Judge orders Ethan Couch to stay in Tarrant County Jail for 2 years

State District Judge Wayne Salvant has made it official: Ethan Couch, Tarrant County’s most notorious teenager, must remain in jail for two years for violating his juvenile probation for a fatal 2013 drunken driving crash.

Salvant signed an order Wednesday, technically dismissing an appeal from Couch and effectively ending this phase of the judicial process.

Couch, 19, must stay in jail for 180 days for each of the four people killed in the crash — a total of 720 days.

The “affluenza teen” has been in the Tarrant County Jail’s maximum security facility since Feb. 5, and the order does not change that, a spokesman for Sheriff Dee Anderson said Wednesday.

Greg Coontz, an attorney for two victims’ families, said, “For [the families] at this point, the only silver lining would be if he made something out of his life and helped others.”

On April 13, Salvant made a preliminary ruling adding 720 days in jail to Couch’s remaining probation sentence. That is the most time allowable under state law. Salvant said then that he might “reconsider” the punishment, but his order Wednesday reaffirmed it, and he canceled further hearings, according to court documents.

Couch had been scheduled to appear in Salvant’s court Monday.

The background

On the night of June 15, 2013, Couch, 16, with friends in his pickup, was drunk and was speeding down Burleson-Retta Road in rural south Tarrant County when the pickup crashed into people gathered around a disabled vehicle on the side of the road, setting off a chain of collisions that killed four people and injured 12.

The four people killed were youth minister Brian Jennings, 41, of Burleson; Breanna Mitchell, 24, of Lillian; and Hollie Boyles, 52, and her daughter, Shelby Boyles, 21, who had come from their house nearby to help.

Couch had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24. He admitted responsibility — the adult equivalent of pleading guilty — to four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury.

On Dec. 10, 2013, a juvenile court judge sentenced Couch to 10 years of probation with several requirements, including that he get substance abuse rehabilitation. He spent more than a year in rehab and treatment with the state picking up most of the $200,000 tab, according to court documents.

In December 2015, Couch skipped a probation appointment after a video surfaced in which a person who looked like him could be seen playing beer pong. He and his mother, Tonya Couch, fled to Mexico for nearly a month and were captured in the resort town of Puerto Vallarta. Tonya Couch, who has not been indicted, faces a felony charge of hindering apprehension.

On April 11, when he turned 19, Couch was transferred to the jurisdiction of the adult courts and his case was assigned to Salvant. Because Couch had been sentenced to probation as a juvenile and violated his probation as a juvenile, Salvant could only make the terms of his probation stiffer, not change the sentence itself.

The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure gives judges authority to confine felons on probation for up to 180 days for each charge they’re convicted on, four in Couch’s case.

Judges may order the 180-day terms served consecutively as long as they don’t exceed two years. That’s what Salvant did.

A temporary end

Coontz represented the families of Jennings and his godson, Lucas McConnell, then 12, who was injured in the wreck, in claims against Couch’s parents.

Salvant’s order was the first “real consequence” Couch has had to face, Coontz said.

“I just talked to the two families and they are certainly happy the judge ruled that way, but it’s a temporary end,” Coontz said in a phone interview Wednesday night.

Once he gets out of jail, Couch will still have about seven years to serve on his 10-year probation sentence, and living under those restrictions — no alcohol, no driving and not leaving the county without permission — wouldn’t be easy for anyone, Coontz said.

“Time will tell,” he said.

If Couch violates probation again, he will be back in the news and back in the lives of the victims’ families, Coontz said.

Coontz said the Jennings and McConnell families did not want to talk to a reporter Wednesday night. Other victims’ relatives could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.

Couch’s attorneys could not be reached for comment.

Earlier Wednesday, the president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving posted an open letter on MADD’s website, urging Salvant to stick to his initial decision on jail time.

After Salvant ruled, MADD released another statement.

“After years of heartbreak, this is a small victory. But we can never say that we won. No one ever wins in drunk driving crashes. No one can win when someone kills or injuries innocent people,” MADD National President Colleen Sheehey-Church wrote.

Staff writer Ryan Osborne contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 11, 2016 at 11:29 AM with the headline "Judge orders Ethan Couch to stay in Tarrant County Jail for 2 years."