'Affluenza teen' released from jail

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Monday, April 2, 2018
'Affluenza' teen set to be released
'Affluenza' teen set to be released. Jeannette Reyes reports during Action News Mornings on April 2, 2018.

A 20-year-old Texas man who as a teenager invoked "affluenza" in his defense after killing four people in a drunken wreck has been released from jail.

Tarrant County sheriff's spokesman David McClelland says Ethan Couch was released Monday from the county jail near Dallas after serving nearly two years for a revoked probation.

A judge ordered a Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to serve nearly two years in jail.

Couch was 16 in June 2013 when he struck and killed four pedestrians. A psychologist at his manslaughter trial blamed his irresponsibility on family wealth, dubbing it "affluenza." A juvenile court sentenced him to 10 years of probation.

Couch's probation was revoked in 2016 after he attended a party where alcohol was served.

The mother of a fugitive teenager known for using an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken-driving case agreed Tuesday to be sent from California to Texas to face a charge.

His mother, Tonya Couch, awaits trial on charges of hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering after she fled to Mexico with her son in 2015.

A Texas woman and her son, a teen known for invoking an "affluenza" defense after a deadly drunken driving wreck, held a sort of farewell party before fleeing, police say.
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