Share

‘Affluenza’ Teen’s Mom Appears in Texas Court for Arraignment

At that time, he will consider reducing the bond amount, which was set at $1 million.

Advertisement

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson, who was in the courtroom Friday with several sheriff’s deputies, said Couch “expressed a slight bit of displeasure about her accommodations”. She and Ethan were arrested in Puerto Vallarta in late December.

Tonya Couch’s attorneys have said she is “eager to have her day in court”. Fred Couch filed for divorce in August, accusing Tonya Couch of “cruel treatment” toward him, but the divorce is still pending, according to court records.

Couch’s bond was set at $1 million, although her attorneys are requesting a bond reduction, which will be decided at a hearing later today.

She confirmed that she has hired a lawyer.

Tonya Couch spent the night in the Tarrant County Jail after her return to Texas following her extradition, first from Mexico and then California.

Salvant said the complaint noted that Couch took action after Ethan “had been adjudicated for having engaged in illegal conduct that violated a penal law of a grade of felony”. She’ll have to wear an ankle monitor if she does make bail. They’d been gone for nearly a month, having ditched North Texas following discovery of a video that apparently showed Ethan Couch playing beer pong on Twitter and a missed probation appointment.

Couch has been arrested on accusations she helped her son, Ethan Couch, flee to Mexico after violating his probation after killing four in a drunk driving accident in 2013.

Couch, wearing a yellow jail jump suit, told the court she did not have a passport because it was not returned to her when she was deported from Mexico.

Afterward Couch’s attorney, Stephanie Patten, said she had concerns that Anderson had talked with her client about her passport.

“This is a jail, not a resort”, he said he told her.

Advertisement

The teen pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation. Last week a Mexican judge granted the teen a temporary stay halting deportation proceedings. “I think we’ve been assured that it’s not a question of if he’s coming back, it’s a question of when he’s coming back”.

Tonya Couch in court on Friday