eric boyles tells us he is now ready to talk. mr. boyle, thank you for talking to us at this unimaginable time for you. i'm so sorry for your loss. when you heard the sentence that was handed down, that this young man received only probation for killing your wife holly and your daughter shelby, as well as two other people, what went through your mind? >> i was unprepared for the sentence that was delivered. i knew we were talking -- i knew we were in juvenile court. we had hoped it would be treated as an adult. so we knew there were some restrictions. and we knew that even with a 20-year sentence, that he would be eligible for parole in a couple of years. and frankly, you know, i was disappointed. i would have been disappointed even at a couple of years eligible for parole, because when you consider the victims that night, you consider four lives taken with 180 years of future life, not present life, future life. >> do you have any idea that if this young man did not come from a rich familiar, he had come from a poor family, that the

that ignores completely eric boyles and the others who lost their loved ones. what about the message to the rest of society? you can't do that. >> you hit it right on the head. the important thing here is that we're supposed to have a society where rich and poor are treated the same under a justice system. we have a psychologist who comes into this courtroom and says he suffers from affluenza, meaning he has so much money, he doesn't know how to follow the law and act in a moral way. >> no, no. i'm going to change that. >> that's exactly what he was saying. >> that family has so much money, they have not raised him to understand right from wrong. >> that's right. >> they throw money at problems. >> he's a spoiled rich kid. >> that's not his fault. >> i don't care whether it's his fault or not. it's not the fault of the black kid who is raised in a ghetto who commits an armed robbery. maybe that's not his fault either but he's going to prison if he does that. let me just finish my point here. the cure for affluenza is poverty inflicted by going to prison. and th

they belong to the attorney for eric boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. according to that attorney, witnesses testified that ethan couch was caught fleeing on foot, about a quarter mile from the accident scene. he could be heard at the scene the attorneys' notes say yelling to one of his passengers, quote, i'm ethan couch, i'll get you out of this. 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 ten years probation. >> randi kaye joins us. do we know what this judge jean boyd accepted the affluenza defense before or anything like this? >> anderson, it's hard to say much about her time on the bench because she's a juvenile judge and those are sealed. she's presided since 1995 in texas and recognized and received awards, in fact, for integrity and courage. still, there is one case from 2012, anderson, some folks brought to our attention and a bit surprising given the current case of ethan couch. in that case of 2012, a 14-year-old boy admitted to killing a man b

we heard from eric boyles there that money, in his opinion, prevailed here. the psychologist who testified, a defense witness, in addition to saying that ethan couch had affluenza, that the boy was brought up to never believe you apologize but instead you would give money as a substitute for even apologizing. as a defense attorney with a very successful career, prosecutor, as a very successful prosecutor, have you ever heard anything like this? >> never, and as astonishing as this sentence is, no jail time, four dead, one paralyzed, driving under the influence of alcohol, not under the influence of affluenza, this theory of a spoiled rich kid defense is truth truthfully appalling. it turns everything in our justice system upside down. if there is such a condition, the treatment is full accountability. no more, no less accountability than anybody else, including prison time if it's deserved. >> you've worked with a lot of judges. you know them. former federal prosecutor for years. kendall, what could this judge have been thinking here? >> well, the judge certa

eric boyles lost his wife and daughter. >> there are just some things that even today are just too difficult to talk about. and at this point, we're trying to take life one day at a time. >> reporter: boyles and the other victims' relatives said it's especially wrong because couch's lawyers claim something called affluenza for a drunk driving accident, saying the affluent teen had such a sense of entitlement, he couldn't see right from wrong. >> the defense of affluenza is unheard of and wrong legally because it puts the wealthy on a better position than the rest of us. >> reporter: under terms of his probation, couch will be treated as this $450,000 a year rehab facility in california and will be denied what his attorney called the things he was used to. >> he's not going to have his x-box. he's not going to have alcohol or drugs. >> reporter: prosecutors had asked for a 20-year sentence, saying the only roots now to justice for victims families are the lawsuits filed in civil court. >> they'll have opportunities in other courtrooms, in other forums to get some of that justice. and i wish t

while driving drunk 16-year-old ethan couch killed four people on the side of the road including eric boyleswife and daughter as you heard. his blood tested three times the legal limit for alcohol in texas. what shocked people was the sentence he got in court this week which was ten years probation instead of jail. couch's defense essentially was that he was spoiled. i'm not a parenting expert. but i am a parent. and i found this surprising, if not shocking, so i invited psychologist wendy walsh to come chat. wendy, welcome back to the show, first of all. you watched this, i'm sure like i did, it seems the judge bought the story from the defense who said the kid was suffering from affluenza, affluent and enza, a disease, his wealthy parents let him get away with pretty much anything. it sounded outrageous to me. what did you think? is there something to this? >> well, it sounds outrageous to all of us, but it's important, dr. gupta, to remember that there are two arguments and two things that we should consider when we're thinking about this case. first is the idea of social class, is this a

eric boyles lost his wife and daughter. >> there are just some things that even today are just too difficulto talk about. and at this point, we're trying to take life one day at a time. >> reporter: boyles and the other victims' relatives said it's especially wrong because couch's lawyers claim something called affluenza for a drunk driving accident, saying the affluent teen had such a sense of entitlement, he couldn't see right from wrong. >> the defense of affluenza is unheard of and wrong legally because it puts the wealthy on a better position than the rest of us. >> reporter: under terms of his probation, couch will be treated as this $450,000 a year rehab facility in california and will be denied what his attorney called the things he was used to. >> he's not going to have his x-box. he's not going to have alcohol or drugs. >> reporter: prosecutors had asked for a 20-year sentence, saying the only roots now to justice for victims families are the lawsuits filed in civil court. >> they'll have opportunities in other courtrooms, in other forums to get some of that justice. and i wish the

. >> eric boyles whose wife and daughter were killed says justice was denied. >> for probation. for four lives. and the two serious injuries - i don't get it. >> and let's bring in attorney ms martin to discuss the affluenza defense. what do you make of this? >> this is ridiculous. it's the spoilt brat defense. because i'm so rich, because i'm so entitled i can't take responsibility for my actioning each when my actions involve committing not one, but multiple acts. i'm concerned the message this sends to the rest of the prison population and in general about what consequences attach to criminal activity. >> this young man was 16 years old. what was the judge trying to do here? >> i think the judge was abusing discretion, you know, judges have sentencing guidelines and they have a great deal of discretion when sentencing a defendant in a criminal case. i think this is a clear case of abuse of that discretion. i can't imagine if this young man were from a poor family, an african american family and victimized white victims, that we'd see the same outcome. it sets us up to perpetu

they belong to the attorney who eric boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. according to that attorney, he was caught fleeing on foot about a quarter mile from the accident scene. he could be heard at the scene, the attorney's notes saying, yelling to one of thinks passengers, quote, i'm ethan couch, i'll get you out of this. but in the end with four people dead, all he got for his actions was a slap on the wrist. judge jean boyd sending him to alcohol rehab with ten years probation. >> that was randi kaye reporting for us. 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. it's quite the conversation. >> 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. >> i would love to go to -- and ride horses. you know, that sounds gre

after the sentencing, eric boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash had this reaction. >> i court while ethan has had a privileged life and money has always been there and money always seems to keep ethan out of trouble, this was one time i did ask the court that -- for justice and that for money not to prevail. and ultimately today i felt like money did prevail. >> darren, affluenza was his defense. affluent, doesn't know bad behavior has bad consequences. what do you make of that defense? >> here's the thing. the critical distinction in this case and i understand how people will be outraged at the idea that this young man is not spending a big chunk of time in prison, but let's remember. this is a juvenile case. this is a ruling that was made in juvenile court. and in juvenile court unlike the adult court system, the focus is on one thing. and that's rehabilitation. so this kid is going to be under the thumb of the court system for the next ten years. if he screws up at all, off he goes to prison. and let's also not forget that part of this is his going to a residential lo

. >> reporter: eric boyles lost his wife and daughter in the crash. >> if ethan had been any other 16ey, that i believe the outcome and the circumstances would have been different. >> reporter: the response online has been overwhelming, a petition for the recall of judge jean boyd and hundreds of tweets, many angry, like rachel s., our criminal justice system is suffering from after flew en is a because affluent people can afford better attorneys. and dan murphy, affluenza means if you're rich and your parents are lousy at being parents, you can get off. don't see poor fluenza defenses working. >> clouch likely be treated at a $450,000 a year rehab facility in california. texas attorney general is now looking into this, lester, to see if there is anything they can do. >> kristen dahlgren, thanks very much for that. >>> let's head outside to dylan dreyer with another check of the winter storm. >> yes, the winter storm is quickly fading away. we're celebrating birthdays here. how old are you turning? >> 12. >> your first time in new york city? >> yeah. >> what do you think? >> it's amaz

. >> eric boyles whose wife and daughter were killed by a young drunk driver. a lot of issues to discuss, joining me drew pensky, mark car ra goes and sunny hostin. mark is a criminal defense attorney and sunny is a former prosecutor. drew, let me start off with you. have you heard of affluenza as a defense? >> no, it's disgusting. there is no such term. there is not an open diagnose not tick manuel, it's a cute, clever twist of a phrase the psychologist should be ashamed of for bringing in the courtroom and more shameful is the judge fallen for that nonsense. come on now, that's ridiculous. by the way, just because we in mental health understand the environment as parenting in causation l in certain syndromes, as explanation it's not a justification. once a person gets to the point they are harming other people, justice must be what's applied, not some non-sense about sue toe science what caused it. >> dr. drew, tomorrow i interviewed the therapist who came up with this term, and i'm going to play something he said tonight. we'll interview him more extensively

. >> that was eric boyles and alexander lemus reacting to the sentence handed down to the 16-year-old who killed four while driving drunk in june. the story has garnered nationwide outrage and attention. democrat wendy davis and republican attorney general greg abbott trying to figure out how a wealthy teen was able to use a defense called affluenza to avoid jail time. the district attorney is now asking a juvenile judge to put the 16-year-old behind bars on two cases of intoxication assault, charges that he says are still pending before the court. paul henderson is a veteran prosecutor and deputy chief of staff for the city of san francisco and joins me now. paul, it's good to have you here. obviously this case has captured the attention of the public to see this young man, a wealthy kid, technically prove his way out of this or try to get out of this because he says he just had too much money at his disposal. but on top of the d.a.'s aggressive push to put ethan couch behind bars, one of the victim's families is suing the couch family for $20 million. the legal battle is far from ov

he killed four people, including eric boyles wife and daughter. >> the message has to be that money and privilege can't buy justice in this country, that it's not okay to drink and drive and kill four people, severely injure another and not have any consequences to that. that's not the american dream that we grew up to participate in. and i just don't understand it. >> not many people do. they simply don't understand how getting away with things as a child entitles you as a young adult to not go to prison for killing people. last week the psychologist in question came on the program and as you'll hear, could barely bring himself to concede that ethan couch killed anyone. >> if you commit a crime, if you kill four people, you can't use that as an excuse, can you? >> no. and the term -- when you use the word "kill" and people out in america hear that, it implies that there was motive, that the mottive was not good. >> are you saying he didn't murder -- kill four people? >> yes, he did not murder four people. it's a legal term. >> okay. but he slammed his truck -- >> first degree homicide

they belonged to the attorney for eric boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash.ording to that attorney, ethan couch was caught fleeing on foot, about a quarter mile from the accident scene. he could be heard at the scene, the attorneys notes say, yelling to one of his passengers, quote, i'm ethan couch, i'm get you out of this. >> we need some ambulances, it's bad. we flipped and -- oh, god. >> okay. were you involved? >> i was in the truck. >> 911 calls capture the chaos after couch plowed down bystanders on the side of the road. >> listen to me. is it just one vehicle? >> no. there were four or five. there's another child in the ditch. they're gone! >> come with me, come here. come here. come here. come here. >> oh, my god. >> come here. i need you to sit here and i need you guys to pray, okay? >> in addition to four people killed, two of couch's friends were thrown from the bed of the pickup. including sergio molina, who is now paralyzed and had been in a coma. his parents we learned are suing ethan couch, couch's parents and the family business, cleburne meta

they belong to the attorney for eric boyles who lost his wife and daughter in the crash. testified that ethan couch was caught fleeing on foot about a quarter mile from the accident scene. he could be heard at the scene, the attorneys notes say, yelling to one of his paepgssengers "i' ethan couch. i'll get you out of this." at the end with four people dead all ethan couch got was a slap on the list, judge jeanne boyd sentencing him to rehab and ten years' probation. they say if prosecutors got their way which they wanted 20 years ethan couch would have ended up serving two years likely so this way with probation for ten years he's actually under supervision and in the system for ten years, carol, versus just the two years that he might have served in prison. >> is this an unusual sentence for this judge to pass down? >> well it's hard to say because she's a juvenile judge. we can only look at a snapshot of her record. one case that stands out because it's been brought to our attention by lots of folks. this is the case that happened last year, it was the story of a 14-yea

. >> eric boyles lost his wife and daughter that night in june. >> we had over 180 years of life takenyears of life taken and two of those were my wife and daughter. >> hollie and shelby boyles were helping breanna mitchell to change a flat tire. a youth pastor also stopped to help. also four were killed. >> how many were injured, do you know? >> one, two, three, multiple. i don't even know how many. yeah. >> three hours after the crash, couch's blood alcohol level was .24. three times the legal limit in texas. a psychologist testifyinging for the defense reportedly called couch a product of quote affluenza, saying he was brought up to spend money instead of saying sorry if he hurts someone and he never learned that sometimes, you don't get your way. the judge opted for probation and therapy. >> teaching him to be a responsible citizen. >> but for the families of the victims, that's simply not enough. >> money always seems to keep ethan out of trouble. this was one time i did ask the court that for justice. and for money not to prevail and ultimately today, i felt like money did prevai

eric boyle's wife and daughter were both killed. >> we had over 180 years of life taken.fe, not 180 years lived, but 180 years of future life taken, and two were my wife and daughter. >> investigators say surve surveillance tape shows couch and his friends stealing beer from a walmart store in june. then they got drunk at a party. leaving there, police say couch gunned his pickup, going nearly 70 miles per hour in a 40. just about 400 yards down the street, he slammed into holly and shelby boyles who had stopped to help brianna mitchell fix a flat tire. youth pastor brian jennings was driving by and had also stopped to help. all of them were killed. ethan couch was charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter and tried as a juvenile. in one of the most bizarre defense strategies we've ever heard of, attorneys for couch blamed the boy's parents for his behavior that night, all because of how they raised him. a psychologist and defense witness testified the boy suffered from something called affluenza, a lifestyle where wealth brought privilege and there were no co

. >> eric boyles lost his wife and daughter that night in june. >> we had over 180 years of life taken wife and daughter. hollie and shelby boyles were helping breanna mitchell and a youth pastor. >> how many people, do you know? >> one, two, three. multiple. i don't even know how many. >> oh -- >> three hours after the crash, his level was .24. three times the league limit in texas. the term affluenza came from a psychologist who said he was brought up to spend money instead of saying sorry if you hurt someone and he never learned about not getting your way. >> taking him away from his family and teaching him to be a reasonable citizen, that's a consequence. >> but for the families, that's simply not enough. >> money always seems to keep ethan out of trouble. this was one time i did ask the court that for justice. and that for money, not to prevail. and ultimately, today, i felt like money did prevail. >> now, the families of couch's victims have filed civil lawsuits against the teen and his family. one of those victims includes a teen who was riding with couch and who is now paralyze

eric boyles' wife and daughter were both killed. >> we had over 180 years of life taken.future life taken. two were my wife and daughter. >> investigators say surveillance tape shows them stealing beer from a wal-mart store in june. then they got drunk at a party. leaving there couch gunned his pickup. going 70 miles per hour in a 40. just about 400 yards down the street, he slammed into these two, who stopped to help her fix a trial. a youth pastor was driving by and also stopped to help. all were killed. ethan couch was charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter and tried as a juvenile. in one of the most bizarre defense strategies we've heard of. attorneys blame the boy's parents for his behavior that night all because of how they raised him. they testify that the boy suffered from something called a afluenza. he cited one example where couch then 15 caught in a pickup with a naked 14-year-old girl who was passed out. couch was never punished according to the psychologist. he also testified that couch was allowed to start drinking at a very early age. even d

well, 38-year-old eric ralston back in the headlines, arrested on domestic assault charges. >>> and britain's got talent star and singer susan boyle ago. elisabeth, over to you. >> thank you, steve. well, the decorations are out at 1600 pennsylvania for another white house christmas. how did other first ladies decorate the white house when they called it home? joining us now is the author of "christmas with the first ladies," colleen christian burke. i have to say, good morning. >> good morning. >> the fantastic book, just the visual of walking through history and seeing the first ladies and the individual take they had on the trees each year, unreal to just see. you were actually on the committee to decorate. >> i was part of the decorating team for mrs. bush in 2008 and just now for mrs. obama. but it's a great way to see history through a different set of eyes. like through the eyes of christmas. it really changes the way we look at our first families. >> i want to start with first lady michelle obama. what went into decorations this year? there has been a military theme, a celebration of those who sacrifice every day for us. >