[Ashleigh Banfield, Cnn:] 911 tapes released in the affluenza drunk driving case. The crash that left four people dead and most everybody wondering, since when did being rich become a legal defense. Plus, we've now learned that a missing American in Iran may in fact have been working for the CIA. And the crack-smoking mayor of Toronto is now facing a lawsuit after a reporter says Rob Ford suggested that that reporter in fact was a pedophile and said so on TV. Hi, everybody. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It's Friday, December 13th. Welcome to LEGAL VIEW. And I want to begin with this, this morning. The injustice files, something pretty shocking and some brand-new details on what was already pretty surprising, that Texas teenage DUI case. We now have some court notes and 911 calls that show, even after plowing down four people, that young man on your screen, Ethan Couch, was confident that he would get away with it, that his parents would rescue him from the latest mess that he found himself in. And, ultimately, that's almost exactly what happened. He received no prison time for his actions, again, four people dead, drunk driving, instead, blaming his behavior on something an expert called "affluenza" in the courtroom, maybe better known as "spoiled brat syndrome." Randi Kaye has the details.
[Randi Kaye, Cnn Investigative Correspondent:] It's two minutes till midnight on June 15th when a terrified teenager calls 911.
[Caller:] We need some ambulances. It's bad. We flipped and oh god. 911
[Dispatcher:] OK, were you involved?
[Caller:] I was in the truck.
[Kaye:] The truck was being driven by 16-year-old Ethan Couch, and the 911 caller is his friend, one of seven friends in the pickup. The group had been drinking heavily before Couch plowed down four people on the side of the road. Multiple 911 calls capture the chaos. 911
[Dispatcher:] Listen to me. Is it just one vehicle?
[Caller:] No, ma'am. There's four or five. There's another child in the ditch. They're gone! 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. Come with me. Come here. Come here. Come here. Oh, my god. Come here. I need you to sit here and I need you guys to pray, OK?
[Kaye:] In the end, four people dead and two of Couch's friends thrown from the bed of the pickup, including Sergio Molina, who is now paralyzed and had been in a coma. His parents, we've learned, are suing Ethan Couch, Couch's parents and the family business, Cleburne Metal Works, which owned the Ford F-350 pickup truck Couch was driving. Sergio Molina's parents are seeking as much as $20 million to care for their son in the future. The complaint points out Couch had a history of arrests, including one where he pleaded no contest to charges of possessing and drinking alcohol. That court date was just three months before the fatal wreck. We got our hands on notes taken during Couch's manslaughter trial. They belong to the attorney for Eric Boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. According to that attorney, witnesses testify that Ethan Couch was caught fleeing on foot about a quarter mile from the accident scene. He could be heard at the scene, the attorney's notes say, yelling to one of his passengers, quote, "I'm Ethan Couch. I'll get you out of this." But in the end with four people dead, all Ethan Couch got for his actions was a slap on the wrist, Judge Jean Boyd sending him to alcohol rehab with 10 years probation.
[Banfield:] That was Randi Kaye reporting for us. And, so, what that judge essentially ruled is this. It is not this poor kids' fault if his parents spoiled him and failed to teach him right from wrong. Let that settle for a minute. Our Anderson Cooper spoke to the psychologist who in court said that Ethan couch has "affluenza," and it is quite the conversation. Have a listen.
[G. Dick Miller, Clinical Psychologist:] I'm not interested in how much punishment he gets. I'm interested in taking away things that are important to him and will he placing them with things in his best interest.
[Anderson Cooper, Cnn Anchor, "ac360":] I know the kid won't have his Xbox, but I'd love to go to a facility for a year and do meditation and yoga and learn cooking skills and one-on-one nutritional counseling and ride horses. You know, that sounds great. To the man who has lost his wife and daughter and sees this young man who killed who has ruined his life, has killed his wife, has killed daughter, has killed two other people, as well, ruined the lives of a number of other people, as well, what consequence what consequence is there really for him killing four people?
[Miller:] For 10 years, the judge will have the discretion at any time she chooses to send this kid to the penitentiary. If you have a lot of money, you get people with more skills. You get a better singer. We have you tonight. I'm sure that you make more than the local guy here. That's just the way the world works. And there's some good things about that, some not so good things. I do believe we used to call these people "spoiled brats." I wish I hadn't used that term. Everyone seems to have hooked onto it. I think we all suffer from "affluenza," not all of us, about 80 percent. We have a system of justice where we don't take the people that have been offended and have them string him up or lynch him or whatever you want to choose to do, whatever they choose, because it sounds like you they want some revenge.
[Cooper:] They want justice.
[Miller:] And we take people who have experience and we sometimes do a jury, sometimes a judge, and that's the way our system works. And it worked this time, I think.
[Banfield:] Some people think it didn't work this time. Others disagree. And for the LEGAL VIEW, just right to the core of what the law says, let's bring in HLN legal analyst Joey Jackson and criminal defense attorney Heather Hansen. And I just want to start with a little background, you two, on the district on the judge, the district judge, Jean Boyd, juvenile district judge. Our Randi Kaye also found out that in 2012 this same judge sent an African-American kid to juvenile detention for 10 years, that boy admitting to punching a man who fell and hit his head and died. So, should I start thinking that race is a component here? And since there's an obvious race component between you and me, I'm going to let you answer that.
[Joey Jackson, Hln Legal Analyst:] Ashleigh, it's problematic, because when we look at and think about justice, what we think about is fairness. We think about equality. We think about a system that builds public confidence because when justice is meted out, it's equal as to all. And so when you look at the sentence that we're speaking about here that was meted out with the unfortunate excuse that, you know what, he has the money to do it and he's treated differently than the African- American male who was 14-years-old, by the way, who the judge sentenced to 10 years for killing one person, it doesn't instill confidence. It doesn't instill trust. It doesn't instill what we need to do.
[Banfield:] Can I get nitty-gritty on that one?
[Jackson:] Absolutely.
[Banfield:] And I'm going to full disclosure, I don't know anything about that case that Randi unearthed. I don't know anything. But just based on the fact alone that a kid intentionally reaches out and drills someone and that horrible result is death, is that different than partying, getting behind the wheel, never intending to kill someone, and you kill four?
[Jackson:] I think it's worse.
[Heather Hansen, Criminal Defense Attorney:] Yeah, there are differences in the crimes, but here the differences in the punishment are just too extreme.
[Banfield:] They're too extreme.
[Hansen:] If they had stepped in and used this defense at any of his other violations, any of his other criminal interactions with the law, then perhaps it would be appropriate to send him to this place and this never would have happened. But to wait until he's killed four people and then send him away to a country club just is not sitting well with the public.
[Jackson:] It's problematic.
[Banfield:] So, one of the things that we always hear is that ignorance of the law is no excuse.
[Jackson:] Right.
[Banfield:] And yet it seems to me that that's exactly what was argued here. This child was ignorant of right from wrong because his parents didn't teach him and he's getting a pass. How does that work?
[Jackson:] It works in a horrific way. And when you look at the further facts of case with respect to drinking before that, his prior background, the.24 of alcohol, the plowing over and killing of four people.
[Banfield:] Stealing the beer beforehand
[Jackson:] Absolutely.
[Banfield:] Having a young, semi-naked 14-year-old girl in his back seat prior to this as well.
[Jackson:] But if you look at it, and I understand the tenets of the justice system. We want to talk about rehabilitation. BANFIELD; Right. We want to talk about deterrence, right?
[Banfield:] I'm good with all that rehabilitation business, but the deterrence and punishment seem to be completely missing here.
[Jackson:] It's 100 percent disproportionate, and it's troubling and it's just a problem, I think, for everyone.
[Banfield:] Heather, really quickly, weigh in on this, and it's something that's bothering a lot of people. Is there any potential for a move to reconsider? Meaning, can the judge bring it back herself because of the public scrutiny on this case? Can anybody bring up a move to reconsider the sentence?
[Hansen:] The prosecution could. And we saw that in that rape case in Montana that
[Banfield:] Yeah, but there was a legal problem in that case. There was no legal problem in that case. What can we do?
[Hansen:] I don't think that it's going to happen, Ashleigh. And I think, you know, when I look at this case, the thing that strikes me is the possibility for a civil suit here against the parents when it's been admitted in court
[Banfield:] Already there.
[Hansen:] But the numbers are going to be huge. If they're paying half a million dollars a year for this country club
[Banfield:] So what?
[Hansen:] Money cannot bring things
[Banfield:] That's a lot of money for you and me. Apparently it's not a lot of money for these folks, if that was just so quickly agreed upon. And that civil suit, already there. I'm still I'm sorry. Civil won't cover it.
[Jackson:] No, it won't.
[Banfield:] Civil won't cover it. Four people are dead, innocent wonderful people.
[Jackson:] Judges sit in judgment, and I think they have to have the judgment to do, I think, what's right, what's proper and what's equal for everyone.
[Banfield:] Don't they earn, discretion, Joey? Don't you earn the right to judicial discretion
[Jackson:] Well, you earn the right to sit on a bench, no matter what that bench is. And we can only hope that the people who do that are people who take into act the effective communities and victims and their families.
[Hansen:] There's a petition to remove her, because she's not running for re-election, so there should be some consequences for people's actions.
[Banfield:] All around.
[Jackson:] Absolutely.
[Banfield:] Consider it, the move to reconsider. Maybe you can just bring it yourself, ma'am. Heather, Joey, thank you for that. Stay tuned. Other stories for you, as well. And the family of a former FBI agent missing in Iran says it is time for the government to quote, "step up." Next, the new revelations about what that man was actually do in Iran before he was nabbed.