Ethan Couch's Lawyer: 'Affluenza' Teen May Have Been Forced to Flee to Mexico Marice Richter - Reuters
go to original January 19, 2016

MADD urges judge to move Ethan Couch's case to adult court (The Dallas Morning News)

Update: Lawyer Says Ethan Couch Is Dropping His Fight Against Deportation from Mexico (The Associated Press)

An attorney for a teenager who killed four people in the "affluenza" drunken-driving case may have been forced to go to Mexico with his mother after an apparent violation of his probation, a defense attorney said on Tuesday.

A hearing on whether to move Ethan Couch's case to adult court lasted only a few minutes without a decision on Tuesday when a judge ruled his parents were not adequately notified about the hearing. A new hearing date was set for Feb. 19.

Couch, 18, and his mother, Tonya Couch, 48, were captured in Puerto Vallarto, Mexico, last month after a manhunt of more than two weeks. She was returned to Texas and faces a third-degree felony charge for helping her son flee while Ethan remains in a Mexican immigration detention center fighting efforts to bring him back to the United States.

Lawyers for Couch want the proceedings in Fort Worth to come to a halt, arguing the case should not go forward because he is not present. They say he may have been abducted by his mother.

"We are examining the facts ... to determine whether he was taken voluntarily or involuntarily to Mexico," attorney Scott Brown told reporters.

Tarrant County prosecutors contended Couch is responsible for his own absence by fleeing to Mexico and fighting his deportation.

Read the rest at Reuters

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