'Affluenza' teen's deportation from Mexico delayed: Official
U.S. Marshals Service says deportation could take weeks
E. Eduardo Castillo And Michael Graczyk, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 12:10 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 05:17 PM EST
HOUSTON -- The Texas teenager known for using an "affluenza" defence in a fatal drunken-driving accident likely won't return to the U.S. anytime soon because of a Mexican judge's decision to delay his deportation, U.S. law enforcement officials said Wednesday.
Richard Hunter, chief deputy U.S. marshal for the southern district of Texas, said during a news conference in Houston that a three-day injunction granted to Ethan Couch will likely take at least two weeks to resolve. Authorities believe the 18-year-old, sentenced only to probation for the 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Puerto Vallarta with his mother as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation.
Hunter said Couch's mother, Tonya Couch, also won't be deported as originally planned Wednesday evening, though he didn't say whether she also had been granted a court delay.
The ruling by the Mexican court could lead to a weeks-long legal process if a judge decides the younger Couch has grounds to challenge his deportation based on arguments that kicking him out of the country would violate his rights. The judge has three days to consider Couch's appeal.
The Couches were taken into custody Monday after authorities said a phone call for pizza led to their capture in the Mexican resort city. They were being held by immigration officials in Guadalajara.
During the sentencing phase of Couch's 2013 trial, a defence expert argued that his wealthy parents coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility -- a condition the expert termed "affluenza." The condition is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation drew ridicule.
"Couch continues to make a mockery of the system," said Fort Worth attorney Bill Berenson, who represented Sergio Molina, who was paralyzed and suffered severe brain damage in the crash.
Couch's attorneys in the U.S. didn't return calls seeking comment.
Mexican police say Couch and his mother spent three days in a rented condo at a resort development in Puerto Vallarta before finding an apartment. One of the Couches' telephones had been used to order delivery from Domino's Pizza to the condominium complex in Puerto Vallarta's old town, far from the glitzy resorts of the city's newer section, according to a police report issued by the Jalisco state prosecutors' office.
Agents from the prosecutors' office went to the complex, where a tourism operator told them that the people who had occupied the condo were asked to vacate because the owners were coming to stay over Christmas, the report said. The Couches then moved to an apartment, and the agents set up a surveillance operation in the surrounding streets.
On Monday evening, two people matching the Couches' description were spotted and intercepted. The police report said they behaved evasively, claimed to be carrying no IDs, gave inconsistent stories about their names and failed to provide proof of their legal migratory status in Mexico.
They were taken into custody and handed over to immigration officials.
In Texas, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Tuesday that the Couches had prepared to be gone a while, even dyeing the teenager's blond hair black.
"They had planned to disappear. They even had something that was almost akin to a going-away party before leaving town," Anderson said. He declined to detail the party, including how many people attended.
Anderson said Couch and his mother apparently crossed the border in her pickup and drove to Puerto Vallarta. No immediate charges were planned for others who may have known about or assisted with the plan, Anderson said. He noted that authorities have no evidence that Couch's father, who owns a sheet metal factory in North Texas, was involved.
The sheriff has said he believes the two fled in late November, after a video surfaced that appears to show Ethan Couch at a party where people were drinking. If found to be drinking, Couch could see his probation revoked and face up to four months in jail.
Authorities began searching for him and his mother after he missed a mandatory appointment with his probation officer on Dec. 10.
Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson said Tuesday that she planned to ask that Couch's case be transferred to adult court, where he could face up to 120 days in an adult jail, followed by 10 years' probation. If he violates that probation, he could face up to 10 years in prison per death, Wilson said.
Anderson said an arrest warrant was being issued for Tonya Couch on charges of hindering an apprehension, a third-degree felony that carries a sentence of two to 10 years in prison.
Couch was driving drunk and speeding near Fort Worth in June 2013, when he crashed into a disabled SUV, killing four people and injuring several others, including passengers in his pickup truck.
He pleaded guilty to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury. A judge sentenced him in juvenile court to 10 years' probation and a stint in a rehabilitation centre.
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'Affluenza' teen's mom deported back to U.S.: Mexico official
Marice Richter and Dave Graham, Reuters
First posted: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 07:22 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, December 30, 2015 08:14 PM EST
FORT WORTH/MEXICO CITY - The mother of a Texas teenager, scorned for his "affluenza" defense in a trial over a deadly car crash, was deported from Mexico on Wednesday while her son won a temporary delay in his extradition, a Mexican official said.
Ethan Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were captured in the Mexican Pacific Coast city of Puerto Vallarta on Monday. They fled there after officials in Tarrant County, Texas launched a probe into whether Ethan violated the terms of a probation deal that kept him out of prison after he killed four people with his pickup truck in 2013 while driving drunk.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Mexican official said Tonya Couch was placed on a flight to Los Angeles because there were no more flights available to Texas. In Los Angeles, she would be in the hands of the U.S. Marshals Service, the official said.
Authorities in Texas have issued a warrant for Tonya Couch's arrest for hindering apprehension. If convicted, she could face two to 10 years in prison, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.
A spokeswoman with the U.S. Marshals Service said she could not comment on prisoner movements.
Ricardo Vera, a migration official in Mexico's Jalisco state, said earlier in the day the pair had filed an injunction to delay their extradition and a judge in Mexico would have up to 72 hours to consider the injunction.
Sheriff Anderson said he was not surprised by the pair seeking the delay.
"They (the Couches) have done everything that they can so far to avoid being accountable, or avoid being brought to justice. Any roadblock they can put in the way, any hurdle, I fully expect that," Anderson said in an interview.
Anderson said that when Ethan Couch does arrive back in the United States, he would appear at a detention hearing in the juvenile system. The judge could keep him in a juvenile detention facility or send him to an adult jail, he said.
During Ethan Couch's trial in juvenile court over the deadly crash in 2013, a psychologist testified on his behalf that he was afflicted with "affluenza," and that he was so spoiled by his wealth that he could not tell the difference between right and wrong.
The diagnosis is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association and was has been widely ridiculed.
Couch was convicted on four counts of intoxication manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years of drink and drug-free probation, which critics saw as leniency because of his family's wealth. His flight to Mexico rekindled anger over that sentence.
PARTY VIDEO RAISES RED FLAG
Couch and his mother fled the United States earlier this month after a video surfaced online apparently showing Ethan Couch at a party where beer was being consumed. Authorities then launched a probe into a possible parole violation, law enforcement officials said.
The two were tracked down and arrested in Puerto Vallarta. Mexican authorities said they had been working with the U.S. Marshals Service since Dec. 24 to locate them.
In the car crash, Couch, then 16, was speeding and had a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit when he lost control of his pickup truck and fatally struck a stranded motorist on the side of the road and three people who had stopped to help.
During their last days in Puerto Vallarta, Couch and his mother lived in a modest apartment, kept a low profile and at least once used a false name as they tried to stay under the radar, local people and neighbors said.
Asked about U.S. media reports that a pizza order in Puerto Vallarta from a cellphone had led to the arrests, Anderson said it was more than a single incident.
"It was really good old-fashioned police work that led to this," he said.
This undated photo provided by the Jalisco state prosecutor’s office shows Tonya Couch. Authorities said Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who's serving probation for killing four people in a drunken-driving wreck after invoking an "affluenza" defense, was in custody in Mexico, weeks after he and his mother, Tonya Couch, disappeared. Tonya and Ethan Couch were located and detained Monday, Dec. 28, in Puerto Vallarta. (Courtesy of Jalisco state prosecutor’s office)
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