Page 26 - MIN JUS 20 FEB 2016

U.S. NEWS A5
Saturday 20 February 2016

Judge moves ‘affluenza’ teen’s case to adult court

Staying in juvenile court may, however, face up to deported.
could have set off a series several months in the coun- Couch’s blood-alcohol lev-
of hearings to determine if ty jail. After the hearing, el was three times the legal
Couch violated his existing Brown said he would not limit for adult drivers when
probation, which poten- request any specific terms he rammed a pickup truck
tially could have led to 10 of probation for Couch. into a crowd of people try-
years in adult prison when A hearing to set the proba- ing to help a stranded mo-
Couch ages out of the ju- tion terms has not yet been torist on the side of a road
venile system at 19. scheduled. near Fort Worth.
By having the case trans- Couch and his mother dis- The probation sentence
ferred to the adult system, appeared in December, handed down by a juvenile
Couch will not face the as prosecutors investigated court judge outraged pros-
possibility of decades in whether he had violated ecutors, who had called
prison unless he violates his probation. They were for him to serve detention
probation in the future. He later found in Mexico and time.q

Ethan Couch is led by sheriff deputies after a juvenile court for
a hearing Friday, Feb. 19, 2016, in Fort Worth, Texas. A Texas
judge ruled Couch, who used an “affluenza” defense in a fatal
drunken-driving wreck will be moved to adult court, meaning
the teen could face jail time for the 2013 wreck that killed four
people.

(AP Photo/LM Otero)

EMILY SCHMALL blinking his eyes.
ssociated Press Molina attended with his
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — mother and brother, Al-
A judge on Friday sent the exander Lemus, who said
Texas teenager who used that what he wanted from
an “affluenza” defense in a the Couches was “that
fatal drunken-driving wreck they pay.”
to adult court, raising the “What’s 120 days in coun-
possibility that he could get ty?” Lemus asked. “That’s
jail time for the 2013 crash nothing. We need help.
that killed four people. They have so much money,
Ethan Couch was 16 at the they need to pay.”
time of the crash. During his The judge ordered that the
juvenile trial, a defense ex- case be transferred before
pert invoked the term “af- Couch turns 19 in April. He
fluenza” while arguing that remains in the county’s
Couch’s wealthy parents maximum-security jail and
had coddled him into a in solitary confinement for
sense of irresponsibility. 23 hours per day.
Friday’s ruling means the “I wish I could say I’ve seen
now 18-year-old Couch some sense of remorse. I
could face up to 120 days won’t say that,” Tarrant
in jail, then finish his 10-year County Sheriff Dee Ander-
probation. But if he violates son said. “I do believe, from
his probation during that seeing him and talking to
time, he could get up to 10 him, that it’s become more
years in prison for each of real to him.”
the four people who were Couch’s attorney, Scott
killed. Brown, did not fight the
Among those attending transfer. Although he has
the hearing was Sergio not explained the strate-
Molina, who was riding in gy, the punishment could
the back of Couch’s pick- have been greater if the
up and left paralyzed. He judge had kept the case in
can only communicate by the juvenile system.