Ethan Couch of Keller, Texas, had faced 20 years behind bars but walked away with 10 years probation Tuesday, something that has angering his victim's families. Youth pastor Brian Jennings; mother and daughter Hollie and Shelby Boyles; and 24-year-old Breanna Mitchell all died in the June 15 accident. A psychologist called by the defense, Dr. G. Dick Miller, blamed the teen's act on his parents, claiming they gave him whatever he wanted including 'freedoms no young person should have.' Miller called Couch a product of 'affluenza,' where his family felt their wealth bought privilege and there was no rational link between behavior and consequences. State District Judge Jean Boyd appeared to agree with the defense.

Fast And Furious star Paul Walker shared his excitement about his growing bond with his teenage daughter Meadow just two weeks before his tragic death in a car accident last month. The 40-year-old actor died on Nov. 30 after the Porsche Carrera GT he was riding in as a passenger crashed and burst into flames, killing him and his friend Paul Rodas, who was driving. The accident took place following an event in Santa Clarita, California, for Paul's charity Reach Out Worldwide.

Football star AJ McCarron sits opening Christmas presents next to an uncle accused of rape and incest in an alleged Alabama child sex ring. McCarron, then in his late teens, rips the wrapping paper from a gift at a family Christmas gathering a few years before the arrest of his uncle. Later he would become the University of Alabama Crimson Tide's star quarterback and beau of former Miss Alabama Katherine Webb (bottom right). Yesterday, McCarron was nominated for the coveted Heisman Trophy. Dustin Kent, 37, brother of McCarron's mother, Dee Dee Bonner, (top right) is one of 11 people - either members of the same family or their friends - who have been arrested in McCarron's hometown of Mobile, Alabama, in recent months after the disappearance of teenager Brittney Wood.

They're super-famous, became mums this summer and their names begin with a K - but you wouldn't imagine the Duchess of Cambridge and U.S. reality TV star Kim Kardashian have much else in common. Yet Kim, 33 - engaged to rapper Kanye West - has been copying Kate's royal style, with varying success. Kim, who came to fame via a sex tape, simply lacks Kate's class - with a capital K . . .

Joe Cantrell, 49, of Queen Creek, Arizona, shops at Walmart because he is disabled and unable to earn a living. When he tried to save a few more bucks by matching prices, he was handcuffed and banned from ever returning to another Walmart store for the rest of his life, he says. But, Walmart says the that Mr Cantrell became aggressive while arguing for the price match and that the manager he was speaking to felt threatened.

It caused chaos in the capital, delayed more than 1,000 flights and shut down the federal government, but the huge storm that has disrupted huge swathes of the nation moved into New England on Tuesday evening as it appeared to taper off. With snow falling across the East Coast, the storm caused huge flight delays in New York City and Philadelphia and was responsible for the deaths of two people killed in an SUV when it collided with a commuter train at 6 am. However, because of the planning foresight of the authorities, the majority of people stayed at home. 'It could have been a lot worse,' said Jason Tuell, director of the National Weather Service's eastern region.

Football fans who braved the bitterly cold weather to attend Monday night's football game between the Chicago Bulls and the Dallas Cowboys had more to content with than just the frigid conditions when their beer started to freeze. Chicago has a well-earned reputation for brutally cold winters, but Monday night set a new record as temperatures plunged and the Windy City experienced its coldest December night in 18 years. Players as well as spectators, such as Ruby, left, had to suffer the bone-chilling conditions, but while pitch side they used heaters to thaw out their Gatorade buckets, fans in the stands weren't so lucky.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: The owners of DiGiorno - the nation's largest frozen pizza company - have said that they have cut all ties with a Wisconsin dairy farm after undercover video revealed sickening abuse against the cows kept there. Nestlé, who owns DiGiorno frozen pizza, confirmed today that they will no longer any use cheese for their pizza from any firm supplied with milk by Wiese Brothers - as it emerged that the Wisconsin firm had fired two staff and that police are investigating the family firm.

The head gymnastics coach at a Minneapolis High School has as been placed on paid leave after police found he had tattooed a girl at the school without her parents' permission. Terry Robert Hardy, 38, tattooed the Abby Rasmussen, 16, twice without asking her parents. Police cited Hardy for two counts of misdemeanor assault, and he could face up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

An entrepreneur is making Christmas wishes come true after donating his air miles to those unable to return home for the holidays. From servicemen and cash-strapped college students to families who have a sick relative and a Marine wanting to propose, 25 round trip flights were handed out by Peter Shankman, left. The businessman was originally able to help only six people, but as his goodwill spread, airlines and other companies added to his generosity.

The mayhem began at 3.30am Tuesday when Adrian Montesano tried to rob a Walgreens in Miami and took a hostage in an attempt to get what he wanted. Police released a surveillance camera image showing 27-year-old Montesano with his arm around a female hostage's throat while he points a semiautomatic pistol at her head.

The heated box, lined with a pillow and blankets, is at Berlin's St Joseph hospital. Mothers can leave their unwanted children there anonymously at the 'Babyklappe', or baby hatch and statistics show it is used about twice a year.

A backcountry skier is lucky to be alive after she was dragged her into a Utah ravine by an avalanche that buried her in snow on Monday. The unnamed woman survived because she deployed a special air bag and other skiers were able to quickly dig her out. One rescuer was Joe Campanelli, who was using his iPhone to record the sun-splayed Wasatch mountains on Monday when the skier descended into a steep gully filled with loose snow in Grizzly Gulch, a short distance from the Alta ski area east of Salt Lake City.

EXCLUSIVE: New dad Jim Vester, 32, (left) was lured to an Indianapolis parking lot on Wednesday by two men who posted an advert on Craigslist, saying they had an iPad for sale. But when he arrived he was ambushed, gunned down and robbed. Brothers Tyron Kincade, 19, (bottom right) and Tyshaune Kincade, 18, (top right) were today charged with his murder. His devastated mother Janice (with husband Walter, main) today spoke to MailOnline to pay tribute to her beloved son. Through floods of tears, Mrs Vester said: 'He was a wonderful father and a wonderful son.' On the alleged killers, she said: 'I don't want to speak about those people, I just want to talk about Jim and his life'.

A red Jaguar - among several other vehicles - has been destroyed following a spate of ice sheets thawing and plummeting from the tops of buildings to the ground below in Plano, Texas, following an arctic storm. A video of one of the avalanches shows the ice slipping from a sloped roof (top left) and crashing down onto the car (top right). Afterwards the Jag was left with smashed windows and a collapsed roof (bottom).

The father of a Michigan state trooper shot dead during a routine traffic stop confronted the pregnant wife of the man accused of killing his son. As he handed her a family photo, Paul Butterfield, left, accused a weeping Sarah Renee Knysz, top right, of crying only because she had been caught. The 20-year-old was being sentenced for helping her husband Eric Knysz get away after State Trooper Paul K Butterfield, bottom right, was shot in the head.

A Christmas themed town that popped up in a lonely stretch of Arizona desert in the late 1930s is now a wasteland of fake snow-topped buildings melting away in the Mojave (bottom). A trip through Santa Claus, Arizona can't reflect the unbridled optimism on which it was founded, along with a Christmas theme park of the same name.

For more than a decade, designer Karl Lagerfeld has picked a city linked to the house for the theme of the show staged each December to highlight the work of its artisans. On Tuesday evening, it will be Dallas' turn. Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel visited Dallas in 1957 at the invitation of Stanley Marcus, who lead luxury retailer Neiman Marcus.

Officers (right) moved in on the camp (inset) in Kiev's Independence Square after a stand-off lasting several weeks, which escalated when demonstrators beheaded a statue of Lenin. The clashes with protesters in orange helmets (left) left several injured and others shouting 'Shame!' as demonstrators poured water on the ground to turn the pavement in front of the barricades into an ice rink. The protestors want their financially stricken country to form closer ties to the EU, despite objections by Russia, which has historically controlled Ukraine.

It was exactly one year ago today that Darwin the Ikea Monkey was found wandering a Toronto parking lot of the popular furniture retailer dressed in a fashionable shearling coat and a diaper. Now 19 months-old and living at the Story Book Farm Primate Sanctuary in Ontario, this is the first time that Darwin has been seen since last year - as he passes his time alone playing with his Curious George stuffed toy as he 'learns to be a monkey again.'

American photographer Harry Whittier Frees created the pictures by dressing up cats and dogs then posing them in human situations accompanied by props. He then printed a sentence on top of the photographs and sold them as novelty postcards and children's books. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Whittier Frees used live animals, not stuffed ones - a humane touch which has helped to make his work highly collectible today.

Poking fun at the annual city firefighters calender, the cabbie version features taxi drivers posing in various stages of undress - a shirtless Yasar lies on a back seat, bare-chested Darek straddles a cab's roof and fully clad Waseem blows a kiss toward the camera. Proceeds go to University Settlement, a local group that provides social services to poor immigrant families.

Once again the Christmas house elf is on the loose, entertaining little ones with his playful and mischievous antics. Social media reveals an array of creative approaches to the modern-day holiday tradition - showing Santa's watchkeeper gets up to a lot more than just hanging out on the shelf.

In the 2014 Homebirth Dads Calendar, men sport prosthetic bellies as they squat, waddle and put their hands lovingly on their baby bumps like pregnant women. While the calendar was intended to be humorous, it actually opened some of the men's eyes to the painful and uncomfortable situations their wives had to go through during pregnancy.

The MTA is calling Super Bowl XLVIII 'the first mass-transit Super Bowl.' For most fans, MetLife Stadium will be reachable only by train. A typical Super Bowl fan will have to catch a train at Penn Station in Manhattan and transfer to the Meadowlands Line at Secaucus Junction in New Jersey. However, between New York and New Jersey, there are no fewer than eight different kinds of relevant rail lines operated by four different entities.