Tonya Couch Complains About Jail

Couch complained that it was too bright to sleep in her cell.

Couch stood amid eight deputies and Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson for the arraignment, which lasted less than 10 minutes.

Judge Salvant told Couch that if she does make bond, she will have many restrictions, including a Global Positioning System monitor. She did not enter a plea because her attorney was not present for the arraignment.

A hearing will be held on Monday for a request by her lawyers to seek a reduction in the bond that has been set at $1 million. Tonya Couch, second from right, is escorted into Tarrant County Jail in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016.

Salvant said the complaint noted that Couch took action after Ethan “had been adjudicated for having engaged in illegal conduct that violated a penal law of a grade of felony”. The mother, wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, said she did.

The mother’s return to Texas is the latest twist in a controversial case that drew national attention.

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.

As a result, the judge sentenced him to probation instead of jail time. A video surfaced that appeared to show him at a party where people were drinking.

It’s a new development in a case that stunned the country.

Besides the large media presence for Tonya Couch’s hearing, business in Salvant’s court seemed to continue as usual. The judge asked that she surrender her passport, but she said her temporary passport was seized in Mexico, so she does not now have one in her possession.

Her attorney has maintained her client’s innocence.

Mark J. Terrill/AP Tonya Couch is taken by authorities to a waiting auto after arriving in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The Couches are in all of this legal trouble because they fled the United States after Ethan violated his parole.

A Mexican court has granted the teenager a stay against deportation that could delay his return by weeks or months. “We think anything $25,000 or under would be fair”, Patten told reporters.