Son Steven McWilliams testified at a hearing Monday that his mother can’t pay a bond that high.
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The mother of a Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense for a deadly wreck could soon leave jail days after the two were caught in a Mexican resort town. Couch, the mother of a Texas teenager who used an “affluenza” defense f…
Earlier Monday, Tonya Couch’s bond was lowered from $1 million to $75,000. She will be released on Tuesday after an electronic ankle monitor is put on her, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.
“We’re not here to get her attention”, Judge Wayne Salvant said during Couch’s bail reduction hearing Monday morning, noting that the objective of bail is not to punish but to ensure a defendant returns to court. Couch is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon – her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, who killed four people in a 2013 crash and was facing allegations that he violated his probation. Authorities have previously said they had no evidence Fred Couch, who owns a North Texas sheet metal factory, was involved in helping Tonya and Ethan Couch flee.
Law enforcement officials believe the mother and son had a going away party shortly before driving across the border in her pickup truck, making their way to Puerto Vallarta. Tonya Couch was brought back to Texas last week, while Ethan Couch remains in a Mexico City detention facility, where he is contesting his extradition.
At the hearing, Couch’s lawyer asked that her bond be reduced to $15,000.
Ethan Couch was 16 when he killed four people in June 2013.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Ethan Couch was “scared” after the video surfaced and did not respond to a December 3 call from his probation officer to report for a drug test. He also did not appear for a scheduled meeting with the officer on December 10. The case drew widespread derision after an expert called by Ethan Couch’s lawyers argued he had been coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza”.
Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Rousseau, speaking about keeping the bail at $1 million, said, “She has shown she is willing to violate his probation and is willing to do so in a big way”, as reported by Yahoo News.
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He said that his mother’s bank account, which contains about $100,000, has been frozen by authorities.
