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Group 1: 'Affluenza' defence earns Ethan Couch probation in fatal DUI

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Group 1: 'Affluenza' defence earns Ethan Couch probation in fatal DUI

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Names: Mona (Recorder), Katherine (Leader), Chris (Errand Monitor), Cabot (Timekeeper), Isa (Presenter)

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"Affluenza," the affliction cited by a psychologist to argue that a North Texas teenager from a wealthy family should not be sent to prison for killing four pedestrians while driving drunk, is not a recognized diagnosis and should not be used to justify bad behaviour, experts said Thursday.

A judge's decision to give 16-year-old Ethan Couch 10 years of probation for the fatal accident sparked outrage from relatives of those killed and has led to questions about the defence strategy. A psychologist testified in Couch's trial in a Fort Worth juvenile court that as a result of "affluenza," the boy should not receive the maximum 20-year prison sentence prosecutors were seeking.

The term "affluenza" was popularized in the late 1990s by Jessie O'Neill, the granddaughter of a past president of General Motors, when she wrote the book The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence. It has since been used to describe a condition in which children - generally from richer families - have a sense of entitlement, are irresponsible, make excuses for poor behavior, and sometimes dabble in drugs and alcohol, explained Dr. Gary Buffone, a Jacksonville, Fla., psychologist who does family wealth advising.

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But Buffone said in a telephone interview Thursday that the term wasn't meant to be used as a defence in a criminal trial or to justify such behaviour.

"The simple term would be spoiled brat," he said.

"Essentially what he (the judge) has done is slapped this child on the wrist for what is obviously a very serious offence which he would be responsible for in any other situation," Buffone said. "The defence is laughable, the disposition is horrifying ... not only haven't the parents set any consequences, but it's being reinforced by the judge's actions."

District Judge Jean Boyd issued his sentence Tuesday after Couch "admitted his guilt" last week in four cases of intoxication manslaughter in the June accident, according to a news release from the Tarrant County prosecutor's office. The ruling came after the judge heard three days of testimony from witnesses, victims' loved ones, investigators and treatment experts.

The psychologist testifying as a defence witness at Couch's trial testified that the boy grew up in a house where the parents were preoccupied with arguments that led to a divorce, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

But prosecutor Richard Alpert argued in court that if the boy continues to be cushioned by his family's wealth, another tragedy is inevitable.

A message left for Boyd by The Associated Press was not returned Thursday. But the Star-Telegram reported that the judge said the programs available in the Texas juvenile justice system may not provide the intensive therapy Couch could receive at a $450,000-a-year rehabilitation centre near Newport Beach, Calif., that the parents would pay for.

Although Couch's case was handled in juvenile court, he has been identified publicly by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.

One legal expert said he had never even heard of "affluenza."

"The concept that I did something because I'm rich and spoiled doesn't look like a good causation," Richard Segura, a supervising attorney at the University of Texas at Austin's Criminal defence Clinic, told the AP. "It doesn't sound like something that would ameliorate the punishment."

On the other hand, he said, the defence attorney would have likely looked at all the facts in the case and tailored them in a way that he thought would best influence the judge's decision. In addition, the judge likely factored in rehabilitation, restitution and other factors when sentencing Couch, Segura said.

Dr. Suniya Luthar, a psychologist who specializes in the costs of affluence in suburban communities, said her research at Columbia University in New York has shown that 20 percent of upper middle-class adolescents believe their parents would help them get out of a sticky situation at school, such as being caught for the third time on campus with a bottle of vodka. Boyd's sentence reinforces that belief.

"What is the likelihood if this was an African-American, inner-city kid that grew up in a violent neighbourhood to a single mother who is addicted to crack and he was caught two or three times ... what is the likelihood that the judge would excuse his behaviour and let him off because of how he was raised?" Luthar asked.

"We are setting a double standard for the rich and poor," she added, noting the message is "families that have money, you can drink and drive. This is a very, very dangerous thing we're telling our children."

Authorities said the teen 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, according to trial testimony. His truck slammed into the four pedestrians, killing Brian Jennings, 43, Breanna Mitchell, 24, Shelby Boyles, 21, and her mother, Hollie Boyles, 52.

Scott Brown, Couch's lead defence attorney, said the teenager could have been freed after two years if he had drawn the 20-year sentence. Instead, the judge "fashioned a sentence that could have him under the thumb of the justice system for the next 10 years," he told the Star-Telegram.

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'Affluenza' defence lands teen probation after fatal DUI

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A judge's decision to give a Texas teen 10 years of probation for a fatal accident sparked outrage from relatives of those killed and has led to questions about the defence's strategy of saying affluenza was the reason not to give him to the maximum 20 years in prison.

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Group 2: "Everybody Knew": Inside the Fall of Today's Matt Lauer

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Group 2: "Everybody Knew": Inside the Fall of Today's Matt Lauer

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Names: Freddie (Leader), Kabi (Presenter), Hussain (Recorder), Seyon (Timekeeper and Errand Monitor)

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Late Tuesday, NBC Chairman Andy Lack went to the apartment of his dear friend and biggest star, Today show host Matt Lauer, and fired him.

For weeks, amidst the deluge of revelations about sexual misconduct by powerful men in media, executives at NBC News had been hearing rumors of stories being reported at Variety and The New York Times about Lauer's alleged sexual relationships with NBC bookers and producers. Those executives asked Lauer "if there was anything that he thought we should know or could fit into this category, and he adamantly denied that there was." According to one NBC insider, Lack reported to other top executives that Lauer had denied any sexual impropriety.

Then, on Monday, a woman who had already met with The New York Times, but who wished to remain anonymous, went with her lawyer to meet with representatives from NBC's human-resources department to lodge a formal complaint about Lauer. According to a person familiar with her complaint, neither "rape" nor "assault" was used in her complaint to NBC. Nevertheless, the complaint was serious and specific enough to result in the firing of NBC News's biggest star and most powerful figure. The allegation related to an inappropriate sexual relationship that started when the colleagues were covering the Olympics in Sochi.

Lauer had been dogged by stories of infidelity for years, so much so that he had become a regular target of the tabloid press. That focus narrowed his world, according to a former colleague. "His pattern was that of a beleaguered person who was constantly being pursued by The National Enquirer," the former colleague told me. "He was their target No. 1." The Enquirer regularly ran stories on Lauer's rumored affairs. " The Enquirer was suspected to have a crew on him, and he couldn't do anything," the former colleague told me. "He'd led this lonely life after his wife moved his family to the Hamptons. He was always being followed." He would frequently eat alone at a restaurant (Donohue's Steak House) near his apartment on the Upper East Side. "So I think the only place he could really operate was in his office and then when he was on the road. And there was a lot of him bringing attractive young women into his office for counseling and where he would talk to them about their career." The Variety story about Lauer's sexual misconduct, published Wednesday, based on the accounts of more than 10 current and former employees, reports that he could lock the door to his office from his desk.

There were, according to the former colleague, two groups of women that Lauer seemed to focus his attention on: interns, pages, and production assistants in charge of running scripts in the morning; and also bookers.

Lauer had been with the Today show for 20 years and had become the most powerful figure at NBC News. As I have written, the three network morning shows together represent about a billion dollars in revenue for their corporate parents. Today alone accounts for about half of that. For the broadcast-news divisions, the morning shows can make the difference between profit and loss. If it weren't for their morning shows, CBS News and ABC News would lose money. NBC News would still be profitable, but only because of its cable arm, MSNBC.

Inside television's biggest cash cow, Lauer had become an indispensable figure. He is one of the highest-paid men in television news, reportedly making up to $25 million a year through at least 2018 under the terms of his latest contract, though how to end his contract was still unknown at press time. Many rivals, superiors, counterparts, and colleagues fell by the wayside during his 20 years at Today, which attracts just over 4 million viewers every morning (down from 5.5 million in 2008). By surviving various scandals at Today, and besting his rivals, Lauer always emerged more powerful from each wave of turmoil. He became an even more powerful king even as the kingdom around him shrank.

After NBC's announcement this morning, President Trump, who was a major presence inside NBC for years when he starred on The Apprentice, tweeted, "Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for 'inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.' But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack's past!"

On Wednesday morning, as Savannah Guthrie choked back tears and struggled through her opening monologue, the cracks in the NBC firmament were already appearing. Insiders at NBC remained incredulous that NBC's top brass was not aware of Lauer's behavior with women. "The real focus right now should be on this complete disingenuous behavior by NBC to say, 'I'm shocked,'" one former NBC colleague told me. Lauer has been prized and protected by a succession of NBC News presidents. Furthermore, Lack and Lauer are longtime friends and have vacationed together. A person familiar with the matter told me that indeed the two men are friends, and yet when Lack heard the detailed report from H.R., he moved swiftly to address the issue.

"I don't know what everyone is so surprised by," said one high-level industry source. "This has been going on for months and months and everybody knew it and it was just going to be which girl came forward, and who reported it first."

"On Monday night, we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by Matt Lauer," Lack wrote in a memo to staff. The memo said that the allegation "represented, after serious review, a clear violation of our company's standards. As a result, we've decided to terminate his employment." Lack pointed out in the statement that, "While it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over twenty years he's been at NBC News, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident."

"We got a complaint from a person who came forward on Monday and we made a decision on Tuesday and made it public on Wednesday," a person familiar with NBC's negotiations with Lauer told me.

In a move that may have foreshadowed Lauer's situation, two weeks ago, Matt Zimmerman, Lauer's longtime booker on the Today show, was fired following accusations from multiple women. The two men were close, the former colleague told me, and Lauer fought for Zimmerman to stay.

Lauer's downfall could have been hastened by any number of his current or former colleagues, or at least that was the word inside NBC circles. "There's a lot of speculation that Megyn Kelly was directly involved in getting women to come forward," the former colleague told me. Kelly, who reportedly came to NBC with a whopping $23 million package and who has struggled to get traction at 9 a.m., felt the heat from Lauer's disapproval, this person said. (An insider close to Kelly disputed both claims.) "Even if she wasn't going to replace him, he was going to have a shiv in her back any day. You could already see reports of him saying that it was a mistake." (Kelly's ratings have tumbled from last year, before she took over, according to one insider.) Similarly, NBC insiders saw the hand of Ann Curry, whom Lauer ousted, in his demise, and possibly even Billy Bush. (Curry and Bush could not be reached for comment.) The repercussions inside NBC are unlikely to stop with Lauer.

"I had heard rumors about Matt, but that's all," Kelly said Wednesday, speaking at Business Insider's Ignition 2017 media conference in New York. She added, "I hear a lot of rumors about myself that aren't true."

As the national reckoning with sexual harassment continues, the question of Lauer's improprieties looms large over NBC's editorial decision to pass on Ronan Farrow's reporting on Harvey Weinstein. "They were sitting in a glass house and they knew it," Lauer's former colleague said.

Additional reporting by Emily Jane Fox. This article has been updated.

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Current U.S. president Trump poses with Russian president Putin during the 2017 A.P.E.C. summit on November 10, 2017.

By Mikhail Klimentyev/TASS/Getty Images.

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"Everybody Knew": Inside the Fall of Today's Matt Lauer

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Late Tuesday, NBC Chairman Andy Lack went to the apartment of his dear friend and biggest star, Today show host Matt Lauer, and fired him. For weeks, amidst the deluge of revelations about sexual misconduct by powerful men in media, executives at NBC News had been hearing rumors of stories being reported at Variety and The New York Times about Lauer's alleged sexual relationships with NBC bookers and producers.

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Group 3: Sammy Yatim Streetcar Shooting: Toronto Police Investigation Leaves Unanswered Questions

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Group 3: Sammy Yatim Streetcar Shooting: Toronto Police Investigation Leaves Unanswered Questions

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Names: Ekraj (Leader), Antony (Recorder), Fadil (Timekeeper), Piraveen (Presenter), Shi Lin (Errand Monitor)

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A police shooting on a downtown Toronto streetcar has left Sammy Yatim dead, a family grieving -- and unanswered questions.

Namely, how does an encounter between several police officers and an 18-year-old with a small knife on an empty streetcar end in a hail of bullets and and a discharge of a stun gun?

In a press release issued Monday, Ontario's Special Investigations Unit outlined the circumstances that led to the fatal Saturday night shooting of Sammy Yatim.

As the unit has begun an investigation, the details so far remain sparse. The SIU confirmed, however, that Yatim was confronted on a streetcar on Dundas St W., near Grace St shortly before midnight. Following an "interaction" with officers, Yatim sustained multiple gunshots wounds. Additionally, a "conducted energy weapon" was deployed.

According to multiple reports, one Toronto police officer has been suspended.

Witnesses told The Toronto Star that Yatim was brandishing a small knife. In the video, the suspect appears to shout at officers from inside the bus. Police repeatedly tell Yatim to drop the knife before shots ring out.

"Panic essentially sets in when you see cops with guns right in front of you," Martin Baron, who watched events unfold, told the Globe and Mail. "You could hear them yelling, really, really loudly, 'Drop the knife, drop the knife.'"

"It escalated very, very quickly, and then shots were fired," Baron added. "About 30 seconds after they stopped shooting they actually tasered him - you could hear the taser - and then an officer went in the back door of the streetcar and you could see them performing CPR on him."

Aside from pledging a thorough investigation of the case, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair had little to say at an 11 a.m. news conference.

"I am very aware the public is very concerned," he told reporters. "They have a right to be concerned."

Meanwhile, a widely circulated, and graphic, video captured the encounter, spawning intense scrutiny across Canada at it approaches half a million views.

You can see an enhanced version of the video below.
WARNING: The videos contain graphic violence and language that might be disturbing to some readers.
Blair did, however, express sympathy for Yatim's father at the morning presser.

"As a father, I can only imagine the terrible grief and the need for answers," he said. "We will do our best to ensure those answers are provided."

The teen's uncle responded on Sunday. Writing to The Toronto Star, Mejad "Jim" Yatim asked, "Since when did it become a crime to be a teenager?"

His nephew, he added, had emigrated from Syria five years ago -- and was still adjusting to a new life in Canada. He had never, his uncle noted, shown signs of mental illness.

"And since when does a scrawny 110-pound-something teenager become a threat to a dozen or so brawny policemen, when he is isolated in an empty streetcar that they felt that they had no other choice but to use lethal force?" he wrote.

The community has already mobilized in the wake of the shooting, expressing support for the Yatim family through a Facebook page. As well, a vigil is planned for the city's Dundas Square at 5 pm Monday. Family and supporters plan to march from there to the scene of the shooting near Dundas and Grace Streets.

The SIU, which is an arm's length agency that probes incidents with police that involve death, injury or sexual assault, will focus on one subject officer, as well as 22 other officers who witnessed the encounter.

Investigators are asking anyone with video footage or who may have information regarding this case to call 416-622-1965 or 1-800-787-8529 ext. 1965.
Also on HuffPost

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Sammy Yatim Streetcar Shooting: Toronto Police Investigation Leaves Unanswered Questions

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A police shooting on a downtown Toronto streetcar has left Sammy Yatim dead, a family grieving -- and unanswered questions. Namely, how does an encounter between several police officers and an 18-year-old with a small knife on an empty streetcar end in a hail of bullets and and a discharge of a stun gun?

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Group 4: Race matters when awaiting trial, data shows

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Group 4: Race matters when awaiting trial, data shows

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Names: Maheen (Presenter), Jade (Recorder), Thelakshan (Timekeeper), Muskan (Leader), Xixiang (Errand Monitor)

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Black people in Ontario spend more time in jail awaiting trial than white people, even when charged with the same type of crime, according to data recently released by the province.

Government officials admit it's yet another systemic barrier faced by minorities as they manoeuvre through the justice system, and say they are working to find solutions.

But legal advocates say Ontario's bail system has become one of the "most onerous in the country" and the province is simply offering a "colour-blind approach to a colour-coded problem."

"There is systemic anti-Black racism in that there are many in the legal system who are not trained, encouraged or directed to consider the systemic barriers facing African-Canadians when they call for a surety," said Anthony Morgan, who specializes in human rights law at Falconers LLP.
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A surety is a friend or family member who agrees to supervise the accused in the community and forfeit a specified sum of money if bail conditions are violated.

"If you look at the stats of socio-economic marginalization, African-Canadians are dramatically overrepresented in unemployment, underemployment and poverty rates," he said "So when you call on that same community to have to present a surety, there are barriers."

The data, which spans 2011 to 2016, includes more than 20 categories of crime, ranging from homicide to fraud to impaired driving. In the most recent data, from 2015-16, there were just over 6,000 cases involving Black people and more than 31,000 cases involving white people. Some of these people would have been in custody on more than one occasion.

In more than half the categories in the bail data, Black people were in jail, on average, longer than white people, although in a few cases not as long as other minority groups.

In two categories - weapons offences and serious violent crimes - Black people were in jail significantly longer awaiting trial than fellow white inmates, outstaying them by more than a month in the former category, and 45 days in the latter.

In a number of categories, such as theft and traffic offences, white people were held in remand longer. In a few categories, the difference between the two groups was an extra day or two in jail.

In some categories, such as impaired driving, those who identified as Southeast Asian were remanded for an average of 19 days, while white people stayed in jail for an average of seven. In the case of traffic infractions, those from West Asian/Arabic backgrounds waited in jail an average of 40 days, as opposed to Black people, who were held for 20 days.

The data, obtained first by Reuters through access to information requests, was provided to the Star by the Ministry of the Attorney General. Ontario asks inmates to identify their race when they are jailed.

In addition to statistics for Black and white inmates, the data also included information on members of the Asian, Hispanic, West Asian/Arab and Indigenous communities, and those who declined to identify their race.

Ministry officials "recognize that racialized communities face systemic barriers and we have been and will continue to tackle these issues," said spokesperson Andrew Rudyk.

"Bail is a critically important part of the criminal justice process," Rudyk said, adding that last December the province created the Bail Action Plan to "support vulnerable and low-risk accused - many of whom are Indigenous or racialized - who may have otherwise been denied bail because they lacked appropriate supports like housing or programming."

Anthony Morgan, a Toronto lawyer, says "the province's solutions (to problems in its bail system) don't go far enough, because they don't explicitly identify anti-Black racism as a problem within our justice system, within how decisions are made at every level."

The ministry is working to expand the existing bail verification and supervision program to help "facilitate the successful release on bail of low-risk accused pending trial," Rudyk said. It has also launched a new "bail beds" programs that "provides supervised housing for low-risk individuals in five Ontario communities, making duty counsel available at six correctional facilities across the province to allow for more effective bail hearings and developing a new, culturally responsive program to provide supports to Indigenous people going through the bail and remand process," he added.

The ministry has also appointed three prominent legal experts to provide "advice on modernizing Crown policies on bail," he said.

"This includes providing advice on the use of sureties and bail conditions which we know disproportionately impact vulnerable populations and racialized communities," said Rudyk. He says the ministry is also working with partners to provide training in diversity and unconscious bias to those who administer the justice system.

Cash bail was largely eliminated in the 1970s to make the bail process less burdensome on the poor. But some critics say Ontario's heavy reliance on a surety as a condition of bail has become just as taxing for poor and marginalized people.

"The province's solutions don't go far enough, because they don't explicitly identify anti-Black racism as a problem within our justice system, within how decisions are made at every level," said Morgan, who has worked at the African Canadian Legal Clinic. "Until we get there . . . no one-size-fits-all program is going to help adjust these very particular disparities affecting African-Canadians." he said.

A recent Supreme Court decision called Ontario's surety system one of the "most onerous forms of release" and noted a justice or judge should apply less onerous bail conditions unless the Crown can prove a need for tougher terms.

The ministry says the numbers, while up to date, "should not be considered to be a comprehensive representation of the remand population," as inmates self-identify, and the same individual may be admitted multiple times. Moreover, the court tracking system does not track racial identity, and therefore there is no data on rates or types of bail or conditions.

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Race matters when awaiting trial, data shows | Toronto Star

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Black people in Ontario spend more time in jail awaiting trial than white people, even when charged with the same type of crime, according to data recently released by the province. Government officials admit it's yet another systemic barrier faced by minorities as they manoeuvre through the justice system, and say they are working to find solutions.

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Group 5: Brock Turner Set To Leave Jail Early

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Group 5: Brock Turner Set To Leave Jail Early

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Names: Kaishaan (Recorder), Mark (Timekeeper), Kelly (Presenter), Cindy (Leader), Sunny (Errand Monitor)

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Brock Turner released from jail after serving 3 months for sexual assault | CNN

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Brock Turner, a former Stanford University swimmer, has been released from jail after serving three months of a six-month sentence for sexual assault.