Attorneys: ‘Affluenza’ teen to return to Texas within weeks

Attorneys for Ethan Couch said Tuesday that the 18-year-old is dropping his deportation fight in Mexico as they investigate whether he fled there or was taken unwillingly.

Lawyers for Couch want the proceedings in Fort Worth stopped because he is not present.

Judge Timothy Menikos of Tarrant County juvenile court agreed to postpone a hearing to transfer Couch’s case to adult court because his parents were not properly notified. But attorneys Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn said in a statement Wednesday that paperwork was filed to “terminate the ongoing immigration proceedings”.

Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were captured in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico, last month after a manhunt of more than two weeks sparked by allegations the teen violated his probation in the 2013 drunken driving case.

USA national Ethan Couch is pictured in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on December 29, 2015 by the Jalisco state prosecutor office. Yet, when question if Brown was claiming that his client didn’t voluntarily flee to Mexico, the attorney said that it was still “being investigated”.

“This is an evolving process, and whether he was involuntarily or involuntarily taken to Mexico is something that’s being investigated”.

“I don’t think that’s what I said”.

“It’s not a foregone conclusion that this will happen, but we certainly hope it does”, said Tarrant County district attorney spokeswoman Samantha Jordan.

Couch was given 10 years’ probation for the 2013 drunken-driving wreck that killed four, and the terms of the probation prohibit him from drinking.

“We are upset and disappointed it wasn’t able to proceed today”, said Jason Derscheid, executive director of the North Texas affiliate of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers.

Couch’s attorneys have not spelled out why they believe he was in Mexico, where the U.S. Marshals Service tracked the teen using a cell phone linked to him, according to an official briefed on the investigation. Once the juvenile court loses jurisdiction, Couch can be released from his sentence.