Toss 'em all in the joint...

who commit acts that result in so much grief for so many. I'm one of those with the kneejerk rx that Ethan is privileged pond scum. Feel bad about doing so after reading this, as it's apparent that his childhood from an emotional POV was terrible.

I hope he gets help and that the mother is thrown in the clink.

or the parents of Bristol Palin.

Just much richer, so able to express their privilege.

If these pope, were black instead of white, the courts would have been all over them and put the kid in foster care. That is the real "affluluenza" sickness.

Makes me almost feel sorry for the kid.

For so many, empty and desolate.

Now I'm a little bit conflicted, whereas before I was completely unsympathetic.

I'm still pretty unsympathetic--a LOT of kids have far worse upbringings and they don't kill four people and then escape the consequences pf a ridiculously easy probation by fleeing to Mexico--but I do appreciate the opportunity to see the case in greater detail.

I think the judge did him no favors at all in, essentially, letting him off the hook. A little experience of the real world might have saved him in the long run. And having had that second chance with that absurd probation, he could have, you know, obeyed its conditions. Not tough to do. Plus, however out of hand his upbringing was, it couldn't have been a secret to him that it's not okay to get drunk and drive. So yes, his parents are horrific, but some of this is on him, and he has behaved disgracefully after being given a chance that almost nobody else would have been granted.

But I'm glad to have had the chance to read these details. Thank you!

Fred and Tonya Couch have had many brushes with the law from speeding to assault

Mr Couch has been arrested for theft, evading arrest and an alleged assault against his now ex-wife. He paid out over nine driving citation fines

Mrs Couch paid a $500 fine for forcing a driver off the road


They have several driving citations on their records and Mr Couch has been arrested for alleged crimes including theft, evading arrest and an alleged assault against Mrs Couch, according to official court documents obtained at the Johnson County Court records office in Cleburne.

But aside from a number of small fines for their motoring offenses and a six-month community supervision order issued to Mrs Couch, neither of them have been punished further.

In fact all of the more serious cases against Mr Couch, going back as far as 1989, have been dismissed.

Charges were dropped in the two theft cases, because Mr Couch paid substantial restitution.


According to official documentation, Mr Couch, 48, has a blizzard of 22 accusations on his record, made up of four criminal misdemeanor allegations and 18 traffic violations.
They resulted in nine driving citation fines for offenses ranging from doing 95mph in a 60mph zone, to driving without his license.The majority of the other citations were dismissed.

On top of that he has been arrested over allegations of theft twice and evading arrest once. In June 1988 he allegedly bought a $46 pair of shoes with a worthless check, but the case was dismissed after he ‘paid full restitution of $830.56’.


In April 1992 he was again accused of using a worthless check, this time to buy $26.41 of gas. And again the case was dismissed after he paid $274.80.
Two years earlier he was accused of evading arrest. That case was also dismissed, although it is unclear why from court records.

And in 1996 he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his wife. Records state he, ‘intentionally and knowingly caused bodily injury to Tonya Couch by striking’ her ‘on or about the face with his hands causing Tonya to fall, and by grabbing’ her ‘on or about the neck with his hands, scratching’ her ‘neck’.
On that occasion Mrs Couch submitted a sworn affidavit of non-prosecution, meaning the case was dismissed.

Her police record is shorter. In 2003 she was charged with a misdemeanor offense of reckless driving after she, ‘intentionally and knowingly drove a motor vehicle in a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property’.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2524872/Millionaire-parents-affluenza-teen-20-arrests-citations.html#ixzz3vt0sZ1LR

Fred has a sheetmetal business that he started with an unknown source of cash. He sounds like an ignorant asshole, and Tonya sounds like a trailer park pillhead. They have all this money -- more money than you'd think someone with a small business would have, especially after paying off the lawsuits. Yet Fred writes bad checks for gas and cheap shoes. There's a deeper, sort of underground story behind this, I think.

These people have (or used to have) a pile of money, but they have little knowledge of the world other than buying things or people. There are a lot of people in America with piles of money and no sense, but usually there is something special about the person who makes the money. I guess they are finally getting the payback that they deserved long ago.

and it actually sounds pretty typical for inadequate parents. The whole terrible thing is extremely sad.

I wonder who and what Ethan Couch is after all this ongoing trauma. A better and more mature person or an even worse one -- the one sure thing is that at 18 he is no longer the same person he was at 16.

After his ongoing trauma?

He's had 19 years of enabling parents who never
took responsibility for their actions.

Meanwhile there are 4 dead and two injured because of this trauma.

I know you didn't mean to come off as someone who pities the family but it seems like you did.

armchair lynch mobs because I am. This kid's illegal behavior that we know of was beyond despicable. But we don't know who or what he is now.

We should leave him alone. If we don't want to be typically lousy citizens ourselves.

He's gonna need years of therapy because down the line he's gonna hurt someone else if he doesn't

for years on this family and enable them to continue being asswipes.

I'm sorry that Ethan had a tough time of it, but there are many who have had it worse and who have nonetheless had to face the consequences of their actions.

He would have been tried in adult court and then locked up forever or worse. Everyone would have been calling for his head and it would have been gladly served up on a platter.

As far as the "parents" go, they're just egg and sperm donors, afaic. I wouldn't trust them with a pet hamster.