If Couch is found to have violated probation, the judge could either sentence him to a state facility operated by the Texas Juvenile Justice Department or leave him on juvenile probation until he turns 19.
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Couch’s case drew widespread attention after his attorneys argued the accident was partly to blame on what they said were indulgent parents who failed to set limits for the teenager, who was 16 at the time of the fatal crash.
Ethan Couch, 18, arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport late Thursday morning and could be seen walking through the airport escorted by law enforcement.
The Texas teenager whose lawyers infamously invoked an “affluenza” defense while on trial for a fatal drunken-driving crash is back in the U.S.
Affluenza teen Ethan Couch will remain in juvenile detention-for now.
Judge Timothy Menikos said he was considering a move to an adult prison for Couch, which would make him eligible to apply for release on bail. Authorities said she and her son, Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation after using an “affluenza” defense for a 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Mexico together in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.
Several of the victims’ family members attended the Friday hearing, including Tim McLaughlin who disagreed with Brown’s statement.
Couch’s affluenza defense continues to come under heavy scrutiny, considering that medical and legal experts do not recognize it as an official medical condition. If considered an adult, Couch could face 40 years behind bars for a probation violation, 10 years for each of the people he killed.
Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Thursday that he supports moving Couch to an adult jail.
A separate hearing is scheduled for February 19 to determine whether Couch’s case is transferred to the adult system.
“He’s certainly capable of understanding now what’s going on, and I’d feel better if he was there.”
It is believed that Couch and his mother fled the country after an online video surfaced appearing to show the teen at a party where people were drinking. Both were taken into custody Monday, Dec. 28, after authorities said a phone call for pizza led to their capture in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta.
But Ethan Couch’s Mexican lawyer, Fernando Benitez, told AFP that the young man dropped his appeal on January 15 and a judge accepted the decision on Tuesday.
His mother Tonya Couch is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon. She was released on bond after being fitted with an electronic ankle Global Positioning System monitor.
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If Ethan Couch’s case is moved to adult court in Texas, the judge could order Couch to spend up to 120 days in jail for violating his probation and then finish the remainder of his 10-year probation sentence, according to Tarrant County District Attorney spokeswoman Samantha Jordan. Couch had been sentenced to 10 years’ probation in juvenile court for the 2013 drunken-driving wreck that killed four people and severely injured two others, and the terms prohibit him from drinking or leaving Tarrant County, Texas.
