as relates to justice and the corrosive effect such rulings have on social order. The pattern of facts in this case are critical to examining whether or not Couch’s sentence was just and inform whether or not such rulings are corrosive to society as a whole. To summarize:
Hollie Boyles, 52, Shelby Boyles, 21, Brian Jennings, 41, and Breanna Mitchell, 24, are the primary victims.
Just before midnight on June 15, 2013, Mitchell was driving west on Burleson-Retta Road when she had a blowout, forcing her pickup truck into a roadside ditch. Living nearby, Hollie and Shelby Boyles heard the blowout and went to render assistance. Jennings, a Burleson youth minister, was returning from his son’s high school graduation party when he stopped to assist Mitchell as well. All four were on the roadside when they were struck by a pickup truck driven by Ethan Couch. The Ford F-350 pickup was going between 65 and 70 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour speed zone when it clipped Mitchell’s stranded truck before striking and killing the four bystanders. Couch’s truck then struck Jenning’s pickup truck (in which two young boys were waiting) sending it back into the roadway. There it collided with an eastbound Volkswagon carrying two Burleson girls before going off the south side of the road. Couch’s truck then flipped over, coming to rest against a tree on the north side of the road. Two other teenagers riding in the bed of Couch’s truck were thrown from the vehicle. One suffered broken bones and internal injuries. The other suffered a traumatic brain injury that left them unable to move or talk.
There is no contest concerning who was driving the truck that struck the stranded motorist and her would be aides. Couch admits he was driving. There was no question about the drinking. Couch and his friends had been drinking beer after stealing it earlier in the evening from a local Walmart. Three hours after the wreck, Couch’s BAC was .24, approximately three times the legal driving limit.
He could have been sent to prison for 20 years. Instead, Couch was sentenced to 10 years of probation, a $450,000 out of state recovery program and denied contact with his parents. All for showing what can only be described as a reckless and wanton disregard for the safety of others that resulted in four deaths and two serious injuries that have brought pain, misery and deprivation to the lives of many family and friends. True, since the crime happened as a minor, Couch’s sentence could have been reviewed and modified at age 18, but he would have seen first hand the harshest consequences for his behavior even if only briefly.
If you are like most people with a normal conscience, your reaction to this sentence was likely some degree of outrage at what can be fairly viewed as the wealthy receiving preferential treatment from the courts and an unjust resolution to a criminal case. But what is justice? Why is justice important?
Justice isn’t a simple matter of black and white although it can be clear cut at times. That is the exception though and not the rule. Often a situation arises where there is no perfectly just solution. Damage done cannot be undone so an approximation of justice is had by a combination of punishments and/or restoring the victims to as whole a state as possible. It is the duty of the courts in those situations to craft a remedy that is as close to just as possible given the facts of the situation. At the core of justice is the idea of equity.
equity /ˈɛkwɪti/
noun (plural equities)
[mass noun]
the quality of being fair and impartial
To contrast, the antonym . . .
inequity /ɪnˈɛkwɪti/
noun (plural inequities)
[mass noun]
lack of fairness or justice
Aside from the equity component of justice, there is the public safety component. Dangerous people either need to be rehabilitated (something admittedly our penal systems do a poor job with fulfilling) or, if they are incorrigible, separated from the general public to reduce/eliminate chances of future harm. There is also a smaller but no less important revenge component. It is important not so much as a matter of karma, but as a psychological social control mechanism. Part of the role of using adversarial courts is to discourage the remedy of self-help that exists at nature. If the punishment is perceived as harsh enough to sate the impulse for revenge in victims and/or their families and friends, they are less likely to seek revenge on the guilty themselves. “Order” is a part people often forget about or minimize in the phrase “law and order”. Providing justice is a critical component of keeping social order.
In a case like this where the judgement is widely seen as being unjust, is there a possibility of appeal? Yes, technically there is although it is rare. However, it must be timely – usually within 30 days of the judgement although it is 15 days in Texas – and it is usually the prosecution that would bring such an appeal. That seems unlikely here as Assistant District Attorney Richard Alpert seems reluctant, stating “We are disappointed by the punishment assessed but have no power under the law to change or overturn it. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and we regret that this outcome has added to the pain and suffering they have endured.” Although ADA Alpert does indeed not have the power to carte blanche change the ruling, he most certainly has the power to appeal it under Texas law to a judge further up the food chain who would have the power to amend the sentence. However, it is at this point in the story that local politics and legal technicality rears its head. If ADA Alpert were to appeal this ruling, he would be taking to task local judge Jean Boyd and in essence claiming her judgement faulty as it resulted in a miscarriage of justice. This would be a huge brouhaha politically. It also would have a slim chance as – while the sentence is arguably a facially repugnant miscarriage of justice – the sentence is within the bounds of judicial discretion and not per se illegal. An appeal would also incur significant costs to the state, further drag out matters for the families and likely not result in a more just sentence. While it may be the “right thing to do” to bring such an appeal, it may be a legally futile and/or politically Pyrrhic effort. However, given the insular nature of the community and the substantive wealth of the defendant in this case, such a suspect ruling does invite state authorities to go over Judge Boyd’s books and potential relationships with the defendant’s family with a fine tooth comb. If any impropriety is found, the sentence could be appealed and modified as illegal or vacated and a new trial ordered.
So what are we left with? An ugly situation made uglier by a judge showing what appears to be rank favoritism in sentencing to a criminal defendant based upon said defendant’s wealth (and consequent social status). What we are left with is a failure of the criminal justice system to dispense justice with equality and impartial fairness.
Where to next? There are civil suits pending. Five of them as of the writing of this column. The first being filed by the parents of Sergio Molina, the teen left with brain damage after being thrown from the bed of Couch’s pickup. Shaunna Jennings, wife of Brian Jennings, has filed suit on behalf of herself and her children. Marla Mitchell, mother of Breanna Mitchell has filed suit. Kevin and Alesia McConnell, whose son was also in Couch’s truck at the time of the crash have filed. The fifth filing is by Eric Boyles and Marguerite Boyles, husband and daughter of Hollie Boyles, seeking actual damages including burial and funeral expenses and punitive damages. The Boyles’ suit accuses Ethan Couch of “driving while intoxicated, driving above the speed limit, failing to control his speed, having more than one person in the truck who was under 21 and not related to him, disregarding a restriction on his driver’s license that he only drive with a licensed adult in the front seat, and being in possession of alcohol even though he was underage.” Also named as defendants are Couch’s father, Fred Couch, and his company Cleburne Metal Works – the registered owner of the truck – accused of “gross negligence” for entrusting the pickup to an incompetent or reckless driver. Given the admissions and conviction of the criminal trial, winning a civil suit should be a much easier proposition for the parties involved against the Couchs. Fred Couch and family stand to lose a substantial amount of money over Ethan’s crimes. Maybe even everything, although that cannot be said with any kind of certainty as details of their personal finances are not publicly published.
But is that enough? Can money ever replace the loss of a loved one? No. Not really. It’s one of those situations where there is no perfectly just solution so a solution as close to just as possible should ideally be crafted. That probation for killing four people is not even close to a just solution is (I think) apparent to anyone with a functioning sense of basic fairness and not a sociopath. The criminal sentence remains inequitable no matter what the civil judgements turn out to be. Ethan Couch will be free on the streets, ready to think his money buys him the ability to get away with homicide. There will be no sense for the families of the victims that their loved ones have been avenged. As Eric Boyles said through tears at the sentencing hearing, “There…there are just some things that even today…are just too difficult to talk about. At this point, we are trying to take life one day at a time. I do look forward to the day that we can put some of this behind us. Today could have been a good start at that…and unfortunately the wounds that it opened only makes the healing process that much greater.” Boyles also said, “There are absolutely no consequences for what occurred that day. The primary message has to absolutely be that money and privilege can’t buy justice in this country.”
Justice has failed.
UPDATE: Apparently others have identified Judge Boyd as the weak link in this failure as well. NBCDFW.com is reporting the following this morning:
Boyd’s decision has led to public calls for her resignation and an online petition on Change.org demanding that Gov. Rick Perry remove Boyd from the bench.
Under current Texas law, the governor can remove a sitting judge from the bench with approval of two-thirds of Texas House and Senate members.
Boyd, who previously announced she is retiring at the end of her term next year, declined to comment on both the sentencing decision and the calls for her removal when contacted by NBC 5. Boyd said speaking about the situation would be unethical.
The outrage over the sentencing decision is largely linked to the testimony of psychologist Gary Miller, a witness for the defense who said Ethan Couch suffered from ‘affluenza,’ a term suggesting his parents’ wealth and privilege taught him there were no consequences for bad behavior.”
As guest blogger Mike Spindell points to in his column addressing the “affluenza” defense, the defendants here are unlikely to be substantively changed by losing money. Their insular life creates a type of delusional sense of superiority and entitlement that is only reinforced by this judgement and a form of anosognosia that keeps them from realizing just exactly how wrong they are in thinking “some animals are more equal than others”.
This case is a fine illustration of what is wrong with oligarchy in general and plutocracy in the specific. When the few are given preferential treatment by the legal systems of a country, it breeds discontent as injustice always does. Unequal treatment under the law has a corrosive compounding effect on society. With each injustice, social order decays just a little and the potential for social unrest grows. Rome was not built in day, so the saying goes, but just so she was not destroyed in a day either. It was an incremental process as is has been in all states fallen to discord, rebellion and revolution. That is the ultimate danger of a bifurcated justice system to social stability and the cost of “social anosognosia”. The oligarchs, no matter their particular political flavor, ignore social justice for personal gain at huge risk to themselves and to society as a whole. It is their arrogance that makes them think their walls and security will hold because they have money and “privilege” when history shows again and again that if you ignore the needs of the many – including the needs of the many for impartial justice – the many will eventually rise up and slay the oligarchs. From Rome, to France, to Russia, to our own American Revolution, it seems that people like Judge Boyd and others in positions of governmental and economic power have either forgotten the lessons of history, ignored them in their arrogance or are simply unaware that they are eating away at the pillars of civilized society with favoritism and venality.
One day, gravity will finish the job they started unless we as a society start doing something to ensure justice is equitable, fair and impartial.
We can start by engineering our legal system so that such manifest miscarriages of justice as handed down by Judge Boyd are easier to challenge and both the bench and the wealthy are not held sacrosanct because of position or wealth and afforded deference that they are not due in an egalitarian society.
What do you think?
~submitted by Gene Howington, guest blogger
Source(s): csmonitor.com, CNN.com, NBCDFW.com (1, 2), DFW.CBSlocal.com, KHOU.com, cleburnetimesreview.com, heavy.com
I’m certainly not excusing what this boy did, and he clearly has had inadequate parenting, but there are reasons we don’t hold children to the same standards of culpability as adults. What is it that deserves more harsh punishment — his crime or his wealth?
Here is the reaction of the Italian people to injustice by their oligarchy:
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/12/14
“According to the report, police violence against protesters persisted across Italy. In Venice, police fired tear gas at protesters outside the city’s train station and in the northern Italy city of Turin—the epicenter of the latest wave of anti-austerity revolt—students paint bombs were met with force.
“There are millions of us and we are growing by the hour,” said Danilo Calvani, a farmer who has emerged as one of the protest leaders. “This government has to go.”
“These protests show Italy’s massive crisis of political representation,” said Duncan McDonnell, a political scientist at the European University Institute in Florence. “These people don’t feel that anyone’s actually listening to them … It really shows how there are big sections of Italian society that don’t feel represented by anyone – political parties, trade unions, interest groups or business.”
What began in January 2012 when a group of Sicilian farmers and trucking companies staged a nine-day blockade to protest austerity-driven increases to fuel and fertilizer prices, the Forconi or Pitchforks movement has swelled into a national mobilization of small businessmen, low-paid workers, students and the unemployed taking a stand against the leading regime.
The week of actions are leading up to plans for a “peaceful invasion” in Rome starting Wednesday where demonstrations will reportedly persist until demands for a wholesale government changeover are met.”
Laser,
Askimet, our ever alert spam filter, is set to “extra grumpy” today. Caught yours and a couple of others that weren’t spam.
We do not know what was said in court at the plea or what was before the court in the nature of documents supporting either life in prison or probation. We do know what the media has done with some facts. But to judge the judge on the facts put out by the media is unfair. There is a song that exemplifies this case:
–The Monk–
I went to the animal fair,
The birds and the beasts were there.
The old baboon by the light of the moon, was combing his auburn hair.
The monkey he got drunk.
And fell on the elephant’s trunk.
The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees.
And that was the end of the Monk, The Monk, The Monk.
Here is the link to Wikipedia Oligarchy.
Wow – what’s up with the censoring?
what’d I say wrong?
Oops, the link I left out in my comment above is Wikipedia.
“Aristotle pioneered the use of the term [oligarchy] as a synonym for rule by the rich, for which the exact term is plutocracy” (Wikipedia, “Oligarchy”).
Brilliantly executed Gene as you went from the microcosm of the Couch case to the macrocosm of the corrosive effect that a case such as this has upon our society as a whole. The social fabric of any society comes from the widespread perceptions of its people. An inequitable legal system steals hope from those disadvantaged by it and encourages them to ignore it. A current fashionable buzzword is “tipping point” and it is appropriate to be applied here.
As the inequities of our current oligarchy multiply exponentially those who suffer under it will eventually reach a “tipping point” that will engender a widespread upheaval. What separates a stable society from anarchy is the belief by a large mass of its citizens that the can look to it for some sense of stability and fairness in their lives. Anarchy erupts when the mass sees that the society is run to benefit the powerful few. We are inevitably heading for that kind of tipping point if the injustices keep piling up.
The “American Dream” has been a mythological construct that has done great service in constructing our social fabric. The concept used to be widely held among us all and it brought cohesion to our nation. A minute segment of society, the 1% if you will, has in their greed for greater wealth and power, has done much harm by shredding that “American Dream”. They have moved our once mighty industrial base oversees in search of cheap labor. They have taken capital offshore to keep it from taxation and they have participated in a variety of financial scams to increase their profit while fleecing the innocent. They have bought our politicians and have destroyed our social services safety net. They have created a “tiered” system of medical care that can impoverish people with treatment, or deny it to those without the necessary funding. Finally, they have ensured that our justice system is applied with breathtaking inequality based on class, race and ethnicity. I don’t know what the “tipping point” may be but I sense it is fast approaching.
I’ve often written of the Corporate Military Intelligence Complex and its being interwoven with this country’s “elite”. I suspect that the “elite” feels they are protected by it from attacks by the “common folk”. They forget the lessons of history where the Roman Legionnaires displaced the oligarchy of the Roman Senate with an Emperor. Then too the “Emperorship” later became held by non-Romans who had been deemed “barbarians”. In recent history the German industrialists whose wealth brought Hitler to power discovered to their horror that they had made him their master. Perhaps the “elite” in our country believe they are the masters of the CMIC they have created. They might be very surprised if things continue as they have.
Some of you know that this subject matter hits home with me. For 12 years now, I’ve been trying to get Romney and his Racketeering gang indicted for an organized crime spree unfathomable.
What amazes me is how much has transpired (including mayhem & murder); and yet how little compunction is found to enforce the Code & Rule of Law.
We actually have confessions to intentional fraud on the court; but “That” court (DE Bankruptcy Court) states on the record – it doesn’t care about it.
So this week, I’m going to submit a Fed.R.Civ.P 201 request for the court to take Judicial Notice of the facts and making a ruling on – whether or not – Goldman Sachs, Bain Capital and Mitt Romney are Above the Law!
Odds are – the court will ignore it;
but the question MUST be asked.
Federal Judges finances are subject to public scrutiny – as a matter of Law; but WOE be to the one daring to go such a highway of inevitable rebuke and disdain.
Thank you for this post, and the previous one. I see two problems, one having to do with the public reaction (including mine) to the results of the trial, the other with justice. First, the media contribute to public outrage by failing to place their reports in the context of the law. I saw no attempts at informing readers about Texas law or even the most basic information that Crouch was tried as a minor, not as an adult. Second, there’s no question that a child of color, without wealthy parents who could provide the best possible defense staff, would have received a very different sentence.
Great post. As you pointed out, this is one chink in ongoing degradation of our civil life. One day a small event like this will ignite rioting in the streets. Just look at Brazil when they raised the bus fare a few cents. We had the economic crash of 2007-08 where bankers who caused the crash were given $trillions to maintain their lifestyle. Occupy Wall street was a result of that. In L A oh so many years ago a jury left several police office go and the result was rioting in the streets for several days. So some day, some small event will provoke anger among enough people and there will once again be rioting in the streets.
Wake up America, you can only push the down trodden down to a point and they will retaliate. And it won’t be pretty.
Good job Gene, as usual. The imbalance between the manner in which the wealthy and connected are treated by the justice system becomes more apparent on a daily basis. Case in point:
On the night of Feb. 11, 2009, a very drunk Karen Irby of Jackson, Mississippi, drove her Mercedes-Benz CLS 500 across five lanes of traffic hitting a Chevrolet pick-up truck head-on. It burst into flames, killing Dr. Mark Pogue and his fiancee, Dr. Lisa Dedousis. Karen Irby’s husband, Stuart, a passenger in the Mercedes, was seriously injured.
A grand jury indicted her on a charge of Depraved Heart Murder when an accident reconstructionist determined that Karen Irby was traveling 114 miles per hour when she hit the truck. Stuart Irby had a head injury in the crash, and did not remember anything.
District Attorney Robert Smith reduced the charges to two counts of manslaughter, saying it would be “difficult to prove” that Irby acted “recklessly.” This allowed Judge Tomie Green to sentence Karen Irby to two 18 year sentences for manslaughter, the sentences to run concurrently. That sentencing was in May, 2010.
Sheriff Malcolm McMillin, who was also police chief at the time of the crash, told reporters his investigators had prepared a strong case for indicting Irby on multiple counts of aggravated DUI. Those charges could have brought up to 25 years for each death or maiming, and the sentences could have run consecutively. Instead, District Attorney Smith re-indicted her for the more difficult-to-prove manslaughter charges, which brought the least possible sentence under the law rather than aggravated DUI.
In January 2012, after serving only about eighteen months, Karen Irby’s sentences were reduced to three years of house arrest.
Shortly after his wife’s release from prison, Stuart Irby was found dead, an apparent suicide.
Who is this family? One of the wealthiest families in the state of Mississippi.
I know Judge Tomie Green and District Attorney Robert Smith. Let’s just say I’m not surprised.
I don’t suppose there is anyway to find out if the parents sent a lot of money to the Cayman Islands and the ‘Judge’ has an account?
Most likely the ADA can be sure of a well funded campaign chest for whatever office he seeks in the future.
The only thing I can see happening that might bring some justice is this kid will act out before too long. Maybe California (where is luxurious ‘rehab’ will probably located), has a better justice system.
“Justice” was inspired by http://jonathanturley.org/2011/11/25/family-sues-wisconsin-prosecutor-after-she-charges-6-year-old-boy-with-first-degree-sexual-assault-after-playing-doctor/
That case is now being appealed to the Supreme Court.
The only way what has occurred makes sense to me is that all those in a position to create this gross injustice have been bribed.
Ditto, George
Maybe this type of tragedy can be used to accelerate the development of self-driving vehicles. Certainly wealthy folks involved with this type of tragedy could be required to drive only self-driving vehicles. That in itself would accelerate the transition for everyone.
Justice
He was an big, big man in town, you see.
He rubbed his shoulders with the leaders there.
He came to be involved within a crime.
He lied, accusing someone he had said he hated.
He had his friend, the prosecutor
Bring charges against this innocent.
The accusation that he made was false
That accusation was believed by most.
The case resolved, the charge dismissed,
The judge who was his friend, he ruled
That there should be a gag decree
So no one knows that it was false.
The DA is immune from any suit.
The system worked, you see, and there was
Justice.