Tonya Couch, second from right, is escorted into Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.
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Tonya Couch was taken to the Tarrant County jail on Thursday after arriving at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on a flight from Los Angeles.
The mother of a Texas teenager, ridiculed for his “affluenza” defence in the killing of four people while he was driving drunk, did not enter a plea at her arraignment in a Fort Worth court.
Enlarge NBC 5 DFW Tonya Couch appears in court in Texas on Friday.
The mother was then escorted by police officers and shackled at the ankles to be taken to jail in Tarrant County.
On Friday, Tonya Couch appeared before a judge wearing a bright yellow jail jumpsuit.
Tonya Couch, the mother of affluenza-afflicted teen Ethan Couch, is back in Tarrant County after taking a probation-dodging trip to Mexico with her son. He appeared to have dropped off the radar after a video emerged that allegedly showed him at a party where alcohol was consumed. She and Ethan were arrested in Puerto Vallarta in late December.
Patten later issued a statement criticizing the public manner in which Anderson has handled the case and questioning why he spoke to Couch in court without her attorney present. Couch’s attorney Stephanie Patten got held up in traffic and could not be by her client’s side.
“‘I explained to her that this was a jail, not a resort”, Anderson told reporters.
But Couch told the judge her belongings, including her passport, were taken by authorities before her arrival to Texas. As her lawyer wants her bail reduced, they have scheduled another hearing for Monday.
“For law enforcement to go back there and ask questions, that’s a big problem”, Patten told the judge. Couch said that the temporary passport she had was confiscated when she was transported to California.
A Mexican court has granted the teenager a stay against deportation that could delay his return by weeks or months.
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During Ethan’s sentencing for the drunken driving incident, a psychologist hired by the defense testified that the teen was a product of “affluenza” – a term he used to describe Ethan’s irresponsible lifestyle associated with his affluent upbringing.
