Incredible & Disgusting Double Standard of 'Justice' For Rich and Poor / Black and White

[Peter Lemkin]

Affluenza Defense Lands Wealthy Teen in Rehab After He Kills 4 People in Drunk Driving Accident

A wealthy teen who killed four people in a Texas drunk driving accident will not go to jail after a judge ruled this week that instead, he must attend an expensive rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents. The driver was 16-year-old Ethan Couch. He was speeding, with a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. Couch has admitted to his crime, and in a case that went before a Texas judge, prosecutors sought a 20-year sentence. Instead, Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation after a psychologist claimed he had "affluenza," and testified that his cushy upbringing prevented him from connecting bad behavior with its consequences. We get response from Richard Alpert, the Tarrant County assistant district attorney who prosecuted the case against Couch. We are also joined by Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse University professor and the founder of "YourBlackWorld.net." He recently wrote an article titled "Rich, White Kids Have 'Affluenza,' Poor, Black Kids Go to Prison."

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

911 DISPATCHER: And how many people need EMS?

CALLER: Ma'am, I'm telling you, it's dark. There's four or five kids. There's kids laying in ditches and street.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was a 911 call from last June, when four people were killed by a drunk driver. The driver was 16-year-old Ethan Couch. He was speeding, with a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit. Couch has admitted to his crime, and in a case that went before a Texas judge, prosecutors sought a 20-year sentence. Instead, he was sentenced to 10 years' probation after a psychologist claimed he suffered from "affluenza," which he described as growing up in a house where the parents were preoccupied with arguments that led to a divorce. On Wednesday, a judge ordered him to go to an expensive rehabilitation facility paid for by his parents. This is CNN's Anderson Cooper questioning the psychologist.

ANDERSON COOPER: A 14-year-old African-American child was sentenced by this same judge a year or two ago. This 14-year-old killed one person, punching him. That person fell and hit his head on the sidewalk and died. That African-American child got 10-year sentence, got sent to the juvenile justice facility. I mean, why should there be a separate system

DICK MILLER: Well

ANDERSON COOPER: just because you have money?

DICK MILLER: I don't think there is a separate system. This young man will be a ward of the state for 10 years, Anderson. Ten years

ANDERSON COOPER: He's on probation.

DICK MILLER: that if he missteps any time, that judge can send him to the penitentiary.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: That was on Anderson Cooper'son CNN. Couch will reportedly be attending a rehab facility that costs $450,000 a year. Marla Mitchell, whose daughter Breanna was killed in the accident, spoke to reporters shortly after the ruling.

MARLA MITCHELL: No matter what game he or his family think they've beaten, the world is not ever going to take their eyes off from him. And they're going to be waiting. They're going to be waiting for him to mess up again, if he does.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more, we're joined by two guests. In Dallas, Texas, we're joined by Richard Alpert, who prosecuted the case against Ethan Couch. He's the Tarrant County assistant district attorney. In Chicago, we're joined by Boyce Watkins, a Syracuse University professor, founder of YourBlackWorld.net, recently wrote a piece headlined "Rich, White Kids Have 'Affluenza,' Poor, Black Kids Go to Prison."
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Let's go to the prosecutor in the case, Richard Alpert. Can you lay out what happened in Wednesday's hearing? How is it that affluenza is used to get Ethan Couch off? He killed not only four people, but critically injured others.
RICHARD ALPERT: Well, the Wednesday hearing was just a conclusion of the proceedings that started six weeks ago. The affluenza came out of the mouth of Dr. Miller, who was on the Anderson Cooper clip you just played. And basically, becausethe defense position was, because he had this profoundly dysfunctional family, because theyhe was a child of privilege, because his parents let him do what he wanted to do, that somehow he wasn't responsible. It was the parents' fault, not his fault, that this crime occurred. And it's a contention that we found to be just ludicrous. It's a contention that we confronted in the courtroom. We thought we did so effectively. And, you know, the judge obviously didn't give the sentence we wanted to be given. We thought that pen time was appropriate for this young man.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And has this kind of defense been used previously?
RICHARD ALPERT: I've never heard of anyone claiming that the fact that a person has privilege or the person comes from money is something that entitles them to different consequences. I've never heard that before. Again, I mean, the phrase that was thrown out there, from what I've seen after the fact, it doesn't even apply to this situation. It was never meant as a defense. And it just wasn't credible. So, I think it's a one-shot kind of situation. I don't think that anyone is going to attempt to do this. And again, since the judge made the determination, we don't know what factor she considered.
AMY GOODMAN: I was watching Alex MolinaAlex Lemus being interviewed. His younger brother, 16-year-old Sergio Molina, was in the car, as was Alex, with Ethan Couch, begging him to slow down. Sergio Molina is inis minimally responsive now, and it has been a long time. He can hardly move. He doesn't respond. This isthis is Alex Lemus talking about his brother.

ALEX LEMUS: They told us that basically that's as much as he's going to rehabilitate, that that'sthat's all we can hope for, is how he is right now, for the rest of his life.

GARY TUCHMAN: His brother says he has quit his job to stay with Sergio all the time.

ALEX LEMUS: That's my life. If I have to become a scientist to go up in there and fix him, that's what I'mthat's my life, man. That's how much I love him.

AMY GOODMAN: That's Alex Lemus describing his brother's condition right now. Alex went on to say, actuallyhe said not only does a rich white person get off, but they invent words that then people have to say, like "affluenza." Boyce Watkins, can you respond to this? You wrote a piece called "Rich, White Kids Have 'Affluenza,' Poor, Black Kids Go to Prison."
BOYCE WATKINS: You know, I can say that starting life as a poor black kid myself, you know, I find it actually quite interesting that his wealth can be a source of privilege and opportunity and an asset for him all throughout his life, but then, suddenly, that asset is contorted into a liability, which ultimately makes it into another asset. You know, I know guys who have gotten 40 years in prison for possession of one gram of crack cocaine. I had an older brother who went to prison at an early age, and it led him down a spiral of mental illness that stayed with him until he died.
I was personally offended by what this judge did. And I really think that this judgeparticularly since this sentence was so inconsistent with previous sentences, particularly with African-American defendants, I think the judge should be investigated for corruption. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of link, financially or otherwise, or politically, that led to this outcome. I think everyone should be outraged, not just African Americans, but pretty much all of us, which I think is the case.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Boyce, Boyce Watkins, in terms of this becoming some kind of a precedent, in a new age here of a tale of two countries, really, that we have between rich and poor in America?
BOYCE WATKINS: Well, we already have a tale of two countries. I mean, America has really become addicted to capitalism, extreme capitalism. I'm a finance professor, and so I don't hate capitalism, but at the same time, I know that capitalism is powerful, like fire or drug, which can either cook your food and keep you warm or burn you and your family alive. And ultimately in America, you see that the gap between the rich and the poor is growing more and more every year, and it's really affecting our political and judicial systems.
Also, we have two tales here when it comes to race. The United Nations has repeatedly cited the United States for having a two-tier society when it comes to the educational system, the economic system and the criminal justice system. Everyone kind of knows about the joke except for us.
And so, when you talk about a kid like Ethan Couch, I'd say that the best cure for his affluenza would be prison. And I think most people know that. And I think we have to understand that this judge is just one judge who made a bad decision, but at the same time, it could be something that could be applied all across the country, because most studies show that disparate sentencing does exist between races and between people with different socioeconomic statuses.







http://www.democracynow.org/2014/2/7/aff...y_teen_in#

[Magda Hassan]

I shouldn't be shocked but I am. Astounding.::gtfo::

[Peter Lemkin]

I shouldn't be shocked but I am. Astounding.::gtfo::

Magda, what's the problem....don't you have any afluenza? It is amazing the Court 'bought' that absurd idea. The legal system [sic] in America has really gone from bad to much worse. I guess this explains why the banksters don't even end up in court - they have terminal cases of afluenza! - sadly those that die of their 'disease' are others - and many.

Very sad, "Also, we have two tales here when it comes to race. The United Nations has repeatedly cited the United States for having a two-tier society when it comes to the educational system, the economic system and the criminal justice system. Everyone kind of knows about the joke except for us."

[David Guyatt]

It's simply too ludicrous as a legal argument.

But it shows the law to be a willing ass to wealth. The judge should be removed from office.

[Peter Lemkin]

Multimillionaire du Pont family heir spared jail for raping his three-year-old daughter because judge decided he would not fare well' behind bars

By Daily Mail Reporter / April 2nd, 2014

• 
  

• Robert Richards was charged with fourth-degree rape of his young daughter but was spared jail
  
• Shocking details about the offense and an alleged assault on his infant son have emerged in a lawsuit brought about by his ex-wife Tracy
  
• Richards is an unemployed heir living off his multi-million dollar trust fund
  
• His ex-wife is suing for compensation for her two children and the emotional distress they've endured
  
• In sentencing him in 2009, Judge Jurden said Richards would benefit from participating in a sex offenders rehabilitation program rather than prison
  
  

By DAILY MAIL REPORTERMarch 30, 2014

Shocking details have emerged of how a multimillionaire heir to the du Pont chemical business was convicted of raping his three-year-old daughter but escaped serving prison time after a Delaware Superior Court judge ruled he would not fare well'.

Robert H. Richards IV was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009 after he admitted that he hadraped his daughter almost a decade ago.

News of the shocking leniency shown to Richards, 46, only emerged on Tuesday in the details of a lawsuit filed against him by his ex-wife Tracy.
Robert H. Richards IV was charged with fourth-degree rape in 2009 after he admitted that he had raped his daughter almost a decade ago




News of the shocking leniency shown to Richards emerged just last Tuesday in the details of a lawsuit filed against him by his ex-wife Tracy


In her lawsuit, Tracy Richards charges that he penetrated his daughter with his fingers while masturbating, and subsequently also assaulted his toddler son as well.
Tracy Richards, who along with the two children now live in a rental home, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for assault, negligence, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress on his two children.

Robert Richards is an unemployed heir living off his trust fund. He is the great grandson of du Pont family patriarch Irenee du Pont, a chemical baron.
According to the lawsuit filed by Richards' ex-wife, he also admitted to sexually assaulting his infant son in addition to his daughter between 2005 and 2007.
Richards was initially indicted on two counts of second-degree child rape, felonies that translate to a 10-year mandatory jail sentence per count. He was released on $60,000 bail while awaiting his charges.
Irenee du Pont



Richards hired one of the state's top law firms and was offered a plea deal of one count of fourth-degree rape charges which carried no mandatory minimum prison sentencing.
He accepted, and admitted to the assault, reports the Detroit Free Press.
Superior Court Judge Jan Jurden sentenced Richards to eight years in prison but suspended that for Level II probation, which requires monthly visits with a case officer.
In sentencing him, Judge Jurden said Richards would benefit from participating in a sex offenders rehabilitation program rather than serving any prison time.
Currently on probation, Richards has never been charged with crimes against his son.
The lawsuit claims that Richards raped his daughter, now 11, in 2005 when she was three.

Lawyers for Tracy Richards, far right, hold up photos of where her husband lives, the $1.8m mansion on the right and where she and their children currently rent on the left

Several times, he entered her bedroom at night while she slept and penetrated her with his fingers while masturbating, said the lawsuit, which includes documents from the criminal case.
Abuse of the children occurred at both of Richards' homes, including the 5,800-square-foot Greenville mansion that he paid $1.8 million for.
Richards, who is 6'4 and about 250 lbs, told the girl to keep what he had done to her a secret,' but in October 2007 she told her grandmother, who informed Tracy Richards, the lawsuit said.

The girl was taken to her pediatrician, whom she told about the abuse, and New Castle County police arrested him that December.

Abuse of the children occurred at both of Richards' homes, including the 5,800-square-foot Greenville mansion that he paid $1.8 million for, pictured

The proven abuse of his daughter and alleged assault of his son has caused his children long-term injuries,' the lawsuit filed Tuesday said, perhaps including depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, sexual dysfunction and shame.
His daughter also has repressed memories of some instances of the abuse she suffered,' and if the son was abused, the same is true with him, the suit said.

With medical treatment, the lawsuit said, those memories will likely begin to surface.'
Making matters worse this self admitted rapist and child abuser has not paid a single penny to these children for his crimes. There is no provision whatsoever for them for their future after they turn 18,' said Attorney Thomas Crumplar, who is representing Tracy Richards.

At Tuesday's press conference he stood alongside Tracy and her mother Donna Burg. Burg, the maternal grandmother, is the one who alarmed Tracy of the abuse after talking to one of the grandchildren in 2007.

Richards is a scion of two prominent Delaware families the du Pont family who built the chemical empire and the Richards family who co-founded the prestigious corporate law firm Richards Layton & Finger.

His father, Robert H. Richards III, was a partner in the law firm until his 2008 retirement.

Video: Du Pont heir sued over abusing his own children

Read more:

• Du Pont heir who raped toddler daughter, accused of sexually abusing 19-month-old son
  

[David Guyatt]

"Would not fare well in prison"...

I should hope not for raping a 3 year old.

The US is becoming more bizarre than ever, when it comes to right and wrong eh.

What worries me though, is what happens there usually ends up here as well.