Tarrant County grand jury declines to indict dad of ‘affluenza teen’ on assault charge
A Tarrant County grand jury has declined to indict the father of the “affluenza teen” on a charge that he assaulted his girlfriend in July.
Grand jurors reached their decision last week in the case of Frederick Couch, 54, of Fort Worth. Fred Couch had been charged in September with assault of a family member.
A criminal complaint indicated that Couch had been accused of grabbing Brandi Gober around her throat or neck and applying pressure on July 14.
Deputies with the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
Couch could not be reached Wednesday for comment.
No other details of the incident have been released.
Fred Couch was sentenced to a year’s probation in 2016 for posing as a police officer during an incident in North Richland Hills in July 2014.
‘Affluenza’ defense in fatal DWI crash
The grand jurors’ decision wraps up yet another chapter in the legal issues for the Couch family, who have been in the news since 2013. Fred Couch is the father of Ethan Couch, the highly publicized and often criticized young man who was sentenced to 10 years’ probation for driving drunk and causing a crash in 2013 that killed four people.
Ethan Couch was deemed the “affluenza” teen after an off-the-cuff comment by a psychologist during his original trial in 2013 at which he had admitted responsibility — basically pleading guilty — to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury.
The psychologist had described Ethan Couch, at the time a juvenile, as a spoiled teen who grew up in a rich and dysfunctional family, and as a victim of “affluenza.”
The description stuck, especially after he was sentenced by Judge Jean Boyd to 10 years of probation and intensive therapy.
“Ethan, you are responsible for what you did, not your parents,” Boyd told Couch.
Ethan Couch was 16 when he was speeding in his Ford F-350 pickup truck on Burleson-Retta Road in southern Tarrant County and came upon people trying to assist a stranded motorist. He was drunk, with a blood alcohol level of 0.24, and crashed into the group, setting off a series of crashes that killed four people and injured 12.
Killed were Breanna Mitchell, 24, of Lillian, whose car had broken down; Hollie Boyles, 52, and Shelby Boyles, 21, who lived nearby and had come outside to help Mitchell; and Burleson youth minister Brian Jennings, 41, a passer-by who had also stopped to help.
Mom charged after escape to Mexico
After being sentenced, Ethan Couch went through rehab. In December 2015 a video surfaced that showed a person who appeared to be Ethan Couch playing beer pong. He did not appear for a probation hearing and instead fled to a Mexican resort with his mom, Tonya Couch
They were arrested later that month in Mexico, and in April 2016 state district Judge Wayne Salvant sentenced Ethan Couch to 720 days in jail as a new condition of his probation.
That sentence ended last year, and Ethan Couch was released in April 2018.
Tonya Couch has been in and out of jail as she awaits trial on charges related to helping her son Ethan escape to Mexico in 2015.
Tonya Couch is accused of withdrawing $30,000 from a bank account and hiding with her son in Mexico after he missed a probation appointment in 2015.
On Sept. 11, Tonya Couch was released from the Tarrant County Jail after posting $10,000 bail. Her trial is pending.
Fred and Tonya Couch divorced in 2017, after he had filed the petition in 2014, according to court documents.
This report contains information from Star-Telegram archives.
