Mom of ‘affluenza’ teen posts bond, release pending

A Texas judge brought down the bond for Tonya Couch, the mother of affluenza teen Ethan Couch, from $1 million to $75,000.

“We’re talking about a case that the punishment range is two to 10 years”, Salvant said.

But State District Judge Wayne Salvant said the goal of the bond amount is not oppression but of ensuring that someone makes it to trial. “I just don’t believe from everything I’ve heard today it should be a million dollars”. Couch did not enter a plea. She will be released on Tuesday after an electronic ankle monitor is put on her, Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said.

It was unclear how early Tuesday that release could come.

A Texas magistrate on Friday signed an order to examine Tonya Couch for “mental illness and mental retardation”.

Texas prosecutors had charged her with hindering the apprehension of a felon and initially set bond at $1 million.

Anderson told reporters on Monday there was a possibility Tonya Couch could flee again.

Ethan Couch is in an immigration detention facility in Mexico and fighting deportation back to the United States. Couch faces up to 10 years in prison for helping her son escape to Mexico. The case drew widespread derision after an expert called by Ethan Couch’s lawyers argued he had been coddled into a sense of irresponsibility by his wealthy parents, a condition the expert called “affluenza”. Her son was being sought for violating the terms of his probation. Her bank account is frozen – prosecutors estimate it has $100,000 in it – and Patten argued that Tonya Couch’s husband is unlikely to provide her with financial support. Even more important to MADD officials, the judge could also extend his probation beyond his 19th birthday, putting Couch under the threat of a much harsher sentence if he were to ever again be found in violation. “We hope that the restrictions that were put on her are going to be sufficient to keep her where she needs to be”, he said after the bond was reduced.

The diagnosis, which is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association, was widely ridiculed. That, despite the still unaccounted for $30,000 she withdrew from the bank before heading to Puerto Vallarta, she has no access to cash.