Police Ordered to Detain 'Affluenza Teen' Ethan Couch

[doggie]

I know crazy huh? part of it is intent. that is the difference between murder charges add a car and it really becomes weak.

[devoe364]

18 hours ago, doggie said:

in the us no one seems to get much punishment when you kill someone with a car.

This is true in Canada as well, because most vehicular deaths are the result of impaired driving.

If I get really drunk and black out, I cannot consent to sex (under current laws). Drunk Driving (while horrible and we have all been educated on the dangers) is often the result of someone who got so drunk they blacked out (many won't remember what happened).

If I can't consent to sex, how can I form the intent to kill?

The answer is, you can't. Not under current definitions.

Alcohol is the most dangerous legal substance out there (and I am a recovering alcoholic). It impairs your judgement to the point where you cannot make decisions at all, in any way.

We hold people accountable for what they do drunk, of course, but jail time isn't going to do anything for anyone who does this. The only thing that will is recovery. 

[nausicaa]

On 1/6/2016 at 7:40 PM, notfundy said:

Yes!  I've been wondering about these points this whole time and do not understand why the news media isn't discussing them more.     I read that even if he was found to have violated his probation (by being somewhere where alcohol was served), the worst consequence would be four months in jail.   So why flee the country?  God, his mother must be SUCH an entitled white bitch; sorry, but that is what comes to mind.    The worst parents ever; they could not control him.  He was allowed to drive to his private school when he was 13 (THE HELL?) and often stayed overnight at the parents' second home  (WTF???)   

Honestly, this family is the epitome of money but no class. The parents have a string of legal issues around them as well. I really suspect the mother has some sort of personality disorder and has the thought processes of an adolescent.

But still, when I read about how they let him essentially live on his own at age 13, I think, why on earth did they become parents? They don't seem to give a shit about their kid or creating a family or even enjoying their kid's short childhood.  I used to work as a nanny for a family that was well off and my charge went to a ritzy private school. While my employers were great parents, there were several parents who had already checked out when their kids were still in elementary school. I always wondered, why on earth did you have kids? These kids were often the result of fertility treatments or adoption, so not "surprises." Many of the moms were SAHMs or the parents were retired altogether, and had plenty of resources at their disposal. I still don't get it. 

Edited April 14, 2016 by nausicaa
I use too many adverbs.

[Howl]

What's up with Ethan's dyed hair?  He's naturally reddish blond but he dyes his hair dark brown brown.  

[Cleopatra7]

9 hours ago, Howl said:

What's up with Ethan's dyed hair?  He's naturally reddish blond but he dyes his hair dark brown brown.  

He probably dyed it to go incognito in Mexico. Too bad he and his mother were as flamboyant as possible, which made it inevitable that they would get caught.

[Howl]

I read that Virgil, the wolf dog, went missing when the Couch's were apprehended in Mexico. I hope someone found him and gave him a good home. 

[Howl]

The law has caught up with Tanya and she faces two charges: assisting a fugitive and money laundering.  Sounds like jail time to me, but likely there will be a plea bargain of some type.  She'd be crazy to rely on a jury to acquit her. 

From the KVUE TV station in Austin, TX, reporting on charges in Tarrant County, TX: 

Quote

 

TARRANT COUNTY -- The mother of "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch now faces her own serious legal trouble.

News 8 has learned that a Tarrant County grand jury has indicted Tonya Couch on two charges.

The first is hindering apprehension for helping Ethan Couch flee to Mexico while on probation for killing four people in a drunk driving crash in 2013. The grand jury also indicted Tonya Couch for money laundering for allegedly using $30,000 to finance the trip to Mexico.

The U.S. Marshal's Fugitive Task Force located Ethan and Tonya Couch in Mexico late last year. 

A district judge recently sentenced Ethan, now 19, to nearly two years in jail before he can continue his 10-year probation he received in juvenile court.

Ethan's father, Fred Couch, is also battling his own legal troubles. He faces a misdemeanor charge of false identification after showing a fake police badge to an officer who pulled him over.

 

 

[47of74]

Looks like Affluenza Mom couldn't stay on the straight and narrow;

nbcdfw.com/news/local/Order-Filed-Revoking-Probation-for-Affluenza-Mom-Tonya-Couch-429721703.htm

Quote

The Tarrant County District Attorney filed a motion Tuesday to revoke bond for "affluenza mom" Tonya Couch, claiming she violated her probation.

According to the affidavit, Couch violated her probation when she drank alcohol on June 16. Couch's attorney Steve Gordon gave no immediate comment.

The conditions of Tonya Couch's probation for assisting her son's flight to Mexico were that she wear an electronic ankle monitor and that she must remain at home except for appointments with her doctor and lawyer. She was to be electronically monitored 24 hours per day and was subject to a visit from a probation officer at any time. She was also ordered to take routine drug tests.

 

[GreyhoundFan]

1 minute ago, 47of74 said:

Looks like Affluenza Mom couldn't stay on the straight and narrow;

nbcdfw.com/news/local/Order-Filed-Revoking-Probation-for-Affluenza-Mom-Tonya-Couch-429721703.htm

 

That whole family is just unreal.

[Howl]

Ethan Couch will be likely be turned loose from the Tarrant County jail (Dallas area) in about two weeks.  

 

[GreyhoundFan]

He was released today: "‘Affluenza’ drunk driver who killed four now free after serving two years"

Spoiler

The math comes out to precisely 180.

That is how many days Ethan Couch served for each of the four people he killed while driving drunk on June 15, 2013. He was speeding at 65 mph when he plowed his father’s Ford F-350 into a group of people on the roadside helping a stranded motorist outside Fort Worth. He was 16 at the time.

Couch, now 20, was released from Tarrant County jail on Monday after serving two years, or 720 days, for a parole violation — not for the deaths of four people.

His release will close a chapter on the story of a teenager turned adult struggling with a bout of “affluenza” that his legal team claimed left him unable to tell right from wrong because of his family’s wealth. The case took a bizarre turn in 2015 after a video of Couch drinking, a violation of his probation, surfaced online and appeared to trigger an escape to Mexico with his mother.

The incident also prompted a national discussion about how privilege and money appear to bolster legal defenses beyond access to elite lawyers.

Couch’s return to society has angered the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has pushed for harsher penalties for drunk drivers who kill others.

“It was devastating to so many people” for Couch’s release date to arrive, MADD President Colleen Sheehey-Church told The Washington Post on Monday. “Seven-hundred and 20 days just shows you drunken driving homicides aren’t treated as violent crimes.”

Sheehey-Church, who lost her son in 2004 in a drunken driving incident, blasted Couch’s defense as a child unable to grasp his decision-making.

“It was violent, it was ugly, it was a choice that he made to get into this vehicle,” she said.

Hollie Boyles, 52, and her daughter Shelby, 21, had come out of their home to help motorist Breanna Mitchell, 24, after her sport-utility vehicle stalled on that June night in rural Burleson. Brian Jennings, a 41-year-old father of three, was passing by and also decided to help. He parked his truck nearby, his two sons waiting for him.

Couch, drunk, with traces of Valium in his blood and driving a truck filled with seven other teenagers, left the dark two-lane road and crashed into Mitchell’s vehicle. The collision killed Mitchell, the Boyleses and Jennings before slamming into Jennings’s truck, sending the vehicle into traffic. Body parts and wreckage were scattered for nearly 300 feet, D Magazine reported.

A responding Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy later said the scene “looked more like a plane crash than a car wreck.”

Several people were seriously injured, including Sergio Molina, who was riding in the back of Couch’s truck and was flung on impact. He is paralyzed and can communicate only through blinking. The involved families sued the Couch family and the family business; the Molina family won a $2 million settlement in 2014.

The widely panned “affluenza” defense of Couch surfaced during his trial, where a psychologist said the teenager received whatever he asked for as a child and was constantly rewarded with gifts, wreaking havoc on his ability to perceive the consequences of his actions.

“Instead of the Golden Rule, which was ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ [Couch] was taught we have the gold, we make the rules at the Couch household,” G. Dick Miller testified in court. He argued for substance abuse treatment rather than jail. Couch had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault while intoxicated.

The court appears to have agreed with the defense. A judge handed down a sentence of 10 years probation in 2013, and Couch was ordered to remain drug- and alcohol-free. He was also required to spend time in rehabilitation.

Then in December 2015, Couch was caught drinking in a video that appeared on Twitter. He and his mother, Tonya, fled to the lavish Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, triggering a manhunt led by U.S. Marshals for his probation violation. Their location was revealed when they ordered a pizza at their condominium. A judge sentenced Couch to two years in prison.

Tonya Couch was booked Wednesday in the same county jail for failing a urine test mandated as a condition for her bond, which was revoked, the Associated Press reported. She awaits trial in connection with hindering the apprehension of a felon and money laundering in connection with the cross-border escape to Mexico with her son. She could not be reached for comment.

A statement provided to The Post by Couch’s attorneys stands in contrast to the testimony that Couch struggled to understand the ramifications of his behavior.

“Ethan has admitted his conduct, accepted responsibility for his actions and felt true remorse for the terrible consequences of those actions,” lawyers Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn said, adding that Couch “does not wish to draw attention to himself and requests privacy” as he focuses on his transition back to society.

“His actions drew the attention when he killed four people,” Sheehey-Church said in response.

A legal assistant to Brown did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.

Couch’s release has galvanized MADD advocacy for tougher laws to help curb a crime that kills 10,000 people a year, Sheehey-Church said, including a MADD petition that was started in response to his completed sentence.

The idea, she said, is to keep focus on the larger epidemic.

“It’s bigger than Ethan Couch. It’s about our justice system.”

Um, his attorneys are full of crap. He never "admitted his conduct, accepted responsibility for his actions, and felt true remorse..."  I feel so bad for the victims of this scum.

[Howl]

I hope his release includes an alcohol monitoring ankle bracelet.  It's too much to hope that his drivers license has been suspended, but if not, he'll likely be required to have a blow device on his car.  If it detects alcohol, the ignition can't be turned on. 

[Howl]

Mom's back in jail!  She failed a drug test, probably meth.

Affluenza teen's mom in Texas jail after positive drug test

Spoiler

 

FORT WORTH, Texas –  The mother of a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck is back in jail, accused of taking drugs in violation of the conditions of her release on bond.

Tonya Couch was booked into a Fort Worth jail on Thursday. The arrest warrant issued Wednesday alleges Couch tested positive for amphetamine or methamphetamine.

Couch was charged in 2016 with money laundering and hindering apprehension after she and her son, Ethan Couch, skipped the country for Mexico in 2015. She has violated her release on bond once before for failing urinalysis in March.

Ethan Couch was released on probation last March. A psychologist at trial blamed "affluenza," or acting irresponsibly due to wealth, for his actions in a 2013 North Texas wreck that killed four people.

 

Wonder if she will end up with more jail time than her son did for killing four people. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

25 minutes ago, Howl said:

Mom's back in jail!  She failed a drug test, probably meth.

Affluenza teen's mom in Texas jail after positive drug test

  Hide contents

 

FORT WORTH, Texas –  The mother of a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck is back in jail, accused of taking drugs in violation of the conditions of her release on bond.

Tonya Couch was booked into a Fort Worth jail on Thursday. The arrest warrant issued Wednesday alleges Couch tested positive for amphetamine or methamphetamine.

Couch was charged in 2016 with money laundering and hindering apprehension after she and her son, Ethan Couch, skipped the country for Mexico in 2015. She has violated her release on bond once before for failing urinalysis in March.

Ethan Couch was released on probation last March. A psychologist at trial blamed "affluenza," or acting irresponsibly due to wealth, for his actions in a 2013 North Texas wreck that killed four people.

 

Wonder if she will end up with more jail time than her son did for killing four people. 

Probably will. When actually she needs inpatient treatment. And not some 30 day program. 

[GreyhoundFan]

Guess who failed a drug test? "‘Affluenza’ teen whose lawyers argued he was too spoiled to go to jail is locked up again"

Spoiler

Ethan Couch, the Texas man whose “affluenza” defense in a fatal drunk-driving crash fueled fierce debate over the role of privilege in the criminal justice system, was arrested Thursday and charged with a probation violation.

Authorities booked the 22-year-old in Tarrant County Jail, where he was being held without bond, records show. Couch is accused of testing positive for THC in a mandatory drug test that was part of his probation, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

An attorney representing Couch did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

Couch’s arrest is the latest turn in a bizarre legal saga that began in 2013, when Couch plowed his father’s pickup truck into a group of people helping a motorist on a Texas roadside. The crash killed Breanna Mitchell, 24; Brian Jennings, 41; Hollie Boyles, 52; and her daughter Shelby, 21.

Couch, then 16, was drunk and had traces of the anti-anxiety drug Valium in his blood. Several passengers in his car were badly injured, including Sergio Molina, who was left paralyzed. Molina’s family won a $2 million settlement from the Couch family in 2014.

In the criminal case, Couch’s defense team argued that the teenager was spoiled as a child and that his wealthy upbringing prevented him from understanding the full consequences of his actions. His family owned a metal business and was reported to be worth millions.

Psychologist G. Dick Miller testified that Couch suffered from “affluenza” and argued for substance abuse treatment rather than jail time.

“Instead of the golden rule, which was ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ he was taught, ‘We have the gold, we make the rules at the Couch household,’ ” Miller told the court.

The widely panned “affluenza” argument prompted national discussion about access to legal defense and the disparate penalties poor and wealthy people receive in criminal cases.

Ultimately, a judge sentenced Couch to 10 years of probation, ordering him to remain drug- and alcohol-free during that period. Couch had pleaded guilty to manslaughter and assault while intoxicated.

But in December 2015, a video surfaced on social media showing Couch drinking. He and his mother, Tonya, fled to the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta, sparking an international manhunt.

Authorities eventually tracked down the mother and son when they ordered a pizza at their condominium. Couch was sentenced to two years in jail for probation violation.

His mother was charged with hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering; her case is pending. An attorney representing her did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In an unrelated case, Couch’s father, Fred, was sentenced in 2016 to a year of probation for impersonating a police officer. When police were called to a domestic disturbance in North Richland Hills, Tex., Fred Couch flashed a badge and told them he belonged to police reserves. In reality, he was a volunteer with a local search-and-rescue team.

Ethan Couch was released in April 2018 after spending 720 days in Tarrant County Jail — 180 days for each of the four people he killed. His case has since become a rallying cry for the advocacy group Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has pushed for harsher penalties for drunk drivers who kill others.

“It was devastating to so many people,” MADD President Colleen Sheehey-Church told The Washington Post at the time. “Seven hundred and twenty days just shows you drunken driving homicides aren’t treated as violent crimes.”

He needs to remain in jail.

[Howl]

Any information on if he'll go back to jail/prison and, if so, for how long?

[FrumperedCat]

@Howl He's been released already, after serving one day in prison, pending further testing. His lawyers argued that his drug patch might have inaccurately recorded the positive result as a result of legal CBD oil usage.  

I think therefore that they are performing further, more reliable tests, to see if it was in fact a false positive. If it wasn't a false positive, then it's bloody stupid of him, quite frankly. Why mess around with drugs when you have a patch on, and know that chances are you'll get caught? Mind you, he's gotten away with a lot, so I bet he's entitled enough to believe he'll get away with it, which he very well might do. : 

Link to article, apologies for crappy source, but best I could find ? : https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7852117/Affluenza-teen-Ethan-Couch-22-released-jail-one-day-tested-positive-THC.html

 

[unsafetydancer]

41 minutes ago, FrumperedCat said:

Why mess around with drugs when you have a patch on, and know that chances are you'll get caught?

Because some people are too stupid to be alive without the assistance of a lot of money and the protection of their parents.