The Rich And The Rest Of Us

"Affluenza." Have you heard of it? Not a new strain of any known virus or something for which we can all be inoculated,but rather "the guilt or lac of motivation experienced by people who have made or inherited large amounts of money." It is a real enough thing that the Public Broadcasting System did not one but two shows about it. I would be remiss if I did not at this juncture point out that PBS has also done a number of shows about a seven foot tall yellow bird and his fuzzy brown elephant friend. At the same time, it should be further pointed out that there is no "Big Bird Defense."
Not yet.
But back in 2013, attorneys for Ethan Couch successfully used the "Affluenza Defense" to get their client probation for the crimes he committed: killing four pedestrians while driving drunk. Prosecutors had argued for a maximum sentence of twenty years, but Couch was given four years on probation instead. At the time chief prosecutor Richard Alpert  suggested, "There can be no doubt that he will be in another courthouse one day blaming the lenient treatment he received here." Witnesses said during the trial that then sixteen  year old Couch and friends were seen on surveillance video stealing two cases of beer from a store. He had seven passengers in his Ford F-350, was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit. His pickup truck slammed into the four victims. It was an expert defense witness for the defense who painted the picture of Mister Couch as the victim. A victim of affluenza.
Two years ago, it was suggested by the presiding judge that the boy would not get proper care and treatment from the system if he were locked up, and pointed out that the prescribed twenty year sentence would make him eligible for release after two years. Well, guess what? Eric Couch is free. Not because he was set free, but because he violated his parole and is suspected of being on the run with his mother.
Violation of his parole could result in a ten year prison sentence. This might be the right time for the Couch family attorneys to mount that Big Bird Defense, with lead counsel Mister Snuffleupagus.