Remember the Shelton mess? First, 19 year-old Elizabeth Shelton is drunk and driving on the freeway while her boyfriend is hanging out of the window. Drunk Elizabeth hits a box car from behind and winds up killing her boyfriend. Elizabeth is the daughter of Harris County Juvenile Court Judge Pat Shelton. Their defense was that little drunk Elizabeth didn’t cause the accident that killed the young man. It was the driver of the box truck that little drunk Elizabeth hit from behind. The classic ‘blame the victim’ defense. Fortunately the jury didn’t buy it and convicted Elizabeth. She served a few months in jail and is currently on probation. Aside from the relatively light sentence, we thought that was the end of it. Well, we were all shocked when little Elizabeth’s poor decision-making skills made it back into the news. She, along with the family of her dead boyfriend, is suing the driver of the box truck she hit from behind for damaging her Lexus Utility and for “mental anguish.”
Now for the third chapter of the Shelton family mess: The accident reconstruction “expert” hired by the defense hasn’t been paid for his services. So he is suing defense attorney George Secrest who in turn is saying little Elizabeth’s daddy Judge Shelton is responsible for the $25,000 (or more) bill. Of course, the judge’s lawyer is saying the bill is exaggerated. Don’t lawyers and experts work out a price before the service is delivered? Oh well, in a way who can blame the Shelton party for not paying. After all, they hired Joseph Hinton to tell a jury that little drunk Elizabeth isn’t responsible for the crash or the death of the young man. How much should it really cost to pay someone to tell others what you want them to hear?
