Wayne D. King
This past week 16 year-old Ethan Couch walked away, virtually unpunished, from his responsibility for a fatal car crash in which he - in a drunken stupor - killed four people. Couch didn’t physically walk away, he received a slap on the wrist in the form of probation from a judge who apparently bought his attorney’s defense that Couch suffered from “Affluenza” - a “condition” brought on by wealthy parents who never taught him the difference between right and wrong and further imparted on him the belief that his privileged life entitled him to a different Golden Rule than the rest of us, the great unwashed. Where we commoners think, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” Ethan Couch thinks, “Those with the gold, make the rules.”
The irony of this defense is that it is a self fulfilling prophesy. Bemoaning the tragedy of being taught to believe that the rules of society don’t apply, even condemning it, while at the same time virtually insulating everyone involved from any consequences associated with its affects.
By virtue of wealth the offender become only superficially responsible for his actions and his parents - who should have been charged and prosecuted for negligence or as accomplices before and after the fact if “Affluenza” is indeed a condition brought on by their neglect - go on their merry affluent way. Their wealth shields their child from the consequences of his actions and they bear no responsibility legally for the outcome.
By accepting the defense itself, the Judge thumbed her nose at the notion that no-one is above the law, irrespective of their wealth or social standing. By sentencing him to probation, she has gravely wounded the judicial process nationwide and has further insulated the wealthy from the consequences of their actions.
Let’s skip over the discussion of charging a minor as an adult for the time being, even though it is relevant to this case because if Couch were simply tried as a minor they would be able to at least incarcerate him in a juvenile detention facility as a repeat Juvenile offender and perhaps both punish him and get him treatment that doesn’t simply reinforce the notion that he is entitled. He could have been treated until 21 and then depending on his behavior sentenced to a term of incarceration as an adult or released with cause.
Affluenza is indeed a condition but not as represented in this case. It is a condition that affects and infects the very heart of the American idea. It is the condition that allows AIG JP Morgan, and Countrywide to break the Global Economy without serious consequences; It is the condition that allows Johnson and Johnson to knowingly bribe doctors to give worthless medications to children and the elderly; It is the condition that makes it legal for Blackstone Corporation to take out an insurance policy on a credit default swap covering debt owed by Codere and then paying Codere to default on the loan, triggering the insurance payment on the credit default swap; It is the condition that allows Halliburton to be “persons” with respect to contributing vast sums to political campaigns and “non-persons” when it comes to destroying evidence in the Deep Water Horizon oil spill for which they were fined a paltry $200,000 and no one went to jail.
It is the condition that allows the wealthy to privatize profits when their bets pay off and socialize losses when they don’t.
The whole notion of “Affluenza” seems tailor-made for one of Saturday Night Live’s famous “Seriously?” sketches with Seth Meyer and Amy Poller. It is the legal manifestation of the Theatre of the Absurd and it would be funny - uproariously funny - if it weren’t for the fact that the attorney’s of Mr. Couch were serious - dead serious.
If we are seriously going to consider this as a condition, then we had better be prepared to hold someone responsible. Otherwise we may as well change the national motto on the dollar bill from E Pluribus Unum to Illigitimate Non Carborundum - Don’t let the bastards get you down - because all window dressing for social and judicial equality will have been stripped away.
Lady justice will parade down the road, stark naked, and no one will notice.
Note:
Killed by Couch were Breanna Mitchell, whose car broke down the night of June 15; Hollie and Shelby Boyles, who lived nearby and had come outside to help Mitchell; and youth minister Brian Jennings, a passer-by who had also stopped to help.
Two teens riding in the bed of the teen’s pickup were critically injured. Solimon Mohmand had numerous broken bones and internal injuries. Sergio Molina remains paralyzed and communicates by blinking his eyes, according to testimony last week.
About Wayne D. King: Former Senator Wayne D. King has most recently been CEO and Vice
President for Business Development and Innovation at MOP Environmental
Solutions. A recovering politician, publisher, journalist and President
of Moosewood Communications – a public relations and communications company. King’s experiences run a broad gamut of the
communications industry, public policy and economic and community
development.
The Etherial Boulder
