‘Affluenza’ teen Ethan Couch is back in Tarrant County custody

A “docile” and hungry Ethan Couch arrived at the Tarrant County juvenile detention center Thursday morning, a few hours after leaving Mexico City in the custody of Mexican officers.

Couch, 18, the “affluenza” teen who left the country in December with his mother, was turned over to U.S. marshals at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

They ferried him to the Lynn W. Ross Juvenile Detention Center in north Fort Worth, where he was booked in about noon.

“The transfer went as smoothly as any of us could have hoped,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said. “The flight was uneventful from Mexico.”

A detention hearing is set for 10:30 a.m. Friday. A judge will decide whether Couch will stay in juvenile custody or be sent to the Tarrant County Jail or be released under conditions until a court hearing on Feb. 19.

“We’re certainly hopeful the judicial system will handle him different than before,” Anderson said. “I prefer he’d be in the adult jail.”

ETHAN COUCH TIMELINE

Couch turns 19 in April. At the Feb. 19 “motion to transfer” hearing, a judge will determine whether to permanently transfer his case to an adult court.

He was sentenced to 10 years’ probation in juvenile court in 2013 for a DWI crash that killed four people and injured 12.

Mothers Against Drunk Driving, which has circulated a petition requesting the case be moved to adult court, released a statement Thursday saying the group’s national president plans to attend the hearing on Friday.

Anderson described the teen as “very calm, very quiet, very passive” and “docile.” Couch’s only request was for something to eat, Anderson said.

In a statement later Thursday, Couch’s lawyers said they expected that the judge on Friday would order Couch to stay in juvenile detention until Feb. 19.

At that hearing, “we anticipate that the court will lawfully transfer his probation to an appropriate Tarrant County district court with adult criminal jurisdiction. Under the law, the transfer will become effective upon Ethan’s [19th] birthday in April,” attorneys Scott Brown and Wm. Reagan Wynn said.

“We are optimistic that, going forward, Ethan will comply with all court-imposed terms and conditions and that he will successfully complete his term of probation.”

In Mexico with mom

Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, were captured in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Dec. 28, about two weeks after Tarrant County juvenile authorities issued a directive to apprehend the teen.

Tonya Couch, who is facing a felony charge for hindering her son’s apprehension, was released from jail on bond two weeks ago. Judge Wayne Salvant ordered her to 24-hour confinement at her oldest son’s home in southern Tarrant County.

As part of his 2013 sentence, Ethan Couch was also ordered to enter a lock down addiction treatment facility and not to drive or use alcohol or drugs for 10 years.

Prosecutors had asked that he be sentenced to 20 years in a state lockup.

In his closing statements, Richard Alpert, Tarrant County assistant district attorney, argued that if given a light sentence, Couch would likely veer off the path.

“There can be no doubt that he will be in another courthouse one day blaming the lenient treatment he received here,” Alpert said.

During a hearing in February 2014, Boyd, who is now retired, told the families that her decision had nothing to do with the “affluenza” comment made by a psychologist during testimony on Couch's behalf.

And she told the teen that he, not his parents, is responsible for his actions.

The fatal crash

About 11:45 p.m. on June 15, 2013, Couch was speeding down Burleson-Retta Road in southern Tarrant County in a F-350 pickup with seven teenage passengers when he drove off the road, clipped an SUV and smashed into its driver and three other people.

Couch had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit and traces of Valium in his system, according to court testimony

Killed were Breanna Mitchell, 24, of Lillian, whose SUV had broken down; Brian Jennings, a youth minister at a Burleson church who had stopped to help; and Hollie Boyles, 52, and her daughter, Shelby Boyles, 21, who had come from their house nearby to help.

Another 12 people were injured, including Sergio Molina and Solaiman Mohman, teenagers who were riding in the bed of Couch's pickup. Molina suffered a traumatic brain injury.

The article includes information from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 9:49 AM with the headline "‘Affluenza’ teen Ethan Couch is back in Tarrant County custody."