Ethan Couch’s Mom Back in Texas to Face Charges

Ethan Couch’s Mom Back in Texas to Face Charges
Tonya Couch, center, is taken by authorities to a waiting car after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Los Angeles. 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. 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. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The Associated Press
1/7/2016
Updated:
1/7/2016

Ethan Couch (Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office via AP)
Ethan Couch (Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office via AP)

Authorities believe Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan Couch, fled Texas in November as prosecutors investigated whether Ethan Couch had violated his probation in the deadly 2013 drunken-driving wreck. They disappeared shortly after a video surfaced showing what appears to be Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking.

Ethan Couch is being held at an immigration detention center in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks- or even months-long legal process in Mexico.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Tonya Couch was “cooperative” and respectful as she was being taken into jail. As for Ethan, he said, “it’s not a question of if he’s coming back, it’s a question of when he’s coming back.”

“We’re not concerned at this point,” Anderson told reporters.

(Courtesy of Jalisco state prosecutor's office)
(Courtesy of Jalisco state prosecutor's office)

Tonya Couch’s attorneys released a statement last week saying she has done nothing illegal.

“While the public may not like what she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did, make no mistake — Tonya did not violate any law of the State of Texas and she is eager to have her day in court,” lawyers Stephanie K. Patten and Steve Gordon said.

Patten did not immediately respond to calls Thursday seeking comment.

After the crash, Ethan Couch pleaded guilty in juvenile court to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury and was sentenced to 10 years’ probation.

He received only probation after a defense expert argued that Couch had been coddled too much 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 widespread ridicule.