Page 5 - Aruba Today
P. 5
U.S. NEWS A5
Wednesday 20 January 2016
Experts:
Willingness claim unlikely to help “affluenza” teen
The latest strategy, though, Attorneys for Tonya Couch
could affect Couch’s declined to comment
mother. Tuesday. The 48-year-old
If Ethan Couch can prove was released on bond last
he was taken against his week in Texas after she was
will, Tonya Couch can be brought back from Mexico.
charged with kidnapping. Brown, Ethan Couch’s U.S.
Tarrant County district lawyer, said “documents
attorney spokeswoman have been filed to release
Samantha Jordan said the injunction” that
there would have to be objected to his return, but
“adequate proof” that did not say how long the
Tonya Couch forced her process would take.
son to go to Mexico before Immigration and federal
Tonya Couch, center, the mother of a Texas teen who used an prosecutors brought courts officials in Mexico
“affluenza” defense in a drunken wreck, leaves Tarrant County
Jail in Fort Worth, Texas. additional charges against said they didn’t have any
(AP Photo/Brandon Wade) her. “We’d have to see the information indicating
evidence,” she said. Couch was dropping his
EMILY SCHMALL juvenile court scheduled Whether Couch is able to deportation fight. Couch’s
Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) to determine whether prove that he was taken to lawyer in Mexico didn’t
— An argument raised
Tuesday by lawyers for a Couch, who is being held Mexico against his wishes return messages, and U.S.
Texas teenager known
for using an “affluenza” at a Mexico City detention will not affect prosecutors’ Marshals spokesman Trent
defense in a fatal drunken-
driving wreck — that he facility, violated his efforts to transfer his case Touchstone said he had
may have been taken to
Mexico against his will — probation and if the case to the adult system, Jordan no information about the
is unlikely to help his case,
outside juvenile defense should be transferred to added. issue.q
attorneys said.
And even if a judge agrees adult court. But the judge
that Ethan Couch was
forced to flee to Mexico, cut the hearing short after
he could still be locked
up if the judge determines Couch’s attorneys said his
he violated probation by
attending a party where parents weren’t properly
people were drinking.
Attorneys for Couch said notified. Another hearing
the 18-year-old is dropping
his deportation fight in was set for Feb. 19.
Mexico as they investigate
whether he fled there or was Dallas attorney Peter
brought against his wishes.
He was arrested there with Schulte said the new
his mother, who is now
charged with hindering defense argument
the apprehension of a
felon. She was returned to might be related to the
the U.S. quickly, but Couch
won a delay based on a “affluenza” claim that
constitutional appeal that
normally leads to a lengthy Couch was coddled into
trial process.
Authorities allege the a sense of irresponsibility
two crossed into Mexico
in December, as Texas by his wealthy parents. The
prosecutors investigated
whether Couch violated condition is not recognized
his probation in the 2013
drunken-driving case. His as a medical diagnosis by
attorney, Scott Brown,
said Tuesday that whether the American Psychiatric
his client “was voluntarily
or involuntarily taken to Association, and
Mexico is something that is
still being investigated.” its use drew widespread
That comment came
after a brief hearing in derision.
The latest argument,
Schulte said, could be
“some extension of
affluenza, that he can’t
make decisions on his own
and any time mommy says
to do something he does
it.”
But the argument is unlikely
to impress a judge because
of Couch’s age, Schulte
said.
Attorney Seth Fuller of
Denton, Texas, said Couch’s
defenses are limited to
claiming he didn’t realize
he was violating probation
by going to Mexico or that
he went there involuntarily.
“This is just grasping at
straws,” he said, adding, “It
doesn’t seem like a good
defense, but it is one of the
few available.”
Neither Schulte nor Fuller is
involved in Couch’s case.
