Tonya Couch left the Tarrant County jail Tuesday, one day after a judge reduced her bail from $1 million to $75,000, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
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Tonya Couch will be placed under electronic monitoring as a condition of her release, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.
Couch arrived in Texas on Thursday after a Los Angeles judge approved her extradition more than a week after Mexican authorities detained mother and son in a Pacific resort town.
Couch traded a cell block for a wall of photographers and reporters that ringed her outside the Tarrant County jail on Tuesday. She was fitted with that Global Positioning System monitor before leaving custody. A judge decreased Couch’s bond Monday from $1 million to $75,000.
Mother and son were caught by Mexican authorities in Puerto Vallarta after a manhunt that lasted more than two weeks. The youngster had been on juvenile probation after being convicted of killing four people in a 2013 drunk-driving wreck. During his case, the defense played up his age and a psychologist said he had “affluenza”, or “the product of wealthy, privileged parents who never set limits”.
One of her attorneys, Stephanie Patten, said afterward that she wasn’t sure if Tonya Couch would be able to post bond.
The mother of a fugitive teenager known for using an “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck has been released from a Texas jail. The teen was sentenced to probation after his defense argued that the teenager’s behavior was attributed to the family’s wealth, and that he was too privileged to tell right from wrong.
Prosecutors from Tarrant Country are said to be asking that Couch’s case be moved to adult court as well, reports Yahoo News. Join us to fight affluenza.
Tonya Couch is separated from Fred Couch, Ethan’s father, who owns a suburban Fort Worth business that does large-scale metal roofing.
The pair allegedly made a run for it after video footage posted on Twitter appeared to show Ethan at a drinking party, possible violating his probation.
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Son Steven McWilliams testified at a hearing Monday that his mother can’t pay a bond that high. Couch is not allowed to drink alcohol, must check in weekly, and must submit to drug tests.
