A look at ‘affluenza’ teen’s Mexico strategy

Ethan, who has filed paperwork to stay in Mexico, was sentenced in Tarrant County to 10 years of drink- and drug-free probation, which critics saw as leniency because of his family’s wealth, which comes from a metal works business.

Ethan Couch was being held at a detention facility in Mexico City after winning a court reprieve that could lead to a weeks- or even months-long legal process in Mexico. They were arrested in Puerto Vallarta after US marshals tipped off the authorities there to their location. A judge remanded her to the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department without bail as she awaits Texas authorities for her return.

Couch and her 18-year-old son, Ethan, were apprehended last week in Mexico, where authorities believe the pair fled in November as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation in a auto crash that killed four people.

WFAA reported that Tonya Couch, 48, stood behind a partition in a Los Angeles County courtroom and waived her right to resist extradition.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via AP, Pool). Judges have refused extradition requests from the US when the suspect faces cruel and unusual punishment, including the death penalty.

The two left the country and drove to Mexico when he was under investigation for violating probation, but before a warrant was issued.

Most likely, Lopez says, Couch will be deported back to Texas. A Texas district judge sentenced him to probation, though, after Couch’s attorneys put on an “affluenza” defense, claiming the teen’s privileged upbringing prevented him from understand right from wrong. “She is in custody, and she can’t get out of custody until she gets here”.

His lawyer in Mexico, Fernando Benitez, said he planned to meet with Couch earlier this week to decide whether to drop the deportation fight, but he has not commented on his legal strategy going forward.