'Affluenza teen' who got slap on the wrist for killing four people arrested in Mexico after fleeing the U.S. with his mom

Saturday, January 09, 2016 by: L.J. Devon, Staff Writer
Tags: affluenza teen, Ethan Couch, fugitive

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(NaturalNews) In June 2013, a spoiled teen with millionaire parents was given special privileges after he killed four people driving drunk in his mom's pickup truck. Instead of facing real consequences, the teen was given sympathy and told he had "affluenza" – a made-up condition that basically says the teen had no concept of responsibility because his rich parents coddled him his whole life.

That summer night, 16-year-old Ethan Couch took off intoxicated in his mom's pickup truck. With two friends in the bed of the truck, Couch hit the gas pedal and sped out of control on a two lane road. With a blood alcohol level of 0.24, Couch swerved and struck a broken-down SUV, killing four people on the scene. His friends were severely injured as they were hurled from the bed of the truck.

Couch was convicted on four counts of DUI vehicular manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury.

Special privileges for spoiled rich twit

The case was highly controversial because Ethan only got a slap on the wrist for killing four people. Instead of going to jail, he was put on 10 years probation and allowed to go to rehabilitation as if he were the victim of the circumstances.

The defense claimed that Ethan Couch suffered from a condition called "affluenza." They claimed that Ethan Couch suffered as a child because he lived under wealthy parents who never instilled a sense of responsibility in the teen. The defense said that all the coddling took away the boy's ability to determine right from wrong. So the court's answer was to just slap him on the wrist and continue the cycle of never knowing right from wrong.

The defense described Ethan as a kid who faced extreme parental neglect, and they got the judge to go along with it, even though the teen was a spoiled, rich kid who had never been told NO nor ever learned any kind of boundaries.

Affluenza teen flees country with mom after violating probation

Just two years later, the "affluenza teen" broke his probation when he was allegedly caught on camera playing beer pong. When authorities pursued him for not showing up for a probation appointment and violating court orders, they found out that he and his mom had fled.

But it didn't take long to find the rotten duo. According to a Texas district attorney's office, Mexican authorities had caught up to the "affluenza teen" and his mother Tonya Couch after they made a phone call for pizza at a Mexican hotel. Both were taken into custody in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
After being captured, Ethan Couch was held at the Agujas immigration detention center where he was confined to a cot in a room with two or three other detainees. His mother returned to the US where she faces up to 10 years in prison for obstructing the capture of a felon.

Ethan's millionaire father hired Fernando Benitez, a decorated criminal defense lawyer who has already filed for an "amparo" on Ethan's behalf. An amparo is similar to an injunction. It has bought Ethan at least two months before he is deported back to the US to face consequences.

Will the affluenza teen face consequences at all? That is the question. Or will his millionaire father pay off the court system, allowing the now 18-year-old Ethan Couch to run around doing whatever he wants in society, never facing real consequences and never learning NO?

Sources include:

TheBlaze.com

News.com.au