# Judge Lets Killer Drunk Driver Off Because He's Spoiled **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 12, 2013, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119 "2013-12-12T00:00:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Jesse\_Pinkman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@Jesse\_Pinkman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jesse_Pinkman)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/41 "2013-12-13T16:29:59Z")
Yes, the spoiled defense is bullshit, and yes this kid obviously is a giant fuckhead. That being said, I would sentence him to juvie until he was old enough to get out, not put him away for twenty years. I don’t think all hope is lost with him, and there still is a chance we can make a reformed, tax-paying citizen out of him. But his punishment was way too light. The fact that he was spoiled means that he needs to get much more than the slap on the wrist he got. He still has a really poor grasp of how his dumbass actions effect others, so the court should have stepped in where his parents failed. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/42 "2013-12-13T16:57:04Z")
[“If This Rich Kid Has ‘Affluenza,’ Then We’ve All Got ‘Negrobetes’.”](http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2013/12/if_this_rich_kid_suffers_from_affluenza_we_ve_all_got_negrobetes.html) ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/43 "2013-12-13T17:09:09Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > So what would this mean in the future for this kid?.. Maybe, if there’s the slightest bit of justice in the universe, he’ll die horribly as a result of his substance abuse, thereby freeing up a spot for someone who actually works for a living. Nah, just fucking with you. If the family is really as rich and privileged and the story makes out, Dipshit Jr is set for life. Based on extensive personal experience with their kind, in DFW, I’ll wager that he will be somebody’s boss by the time he’s 25, at Daddy’s company (or one of Daddy’s friends companies). He’ll marry a good looking, grasping, and kind of miserable and stupid woman. In a few years, when she isn’t “fun-size” like she used to be, and she realizes that the Neiman Marcus card gets paid whether or not she puts out, he’ll start banging someone younger. He’ll have a couple of worthless kids and he’ll bitch and moan incessantly about what lazy, selfish ingrates they are. And he will always be better off than you or me, because that is the way the world works. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/44 "2013-12-13T18:10:33Z")
Legal query for those in the know about such things: The guy was found guilty and the judge issued a sentence, evidently (sorry about the pun) a light sentence for the crime at issue. Can the state appeal the sentence to a higher court? ---
**Author:** ![Mithras](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mithras](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mithras)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/45 "2013-12-13T18:36:41Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Legal query for those in the know about such things: The guy was found guilty and the judge issued a sentence, evidently (sorry about the pun) a light sentence for the crime at issue. Can the state appeal the sentence to a higher court? Do we know that it was a light sentence? What I mean is that while I personally agree that his punishment should have been much more severe, is what he was given within the range of what others that go through the juvenile justice system receive or not? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/46 "2013-12-13T18:40:09Z")
Agreed. Consider my question modified to include: Under current sentencing guidelines, was this sentence too light? ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/47 "2013-12-13T18:54:00Z")
When it comes up, I tell my clients Bush had one DWI; Cheney had two. Therefore one one DWI means you get to be president. Two means you’re limited to vice. Seriously, though, lots of people have gotten DWIs. Lots of others could have gotten DWIs, but just didn’t get stopped. Anytime you’re DWI you can get in an accident and kill somebody. Fuck, anytime you’re NOT DWI you can get in an accident and kill somebody. Seems like a lot of holier than thou bullshit in this thread. The kid was 16. You really think ten years in prison is the answer? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/48 "2013-12-13T19:01:42Z")
Sounds like this kid should have been sentenced to 30 days general population. That would be enough to cure his affluenza especially week 3 as he gets passed around as currency. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/49 "2013-12-13T19:16:46Z")
Well, I had hoped that the most disgusting part of prison-related discussions wouldn’t happen again, but there it is again. Good job, Saint Cad! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/50 "2013-12-13T19:22:55Z")
> [@sisu](#): > > Damn I hate being middle class…we get nothing again! That’s not exactly true - the middle class gets the shaft all the time! > [@pool](#): > > Not to be overly dramatic but I can’t imagine being the guy whose wife and daughter were killed by this little bastard. I seriously would dedicate the rest of my existence to killing him, then I’d probably move on to the judge and his defense attorney. I can see that happening. “My kid is dead, and this kid gets a slap on the wrist because he’s _too rich to know better?!?_ That is not acceptable.” > [@MsRobyn](#): > > I’m sure that there are lawyers lined up around the block offering their services to the next of kin of the victims. Suing the kid and his family into the next millennium seems to be the logical next step. After all, if they’re that rich, they’re worth suing. That would be justice, if all the suits ended up causing this family to lose all their money. > [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > Maybe, if there’s the slightest bit of justice in the universe, he’ll die horribly as a result of his substance abuse, thereby freeing up a spot for someone who actually works for a living. > > Nah, just fucking with you. If the family is really as rich and privileged and the story makes out, Dipshit Jr is set for life. > > Based on extensive personal experience with their kind, in DFW, I’ll wager that he will be somebody’s boss by the time he’s 25, at Daddy’s company (or one of Daddy’s friends companies). He’ll marry a good looking, grasping, and kind of miserable and stupid woman. In a few years, when she isn’t “fun-size” like she used to be, and she realizes that the Neiman Marcus card gets paid whether or not she puts out, he’ll start banging someone younger. He’ll have a couple of worthless kids and he’ll bitch and moan incessantly about what lazy, selfish ingrates they are. > > And he will always be better off than you or me, because that is the way the world works. Sigh. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/51 "2013-12-13T19:23:05Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Sounds like this kid should have been sentenced to 30 days general population. That would be enough to cure his affluenza especially week 3 as he gets passed around as currency. 30 days is usually jail, not prison. Boredom will be the greatest punishment, and maybe he’ll crack without his smartphone. A typo higher up made me read “effluenza.” I think that that is appropriate, as well. ---
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/52 "2013-12-13T19:33:05Z")
> [@rsat3acr](#): > > I’d start with the judges family she how she likes it. Geez, tone it down a bit. I will take the controversial stand that I would support a harsher sentence for someone who murdered the family of a judge whose verdict he didn’t like than i would for some stupid rich kid who drove drunk and accidentally killed some people. But I suppose you may disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/53 "2013-12-13T19:41:12Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Seriously, though, lots of people have gotten DWIs. Lots of others could have gotten DWIs, but just didn’t get stopped. Anytime you’re DWI you can get in an accident and kill somebody. Fuck, anytime you’re NOT DWI you can get in an accident and kill somebody. > The kid was 16. You really think ten years in prison is the answer? I am really not following your reasoning here. You think his impairment due to alcohol cunsumption was not a factor? .24, the kid was plowed. When you drive plowed, it is less ‘accidental’ and more ‘inevitable’. That’s why we have laws against it. When you choose to drive impaired, it is not an accident. He committed a crime when he stole beer. He committed a crime when drank the beer. He committed a crime when drove while seriously impaired. And 4 people died as a direct and foreseeable result. The \*magnitude \*of his crime is being lost on some people So no, 10 years in prison is not out of line. He should be held responsible for what he did. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/54 "2013-12-13T19:53:42Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I am really not following your reasoning here. You think his impairment due to alcohol cunsumption was not a factor? .24, the kid was plowed. When you drive plowed, it is less ‘accidental’ and more ‘inevitable’. That’s why we have laws against it. When you choose to drive impaired, it is not an accident. > > He committed a crime when he stole beer. He committed a crime when drank the beer. He committed a crime when drove while seriously impaired. And 4 people died as a direct and foreseeable result. The \*magnitude \*of his crime is being lost on some people > > So no, 10 years in prison is not out of line. He should be held responsible for what he did. I do understand that from a legal perspective, I am talking out of my ass. Apologies. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/55 "2013-12-13T20:26:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Well, I had hoped that the most disgusting part of prison-related discussions wouldn’t happen again, but there it is again. Good job, Saint Cad! :rolleyes: Sometimes it’s necessary. I was not making a gratuitous point rather I was pointing out that even a short stint in prison would do a lot to combat the entitlement issue the judge feels this kid has. A month of getting up/showering/eating/going to bed when someone tells you to, taking a dump with no privacy, fight or become property is a small price to pay for killing 4 people and just might put this kid on the right path if he really does have a problem knowing right from wrong. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/56 "2013-12-13T20:51:12Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > He committed a crime when drank the beer. Many places (can’t find if Texas is one right now) don’t make consumption illegal, and indeed many more allow it with parental permission (which I doubt he had). ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/57 "2013-12-13T21:14:10Z")
How this defense worked is beyond me. Since this kid is so affluent, he’s won’t be one of those who gets out in ten years and start his own drug gang. And ten years is nothing for murdering four people. I’d consider myself lucky as shit if I got only ten for four murders. Juvie till 18, prison till 26, and he never gets a driver’s license again. Shit, that’s still lenient. ---
**Author:** ![LinusK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/258eb7/32.png) [@LinusK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LinusK)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/58 "2013-12-13T21:24:01Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > I am really not following your reasoning here. You think his impairment due to alcohol cunsumption was not a factor? .24, the kid was plowed. When you drive plowed, it is less ‘accidental’ and more ‘inevitable’. That’s why we have laws against it. When you choose to drive impaired, it is not an accident. > > He committed a crime when he stole beer. He committed a crime when drank the beer. He committed a crime when drove while seriously impaired. And 4 people died as a direct and foreseeable result. The \*magnitude \*of his crime is being lost on some people > > So no, 10 years in prison is not out of line. He should be held responsible for what he did. Uh, it’s not inevitable at all. Tons of people get arrested with blood alcohol higher than that, and don’t hurt anybody at all. Even more make it home without getting stopped by the police. Others take their eyes off the road for a minute, when they’re stone cold sober, and kill a family of four in a minivan. Again, he was 16. A sixteen year old is not an adult. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/59 "2013-12-13T22:23:28Z")
> [@LinusK](#): > > Again, he was 16. A sixteen year old is not an adult. Provided you’re white and/or wealthy. But that aside, non-adults commiting crimes is why we have a juvenile court system. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119/60 "2013-12-13T23:00:31Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Agreed. Consider my question modified to include: Under current sentencing guidelines, was this sentence too light? As quick Google search does not produce any juvenile sentencing guidelines for Texas (but a lot of references to an emphasis on probabtion), but, apparently, in [Washington](http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=13.40.0357), if I’m reading it correctly, there would be a 15-36 week guideline sentence (a B+ offense, assuming 1 or fewer previous convictions). I may be reading that wrong, it’s displaying oddly on my screen. The fact that, from what I can tell from the article, his claim was really alcohol dependency from an even younger age. And one of the conditions was rehab. Now, I’m assuming that the prosecutors who wanted 20 years know more than I do about texas juvenile law (I don’t know anything at all; but in most places you don’t lock up juvenile offenders past their 21st birthday, so I’m curious about that). So I suspect that their request was based on something (although that’s the statutory maximum under Texas law, I believe). It seems light to me, but most states have a deliberate practice of giving juvenile’s sentences that would be substantially less than what an adult would expect (although, it sounds like this kid was in adult court - otherwise wouldn’t this all be sealed? - so I don’t know). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/judge-lets-killer-drunk-driver-off-because-hes-spoiled/676119.md?page=4)