LTE - Buying Justice

Regarding "Woman gets 50-year sentence for DUI deaths" (Sat page B2), the story of the woman from McAllen who plead guilty to killing five people while driving drunk is an illustration of how appallingly unfair the criminal justice system can be in Texas.  My beef isn't with the harsh sentence imposed on Margaret Gil, but with the fact that on the same page in the Chronicle, there is an update about the "Affluenza Teen", who killed four people and turned a fifth person into a quadriplegic, also while driving drunk (‘Affluenza’ teen gets lowered rehab fee).

 

Affluenza Teen avoided jail time in part by offering as a defense the hardships of growing up as the son of a multi-millionaire.  That money and influence ended up buying him ten year's probation and a rehab stint at a luxury hospital in Vernon costing $22,000 per month.  To add insult to injury, the story informed us that the same judge that rendered the sentence just ruled that Texas taxpayers will be required to pick up 95% of the tab for his "therapy".   

 

By contrast, Margaret Gil got the book thrown at her and will likely serve at least 25 years in prison, even though she plead guilty to homicide and apologized at her trial, two things that Affluenza Teen never did.

 

Money buys justice in Texas.

 

Pete Smith

Cypress, TX
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http://www.chron.com/default/article/Tuesday-letters-Justice-bluebonnets-and-liberals-5401904.php