“She will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days of the year”, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said in a telephone interview.
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Couch was on probation for killing four people back in 2013 in a drunk driving accident.
Monday, following Couch’s return to Tarrant County from her Los Angeles landing spot late last week, Judge Wayne Salvant reduced Couch’s bail amount to $75,000.
Weeks before they were arrested in Mexico on December 28, he with an attempted disguise of dyed hair and beard, Ms. Couch had pulled $30,000 from a bank account and told his father, from whom she is divorced, that he would never see them again, according to her arrest warrant.
Tonya Couch’s bond was lowered from $1 million to $75,000.
A Texas judge sentenced Couch to 10 years of probation after he was convicted of four counts of intoxication manslaughter for the crash in Burleson, Texas.
At her hearing Monday, her attorney’s argued the original $1 million was too high for a charge of hindering the apprehension of a felon.
“We’re talking about a third degree felony here, we’re not talking about a capital murder”, Salvant said. During the trial, a defense witnesses said the teen was coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza”. The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew ridicule. Tonya Couch has been released from a Texas jail. If he was drinking, it would violate his probation and could lead to jail time. Defense attorney Stephanie Patten listens to the prosecution at Tonya Couch’s bond reduction hearing Monday, Jan. 11, 2016, in court in Fort Worth, Texas.
Authorities say the Couches made a run for Mexico after footage was shared on Twitter purporting to show the now 18-year-old playing beer pong with friends. An order for pizza was what was reported to have tipped authorities off as to the pair’s whereabouts. That, despite the still unaccounted for $30,000 she withdrew from the bank before heading to Puerto Vallarta, she has no access to cash. They fled after Ethan Couch was accused of potentially violating his probation.
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Tonya Couch and the F-150 that doesn’t belong to her.
