Prosecutors to seek jail for teen in DUI case
FORT WORTH, Texas – North Texas prosecutors are trying a second time to imprison a teen who was sentenced last week to 10 years’ probation for drunkenly driving his truck into four pedestrians, killing them all.
Tarrant County District Attorney Joe Shannon has asked a juvenile judge to put 16-year-old Ethan Couch behind bars on two cases of intoxication assault that he says are still pending before the court, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Tuesday.
“During his recent trial, the 16-year-old admitted his guilt in four cases of intoxication manslaughter and two cases of intoxication assault,” Shannon said in an email to the newspaper.
Two teens riding in the back of Couch’s Ford F-350 pickup in the June wreck suffered critical injuries.
U.S. child abuse cases continuing to drop
NEW YORK – The number of U.S. children victimized by abuse and neglect has dropped for the sixth straight year, but child fatalities linked to maltreatment increased by nearly 4 percent, according to the latest federal data.
According to the annual report released Tuesday by the Department of Health and Human Services, the estimated number of victimized children in the 2012 fiscal year was 686,000. That’s down from 688,000 in 2011 and from 723,000 in 2007.
But the report found that fatalities attributable to child abuse and neglect increased from 1,580 in 2011 to 1,640 in 2012.
Associated Press
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