Mexican authorities say they have detained fugitive Texas teen Ethan Couch, who invoked an "affluenza" defense after he killed four people while driving drunk in 2013.
The 18-year-old's mother, Tonya Couch, also was taken into custody in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, The Associated Press reported. This ends a manhunt after Ethan Couch failed to appear at a mandatory appointment with his parole officer on Dec. 10, as The Two–Way has reported.
Here's more from the AP:
"Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office said in a statement that its agents have been working with American authorities via the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara since Dec. 26 to track down and capture 18-year-old Ethan Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch. The office said the two were located and detained Monday evening in a beachside neighborhood of the Pacific Coast resort city of Puerto Vallarta.
"After their detention, they were handed over to Mexican immigration authorities for deportation, the statement said."
Couch was 16 when he drunkenly sped down a dark road near Fort Worth and hit an SUV on the side of the road, killing four people and injuring several friends who were riding in Couch's pickup truck.
When on trial later that year, Couch's attorneys infamously argued that his wealthy parents never held him accountable for his actions. As NPR reported at the time, the defense was met with mockery and provoked headlines like this one, from Time magazine: "The Affluenza Defense: Judge Rules Rich Kid's Rich Kid-ness Makes Him Not Liable for Deadly Drunk Driving Accident."
He was convicted of DUI vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years' probation.
Days before Couch failed to meet with his probation officer, video surfaced online that purports to show him at a party where people are drinking alcohol. Consuming alcohol would break the terms of his probation.
The U.S. Marshals Service had offered a reward of $5,000 "for information that leads to Couch's whereabouts and arrest."
I told H this morning that I wish someone would send this turd to Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison.
He's a messed-up teen with a mother who has contributed to this and you want him raped as his punishment. It's not funny or thoughtful to say this. Sorry, but you're wrong to think that.
He needs to realize that he killed 4 innocent people and injured, for life, others in his vehicle. He needs to take responsibility for that and to cut the ties with his mother or at least realize she is wrong also.
I told H this morning that I wish someone would send this turd to Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison.
That is really gross. I know people think this and "don't drop the soap" are funny jokes, but they really are not. You are hoping for a young man to be raped. Really?
I told H this morning that I wish someone would send this turd to Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison.
No. I would like to see him go to prison for punishment and rehabilitation. Not so he can be raped. WTH.
#1--Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison is a joke. It's from Office Space.
#2--I don't have any illusions that this guy (or anyone else) is going to be "rehabilitated" by prison. He killed four people and appears to give no fucks, so spending the rest of his life in prison is fine by me. And while I don't advocate for prison rape and agree that a complete overhaul of the prison system and inmate culture/interaction is in order, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to him there.
No. I would like to see him go to prison for punishment and rehabilitation. Not so he can be raped. WTH.
#1--Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison is a joke. It's from Office Space.
#2--I don't have any illusions that this guy (or anyone else) is going to be "rehabilitated" by prison. He killed four people and appears to give no fucks, so spending the rest of his life in prison is fine by me. And while I don't advocate for prison rape and agree that a complete overhaul of the prison system and inmate culture/interaction is in order, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to him there.
No. I would like to see him go to prison for punishment and rehabilitation. Not so he can be raped. WTH.
#1--Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison is a joke. It's from Office Space.
#2--I don't have any illusions that this guy (or anyone else) is going to be "rehabilitated" by prison. He killed four people and appears to give no fucks, so spending the rest of his life in prison is fine by me. And while I don't advocate for prison rape and agree that a complete overhaul of the prison system and inmate culture/interaction is in order, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to him there.
#1 - It's not funny even if you say it's not from your mouth, but from a sitcom writer's mouth.
#2 - Fine, if you want prisons as holding places for people and not places to change them. But you realize that's not how our legal system works, right? Especially one that put him on probation already instead of prison - he likely isn't going to stay in prison forever for being drunk and killing 4 people then skipping on probabtion, right? So someday he'll be in the community and heck, he might even drive drunk again killing someone else's child.
#1--Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison is a joke. It's from Office Space.
#2--I don't have any illusions that this guy (or anyone else) is going to be "rehabilitated" by prison. He killed four people and appears to give no fucks, so spending the rest of his life in prison is fine by me. And while I don't advocate for prison rape and agree that a complete overhaul of the prison system and inmate culture/interaction is in order, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to him there.
#1 - It's not funny even if you say it's not from your mouth, but from a sitcom writer's mouth.
#2 - Fine, if you want prisons as holding places for people and not places to change them. But you realize that's not how our legal system works, right? Especially one that put him on probation already instead of prison - he likely isn't going to stay in prison forever for being drunk and killing 4 people then skipping on probabtion, right? So someday he'll be in the community and heck, he might even drive drunk again killing someone else's child.
I think we all want prisons to be places that can change people for the better. But they're not--see my comment above about the prison system being in need of a complete overhaul. Which is part of why I want him to go in and never come out--I think instances of people coming out better than they went in are exceedingly rare. The other part being that he killed four people and gives absolutely no fucks; the natural consequence of carelessly taking the lives of four innocent people should be a permanent loss of freedom.
No. I would like to see him go to prison for punishment and rehabilitation. Not so he can be raped. WTH.
#1--Federal Pound-Me-In-the-Ass Prison is a joke. It's from Office Space.
#2--I don't have any illusions that this guy (or anyone else) is going to be "rehabilitated" by prison. He killed four people and appears to give no fucks, so spending the rest of his life in prison is fine by me. And while I don't advocate for prison rape and agree that a complete overhaul of the prison system and inmate culture/interaction is in order, I'm not going to lose any sleep over what happens to him there.
uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... While you don't ADVOCATE for rape, you are okay with it? That's how this reads.
For me-I hope this kid finally learns there ARE consequences to his actions. JFC. I also hope his mom gets some jail time for her shenanigans.
Post by jillboston on Dec 29, 2015 13:35:31 GMT -5
As much as I really want this kid to go to jail -I think I want the mother to go to jail more. And for the record I don't want any human raped - ever- not even dead Hitler. It's called humanity and all humans deserve to be treated with it.
#1 - It's not funny even if you say it's not from your mouth, but from a sitcom writer's mouth.
#2 - Fine, if you want prisons as holding places for people and not places to change them. But you realize that's not how our legal system works, right? Especially one that put him on probation already instead of prison - he likely isn't going to stay in prison forever for being drunk and killing 4 people then skipping on probabtion, right? So someday he'll be in the community and heck, he might even drive drunk again killing someone else's child.
I think we all want prisons to be places that can change people for the better. But they're not--see my comment above about the prison system being in need of a complete overhaul. Which is part of why I want him to go in and never come out--I think instances of people coming out better than they went in are exceedingly rare. The other part being that he killed four people and gives absolutely no fucks; the natural consequence of carelessly taking the lives of four innocent people should be a permanent loss of freedom.
I won't dispute that rehabilitation isn't successful in our prison system, but I will dispute that an 18 year old who did vehicular homicide while drunk driving won't likely be out in his lifetime. Here's a link to the vehicular homicide sentencing for drunk driving for all states... very few have sentences which would result in life in prision for an 18 year old - the highest is 50 years. Now a judge could convict him for each count toward the 4 deaths and other counts, but it's rare that this is the case for first time offenders.
I think we all want prisons to be places that can change people for the better. But they're not--see my comment above about the prison system being in need of a complete overhaul. Which is part of why I want him to go in and never come out--I think instances of people coming out better than they went in are exceedingly rare. The other part being that he killed four people and gives absolutely no fucks; the natural consequence of carelessly taking the lives of four innocent people should be a permanent loss of freedom.
I won't dispute that rehabilitation isn't successful in our prison system, but I will dispute that an 18 year old who did vehicular homicide while drunk driving won't likely be out in his lifetime. Here's a link to the vehicular homicide sentencing for drunk driving for all states... very few have sentences which would result in life in prision for an 18 year old - the highest is 50 years. Now a judge could convict him for each count toward the 4 deaths and other counts, but it's rare that this is the case for first time offenders.
Prisons aren't good at rehabilitating people, so we should give everyone who needs some prison time and rehabilitation life sentences. Also let's throw out a few rape jokes.
This kid is clearly horribly entitled and made a huge mistake driving drunk, but what makes people think he could never be rehabilitated? He showed a disregard for the safety of others and the results were devastating, but I didn't see any evidence presented that he wanted to kill people. Self control and respect for societal norms can be taught and it develops with age.
I think he needs to spend some time in prison, but the fact that people think he is beyond rehabilitation is strange to me. His mother on the other hand ...
Post by sparrowsong on Dec 29, 2015 16:57:38 GMT -5
Their entire circle sounds like winners. I saw a story today that said they had a Bon voyage party before they left for Mexico. Who attends something like that? Oh great, you're taking your underage son who killed four and is on an unbelievable lucky probation, and fleeing the country? Great lets party and celebrate this plan!
Prisons aren't good at rehabilitating people, so we should give everyone who needs some prison time and rehabilitation life sentences. Also let's throw out a few rape jokes.
This kid is clearly horribly entitled and made a huge mistake driving drunk, but what makes people think he could never be rehabilitated? He showed a disregard for the safety of others and the results were devastating, but I didn't see any evidence presented that he wanted to kill people. Self control and respect for societal norms can be taught and it develops with age.
I think he needs to spend some time in prison, but the fact that people think he is beyond rehabilitation is strange to me. His mother on the other hand ...
I have very little confidence he will be rehabilitated.
1: He got away with killing and severely injuring people. 2: Still drinking 3: He fucking ran.
I have very little confidence he will be rehabilitated.
1: He got away with killing and severely injuring people. 2: Still drinking 3: He fucking ran.
And ran with the support of his parent.
Even if he spends time in prison rehabilitating his world view, he's still got an inner circle of people who clearly don't think the consequences apply to them.
Well, the consequences didn't apply to him last time, why should they this time?
How wealthy must one's parents be to claim Affluenza?
At least $250k.
I'll send myself to the corner.
Hmmm...interesting. I wasn't sure if there was an official definition for it since even my spell checker wants to change Affluenza to 'Affluent' or 'Influenza'
Post by miniroller on Dec 29, 2015 18:14:06 GMT -5
I just cannot imagine being a loved one of the four people killed by his reckless disregard. The huge amount of rage I feel toward the Couch's has to be minimal compared to people who knew the poor victim's of this asshole's insolence. I only wish there was a legitimate, not necessarily vengeful, way of making him feel/ see/ realize the pain & suffering that he has caused.
I just cannot imagine being a loved one of the four people killed by his reckless disregard. The huge amount of rage I feel toward the Couch's has to be minimal compared to people who knew the poor victim's of this asshole's insolence. I only wish there was a legitimate, not necessarily vengeful, way of making him feel/ see/ realize the pain & suffering that he has caused.
I keep thinking of this too. He's clearly treated his crime and punishment like a joke, and I can't even begin to imagine how that must make the families feel. It must be hell that him and his family seems to think the lives he took was no big deal. I completely agree, I wish there was a way they could make him see the pain this has caused him. Personally, the driver that hit us (obviously different, as she didn't kill us, we were lucky) seemed to think it was no big deal. It still bothers me, 4 years later that I haven't been able to do a victim impact statement so she could see just how much damage she did to us that day. If there was a death involved, I really don't think it would have ever got back to the point of functioning like normal. The pain and anger would just be too much.
The Texas “affluenza” teen who killed four people in a drunken-driving crash and then fled probation — triggering an international manhunt — may only face up to 120 days in jail after he and his mother were captured in a Mexican resort city, officials said Tuesday.
Mexican authorities said they captured Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, on Monday evening in the “5 of December” neighborhood in Puerto Vallarta’s old town district. The pair had vanished from Texas weeks earlier, and Texas investigators suspect that Tonya Couch — who now faces a charge of hindering arrest — was once again trying to get her son out of trouble with the law.
In 2013, when he was 16, Couch struck and killed four pedestrians near Forth Worth while driving drunk. Prosecutors wanted Couch to serve 20 years in prison.
Instead, Couch got off with a stint in rehab and 10 years of probation after a defense expert argued in juvenile court that Couch suffered from “affluenza” — an inability to tell right from wrong because he’d had a spoiled upbringing and wealthy parents who never punished him for bad behavior. The juvenile judge’s sentence infuriated the public as well as the county investigators who handled the case.
When the Tarrant County district attorney’s office began investigating in early December whether Couch had violated his probation by drinking at a party — raising the possibility of real jail time — Couch and his mother disappeared, which launched this month’s high-profile manhunt.
Investigators learned “they had planned to disappear” and the pair held a gathering “akin to a going-away party” before they vanished, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson told reporters Tuesday, not disclosing who was at the gathering or saying whether others would face charges.
Officials suspect Ethan Couch and his mother then crossed the border in Tonya Couch’s black 2011 Ford F-150 and headed to Puerto Vallarta, where they may have tried to blend in among the American tourists traveling to the oceanside resort for the holidays. They were arrested Monday in a neighborhood in southern Puerto Vallarta, near a boardwalk peppered with hotels and restaurants.
Mexican officials released a photo showing that Ethan Couch had dyed his blond hair and facial hair to a dark brown. They were traveling in Mexico illegally — they didn’t have the proper tourist documents — and they were turned over to the Mexican immigration authorities for their return to the U.S., Jalisco state authorities said in a statement.
Anderson declined to provide many details on how investigators tracked down the pair in Puerto Vallarta, but said that people close to the family had provided key information to the authorities. He added that Couch’s father has been cooperative and that there was no information yet that suggested he was involved in the pair’s disappearance.
Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said Tonya Couch would be charged with hindering an arrest, which carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison.
But Ethan Couch’s punishment for fleeing probation for killing four people is once again likely to inflame the public, because of what officials are describing as a quirk of juvenile law.
Even though Couch is 18, his probation was still being handled by juvenile court, which means that officials would only be able to put him in detention until his 19th birthday in April, at which point he would have to be released, Wilson told reporters. The remainder of his 10 years of probation would then roll over to adult court, but he would be free.
Instead, Wilson said she plans to request to transfer Couch’s probation case to adult court sooner, where a judge can impose stricter terms and give Couch up to 120 days in jail plus eight years of stricter probation as part of a reworked sentence. His flight to Mexico would not lead to his adult probation being revoked, Wilson said.
“I wish the system were different,” said Wilson, who said she wished Couch could serve a full 10 years behind bars. “It is the horns of a dilemma in Texas law.”
However, Wilson said, “The best result in this case, in our opinion, is to get him into the adult court,” where “I will be asking for every single possible condition of probation where we will know where he is at all times.”
If he then violates the terms of his adult probation, Wilson said she will request that Couch spend up to 40 years in adult prison — what she described as “severe consequences, which he has not had to face yet.”
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(Mexico correspondent Deborah Bonello contributed to this report.)