A Texas mother charged with helping her teen son escape to Mexico to avoid a probation violation appeared Friday in court, where a judge said he would consider her request to significantly cut her $1 million bail.
Tonya Couch, 48, was brought back to Tarrant County, Texas, this week after her deportation from Mexico, where her son, Ethan Couch, remains in an immigration detention facility. Wearing a yellow jail jumpsuit, she said little at her arraignment. The judge set her bail hearing for Monday afternoon.
She was charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon after she and her son were arrested last week in Puerto Vallarta, where they had fled as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation for a 2013 drunk-driving car crash that killed four people.
Ethan Couch became notorious during that trial for his lawyers’ “affluenza” defense strategy. They argued that he was raised in such a privileged environment that he was unable to distinguish right from wrong. ‘Affluenza’ is not recognized by the American Psychiatric Association.
Couch, now 18, has picked up a prominent Mexican lawyer who is challenging an attempt by authorities to deport him. This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com
Jon Schuppe Recommended
