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Jean Hudson Boyd

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The Honorable
Jean Hudson Boyd
323rd District Court, Presiding Judge
In office
January 1, 1995 (1995-01-01)[1] – December 31, 2014 (2014-12-31)[2]
Preceded byHon. Scott D. Moore[1]
Succeeded byHon. Timothy A. Menikos[3]
Personal details
Born
Lucy Jean Hudson[4]

1954 or 1955 (age 69–70)[4]
Political partyRepublican[5]
Spouse(s)John G. Boyd, D.D.S.[6]
Relationsgrandfather "Jack" Garrison (Mayor of Fort Worth, 1955-1957)
Children1
Residence(s)Fort Worth, Texas[5]

Jean Hudson Boyd is a retired judge in the United States of America who served as the Presiding Judge of Texas' 323rd District Court.[1] The 323rd District Court serves Tarrant County, Texas as its juvenile court. Boyd, a Republican, assumed office in 1995,[1] but is known for her controversial[7] 2013 probation sentencing of Ethan Couch, a sixteen-year-old who killed four people and injured nine while driving drunk.

Education and career

Boyd earned a Bachelor's degree from Texas Technological University and a law degree from South Texas College of Law.[5] She practiced law as a juvenile attorney before becoming an Associate Judge of the 323rd District Court in 1987, and the Presiding Judge of the 323rd District Court in 1995.[6] Boyd chairs the Juvenile Justice Committee of the Judicial Section of the State Bar of Texas, and was a member of the Board of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission.[6] She chaired the Juvenile Law Section of the State Bar of Texas from 1993 to 1994.[6] Boyd served as President of the Fort Worth-Tarrant Count Young Lawyers Association in 1985, and as President of the Tarrant County Women Lawyer's Association from 1982–1983.[6]

Couch case

Boyd heard the case of Ethan Couch, a wealthy, white sixteen-year-old who killed four people and injured nine people while driving drunk, in 2013.[8] Boyd sentenced Couch to ten years probation for his crimes, and also ordered him confined to a rehabilitation facility for treatment.[8] Boyd's ruling outraged the families of the victims, and provoked national criticism, especially after news sources revealed that Couch's defense team argued that he was not culpable because he could not understand the consequences of his decisions because of his financial privilege, a condition an expert witness termed "affluenza."[8] Boyd herself specifically stated that the affluenza argument did not influence her judgement, but rather, that she merely felt Couch needed treatment and that given his parents' financial position, Couch could get better treatment in a rehabilitation center than in a youth detention center.[8]

Critics charged that Boyd had essentially given a free pass to Couch because he was white and wealthy, noting that in 2004, Boyd sentenced Eric Miller a sixteen-year-old from a poor family to twenty years imprisonment for killing one person while driving drunk.[9] The 2004 case did differ to some extent from Couch case, though, in that the defendant in the 2004 case committed a separate felony on the night in question, stealing a truck. However, in Couch's case, he had stolen a truck from his father, which was viewed as a lesser offense.[9] Boyd had intended to pass a similar mandatory rehabilitation sentence in a 2012 case involving a death stemming from a fight, but no rehabilitation program was willing to accept the suspect, who was then subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison.[10] Boyd has a history of long probationary sentences for juveniles[11] and keeping juveniles in the juvenile court system,[12] although at least one juvenile, convicted of murder, was sentenced to forty years imprisonment following his conviction.[13]

Over thirty thousand persons signed an online petition to remove Boyd from the bench after the Boyd's ruling in the Couch case. [14]

Two years into the 10 year probation sentence handed down by judge Boyd, Ethan Couch violated his probation and disappeared with his mother.[15] He is now wanted by the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, the FBI and the US Marshals service. [16]

Personal life

Boyd married John G. Boyd, D.D.S., in 1977[4] and the two have a child.[6]

Awards

  • Silver Gavel Award (2011), selected by the Texas Center for the Judiciary[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d "History of the District and Criminal District Courts of Tarrant County" (PDF). Tarrant County. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Date_validation at line 961: bad argument #3 to 'format' (string expected, got nil).
  3. ^ "Tarrant County, 323rd District Court". Tarrant County. 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "(1977) Marriage License Application Indexes". Vital Statistics Unit. Texas Department of State Health Services. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  5. ^ a b c "Jean Boyd (R)". Texas State Directory. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g "2011 Silver Gavel Award Recipient is Judge Jean Boyd". In Chambers. Texas Center for the Judiciary. 5 May 2011. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  7. ^ http://abc7news.com/news/deposition-released-in-controversial-affluenza-dui-case/1037250/
  8. ^ a b c d Ford, Dana (6 February 2014). "Judge orders Texas teen Ethan Couch to rehab for driving drunk, killing 4". CNN. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  9. ^ a b Mitchell, Mitch (12 November 2014). "Fatal crash in 2004 drew different sentence from Tarrant judge". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  10. ^ "Sentence given to teen in deadly drunk driving case spurs backlash". WFAA News 8. 13 December 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  11. ^ "Teen given 10 years in baby's death". The Victoria Advocate. AP. 4 May 2002. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  12. ^ "Teen faces trial as juvenile in killing". The Victoria Advocate. AP. 22 April 2003. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  13. ^ "Teen convicted of killing grandmother". The Victoria Advocate. AP. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  14. ^ Capizola, Janeen (December 16, 2013). "Outraged Americans petition Gov. Perry to remove judge in 'affluenza' DUI case". BIZPAK. Retrieved May 8, 2014.
  15. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/17/us/texas-affluenza-drunken-driving-teen-missing/
  16. ^ http://gawker.com/the-infamous-affluenza-teen-and-his-mom-have-disappea-1748684735
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