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'Affluenza' teen's mom is in trouble again · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: He got drunk, then jumped behind the wheel of his
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  Speaker 1: pickup truck and plowed down four people in a drunken haze.
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  Speaker 1: Ethan Couch was charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter.
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  Speaker 1: A psychologist and defense witness testify that the boy suffered
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  Speaker 1: from something called affluenza, a lifestyle where wealth brought privilege
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  Speaker 1: and there were no consequences for bad behavior. This is
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  Speaker 1: crime Stories with Nancy Grace, the mother of so called
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  Speaker 1: affluenza teen Ethan Couch. She's awaiting trial for allegedly helping
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  Speaker 1: her son escaped to Mexico. Prosecutors have been pushing to
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  Speaker 1: have her bond revoked because they say she violated the
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  Speaker 1: conditions of her release by drinking alcohol and handling a gun.
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  Speaker 1: I think sometimes judgment it was a strong admonishment from
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  Speaker 1: Judge Wayne Salvent directly issued to Tanya Couch as of
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  Speaker 1: Texes hooking upon You understand that after four people for
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  Speaker 1: in a people including a youth minister, a mom, her daughter,
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  Speaker 1: and a fourth are killed on the side of the road.
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  Speaker 1: A fifth person left paralyzed for life. They can only
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  Speaker 1: move their eyes and see the world happening around them.
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  Speaker 1: The perpetrator Ethan Couch, also known as Affluence Tine, gets
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  Speaker 1: straight approbation, and it is only when his mother takes
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  Speaker 1: him on wild goose chase, evading the law to hide
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  Speaker 1: out in a Mexico five star hotel that he's finally revoked.
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  Speaker 1: This after a video emerges of him playing beer pong
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  Speaker 1: at a drunken party. Here's the kicker, Mommy who helps
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  Speaker 1: her son evade the law is not in jail. Now
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  Speaker 1: we learned that the mother, Tanya Couch of Affluen City
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  Speaker 1: and Ethan Couch, has been caught with a gun, a
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  Speaker 1: gun just days after she's busted drunk. Will it never
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  Speaker 1: end with these two? Imancy Grace. This is crime stories.
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  Speaker 1: You know. If it's just a dysfunctional relationship between a
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  Speaker 1: mother and her adult son, that is there problem. But
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  Speaker 1: when you bring in four dead bodies and one person
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  Speaker 1: paralyzed for life, that's my problem and it should be
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  Speaker 1: your problem too. If you plan on driving on an
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  Speaker 1: open road with this woman on the loose, I don't
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  Speaker 1: understand it. Joining me right now. Defense attorney Renee Rockwell
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  Speaker 1: also with me. Were now psychologist out of New York,
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  Speaker 1: Karen Stark, I don't get it with me, also Alan
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  Speaker 1: Duke joining me from l A. Alan. The Star Telegram
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  Speaker 1: reporting prosecutors filed an amended motion a follow up to
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  Speaker 1: a previous motion where this mom is found in possession
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  Speaker 1: of alcohol. Now she's got a gun. I never understood
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  Speaker 1: how she got out of jail to start with, after
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  Speaker 1: leading her son to evade the law to go on
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  Speaker 1: the run to Mexico. Keep in mind, she is a bartender,
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  Speaker 1: and she's not allowed to drink while she's out of
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  Speaker 1: jail or have a gun. Of course that's routine. But yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I mean this case from the big ask you something,
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  Speaker 1: what difference does it make to me that she's a
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  Speaker 1: bartender a different rule that applies to bartenders. No, In fact,
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  Speaker 1: that was the point I'm making. Even though she's around
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  Speaker 1: she can be around alcohol, she can't drink it. This
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  Speaker 1: is obviously a mother. That's just totally bass Ackwards care
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  Speaker 1: and stark. I mean, that's just like given a pyro
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  Speaker 1: a match and say scratch. This is why why is
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  Speaker 1: she working in a bar? But I guess the law
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  Speaker 1: can't stop you from making a living, no matter how
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  Speaker 1: you're going to do it. Although it doesn't make sense
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  Speaker 1: that they agree to it, because saying that she's not
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  Speaker 1: allowed to drink, but she could have this job. That
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  Speaker 1: that really is, as you said, Nancy, it's it's putting
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  Speaker 1: an addict. Help me out, Renee Rockwell, you're the defense attorney.
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  Speaker 1: How are you going to dig her out of this one? Renee? Nancy?
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  Speaker 1: She's innocent until she's proven guilty, and if she's violated
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  Speaker 1: any conditions of her bond that they will be addressed.
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  Speaker 1: My concerned is that, why are we talking about the
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  Speaker 1: mom and not the child. I'm talking about both of them.
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  Speaker 1: I just started with her because she's got a gun.
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  Speaker 1: He's in jail, and I want her to be in jail.
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  Speaker 1: I think she wants to be in jail also, Nancy,
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  Speaker 1: because she's doing things to make sure that she winds
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  Speaker 1: up in jail. You know, Renee, you know something I
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  Speaker 1: respect about you. You It's like a wind up toy.
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  Speaker 1: No matter what I say, no matter what happens, you
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  Speaker 1: always started with, UH, they're innocent until proven guilty. Okay.
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  Speaker 1: We all know that. We know that I and there
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  Speaker 1: you go. Okay, we know that thank you for the
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  Speaker 1: reality check, and that her issues will be addressed in court. Yep,
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  Speaker 1: we know that. What I don't get is the flagrant
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  Speaker 1: the flagrant desire to avoid the law, to trick the law.
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  Speaker 1: I don't get it. I mean that's what landed her
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  Speaker 1: son behind bars to start with. I mean, this guy,
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  Speaker 1: this kid, if you had, Renee, can I tell you something, Karen,
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  Speaker 1: You're gonna love this. I've been doing a lot of
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  Speaker 1: research into Ethan Couch is so called affluence a team.
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  Speaker 1: Guess what I found out. So he is not an idiot, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: fairly smart. They sent him to some private school for
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  Speaker 1: special kids, and the head mistress of the school said
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: he was very, very smart. I'll recount one episode to you, Renee.
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  Speaker 1: You'll love this, Karen, You'll see straight through it. Alan
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  Speaker 1: will probably say something like she's a bartender after I
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  Speaker 1: finished this story. But catch this. When he is a kid,
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  Speaker 1: like thirteen, he drives his dad's luxury vehicle to school.
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  Speaker 1: It's like twelve or thirteen years old. And when the
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  Speaker 1: head mistress tracks down the dad and says, your son
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  Speaker 1: is whatever, twelve and he drove your let's just say
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  Speaker 1: Cadillac to school today, the dad said, yeah, he's probably
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  Speaker 1: the best driver in the family. I mean, it's like
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  Speaker 1: he didn't even get it if you know true. I
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  Speaker 1: have taught the twins side a drive down in my
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  Speaker 1: hometown of Macon, Georgia in a field. Okay, yes, they're nine,
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  Speaker 1: but that was just once. Okay, so they've not been
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  Speaker 1: out on the open road driving the car. And the
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  Speaker 1: father's response is, yeah, he's the best driver in the family.
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  Speaker 1: Dad's how this whole thing started. Can somebody help. It's
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  Speaker 1: not the child's fault. I'm gonna have to hit my tea.
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  Speaker 1: I can't take it. Go ahead, it's not the dad's fault. Okay, fine,
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  Speaker 1: child's fault. It's not a child. He's like, how old
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  Speaker 1: is he now, Karen? The guy is has facial hair
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  Speaker 1: and armpit hair. He's no longer a child. Okay, it's
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  Speaker 1: not a child. I think I think. I think Rene's
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  Speaker 1: talk of that when he drove to school and he
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  Speaker 1: was in his father's cart. Okay, I'll give you that.
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  Speaker 1: That's not his fault. But let's just fast forward to
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  Speaker 1: now in the dead bodies. So that's just an example
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  Speaker 1: of how he has been raised. And yeah, it wasn't
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  Speaker 1: It worked with some idiot judge, it worked, okay, And
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  Speaker 1: now what do we do? Now? What's gonna happen Renee. Alright,
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  Speaker 1: so rehab. Maybe it was all done in the closed hearing,
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  Speaker 1: I understand, for an unspecified amount of time, perhaps a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of down time, out time for the kid time. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: he's not a kid anymore, so you quit trying that
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  Speaker 1: on me. But I'm talking about the mother. The mother.
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  Speaker 1: I want this woman in jail. She's got a gun
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  Speaker 1: and is drinking. After all the pain she and her
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  Speaker 1: son have caused. You know how they got caught, Karen
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  Speaker 1: the two adge. It's after they flee to Mexico and
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  Speaker 1: their five star resort, spending to thousand dollars at a
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  Speaker 1: strip club in one night. Okay, according to reports, I
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  Speaker 1: wasn't there. I didn't stuff the garter belts, thank god,
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  Speaker 1: two thousand dollars. This is how they get caught. The
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  Speaker 1: Edges order a pizza on their cell phone, which of course,
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  Speaker 1: is being tracked by the FBI. I mean, right there,
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  Speaker 1: that should be a felony. But okay, so now shed
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  Speaker 1: taking your son to a strip club. That's interesting. Helping
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  Speaker 1: him free the country, it's more than interesting. Um, he
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  Speaker 1: gets straight probation from some judge later, after all, it
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  Speaker 1: all hits the the news. He was finally revoked and
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  Speaker 1: got two years. Okay, Uh, the affluenza teen dad was
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  Speaker 1: convicted for pretending to be a police officer. And these
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  Speaker 1: are millionaires. It's not like they never had an education,
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  Speaker 1: and they don't know any better, Karen. But they don't care, Nancy.
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  Speaker 1: They really they really enjoy flaunting the law, but not
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  Speaker 1: even that. They like um showing that they are greater,
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  Speaker 1: that they could be a police person, a policeman themselves.
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  Speaker 1: That and they have no boundaries whatsoever. So she could
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  Speaker 1: go with her son to a strip club and they
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  Speaker 1: don't have any common sense when it comes to ordering
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  Speaker 1: a pizza when they know they're on the land. So
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  Speaker 1: what's gonna She's been brought into court and she's facing
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  Speaker 1: two charges. One is a money laundering which I'm not
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  Speaker 1: quite sure how they're getting a money laundering charge, but
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  Speaker 1: also hindering. Uh, they arrest of a fugitive. So she's
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  Speaker 1: looking at those two now, Rene, Why is it always
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  Speaker 1: that a felon a charge felon one of their conditions
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  Speaker 1: of UM bail is they can't have a weapon. Cannot
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  Speaker 1: have a weapon, explain, Marcy. You don't see that charge
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  Speaker 1: very often in state courts. What it is a federal charge.
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  Speaker 1: You can be charged federally. It's against the law even
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  Speaker 1: to have ammunition without the guns when you're on bail. Obviously, um,
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  Speaker 1: Fulton County, you know, didn't prosecute that. I've never seen
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  Speaker 1: that prosecuted in in state court at all. Prosecute what
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  Speaker 1: I'm saying of a condition of bond, well, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: because it's against the law. It's against the federal law
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  Speaker 1: to be free on bail and have a weapon. I
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  Speaker 1: mean I've seen that used as a trigger to revoke
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  Speaker 1: bond many, many times, not necessarily. No grubs, no alcohol,
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  Speaker 1: no weapon. Yeah. Yeah. So at trial, a psychologist blamed
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  Speaker 1: quote Affluenza acting irresponsibly due to the overt wealth of
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  Speaker 1: his parents for his actions. He and his mom flee
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  Speaker 1: to Mexico after video surfaces apparently showing him at a
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  Speaker 1: party with alcohol playing what looked to me like beer pong. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: Alan weigh in, you want to explain to everybody what's
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  Speaker 1: beer pong. I'm not very good at it, so okay,
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you any good tips. But beer pong
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  Speaker 1: is basically where you drink a lot of beer and
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  Speaker 1: you've got this right, this ping pong ball that you
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  Speaker 1: that you throw and it determines how you drink it.
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  Speaker 1: Not an expert on that. I didn't get into all
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  Speaker 1: of that when I was younger. But it is a
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  Speaker 1: drunken game. That's what we call a drunken game. Sounds
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  Speaker 1: like a big drunk to me, Renee, to quote your
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  Speaker 1: mema from the Bayou. Um. So, so now what do
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  Speaker 1: we do with mommy? Excuse me? That's my me Ma
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  Speaker 1: and your mommy. All right, I gotta get that straight,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Renee, give me one good reason why mommy
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't go to jail with her son, just one. I
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  Speaker 1: think ultimately she's gonna be um not dealt with. And
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  Speaker 1: because of the mere publicity, Nancy, it makes judges treat
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  Speaker 1: defendants a bit differently. So I think that that whatever
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  Speaker 1: judges in charge of her being out in or out
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  Speaker 1: is going to handle this a bit differently because of
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  Speaker 1: the publicity in her bond will probably be revoked and
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  Speaker 1: she sits to she works the case out down. If
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  Speaker 1: she's without record, then it might be a straight probation case.
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  Speaker 1: Why do you always somehow managed to work in the
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  Speaker 1: words straight probation no matter? Because it's what the offense
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  Speaker 1: is a dead bodies. You know, they didn't just order pizza.
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  Speaker 1: They ordered Domino's pizza. I mean Domino's is like NASA.
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  Speaker 1: They know where you live, they know what blog, they
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  Speaker 1: know your secret code to your alarm. They know it
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  Speaker 1: all because they've been leaving pizza as your place forever.
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  Speaker 1: They got all your information stored Domino's Pizza, I mean, right.
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  Speaker 1: An other thing, Karen Start explained to me the whole
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: theory behind the defense of affluenza. Affluenza. Well, I want
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  Speaker 1: to I want to say that I don't agree with this, Nancy,
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  Speaker 1: but what they said you do, Okay? He didn't. He
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  Speaker 1: didn't know the difference between right and wrong because he
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  Speaker 1: was raised in a situation where he had all of
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  Speaker 1: this affluence and could do whatever he wanted. The truth
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  Speaker 1: of the matter is he had parents who did not
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  Speaker 1: model right or wrong and who allowed him to do
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  Speaker 1: whatever he really wanted. So what they were saying in essences,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: he was a spoiled kid with no boundaries and could
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  Speaker 1: do whatever he desired to do. And if anything, it
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: sounds like they thought it was amusing Tanya the mother.
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  Speaker 1: Tanya Couch was free on seventy dollars bond I after
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  Speaker 1: she was charged with fleeing to Mexico with her son.
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  Speaker 1: They withdrew thirty thousand dollars from a bank. He dodged
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  Speaker 1: his own probation appointment. That's kind of a tip off
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  Speaker 1: that you're not around when you don't show up at
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: your probation officer. They dye his hair and mustache black
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  Speaker 1: and go on the run. Get across the Mexican border
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  Speaker 1: to Mexico, live it up in a resort, blow thousands
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  Speaker 1: of dollars at a strip club that's neither here nor there.
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: I don't can't say I approve of it, but it's
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: certainly not a crime unless it's got crime scene tape
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  Speaker 1: around it. I don't care about it, So go to
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  Speaker 1: whatever strip club you want. Wasn't he under age at
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: the time? Oh yes, thank you for reminding me that.
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  Speaker 1: What about that renee under age in Mexico? Okay, okay,
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: good point, good point. Okay, you got me over the
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: barrel on that one ago. You know what, I'm laughing
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: this morning. But you know what will sober me up
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  Speaker 1: pretty fast. You know what will sober me up pretty fast.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: It's when I think about those four dead bodies. This
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: is how it went down. Want the girl, the young lady,
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: had gotten a flat or had car trouble. She gets
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: her mother out there. That that'd be like the three
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: of us out trying to change a flat tire on
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: the side of the road. Okay, you can just see
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: that going is good at that I can, I can
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  Speaker 1: take all four off at the same time. Given another
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: she could get one of her dopers to show up
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and her souped up escalade and take us and get
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: us out of there. Forget about triple a um Nancy
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: and I will will hold up the car. I walk,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: thank you very much. So these are these two are
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  Speaker 1: on the side of the road. Up comes a youth
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  Speaker 1: minister tries to help them. Then we've got another person
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: out there trying to help them. Then here comes ethan
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: cat doped up drinking and is souped up. Four will
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: and that that was it. Everybody's dead. One person permanently paralyzed.
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: All they can do is move their eyes and he
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: gets straight probation. Then the video emerges of him apparently
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: playing beer polling ever by screaming and laughing and drinking
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: while he's out on probation, I mean straight probation for this.
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: The PR goes berserk and mommy dyes his hair and
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: they sneak across the border and live the good life
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in Mexico till the faithful Domino's order. Now, mommy who
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: gets out on bond again as caught with a gun
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: and possession of alcohol. There you have it. This is
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: what I know about affluence, E Tene and his mom
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: at this hour. Nancy Grace Crime Stories. Thank you, ladies. Duke,
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: I'll deal with you later. Goodbye, friend. H