Release of Couch, who killed four people in drunk driving accident, branded as a ‘grave injustice’ to victims and families

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Ethan Couch, who became known as the “affluenza teen” after his actions were blamed on his family’s wealth, has been released from a Texas jail, where he spent almost two years after killing four people in a drunk driving accident.

Couch will have to stick to a 9pm curfew and will not be allowed to drink alcohol. But his release has been branded as a “grave injustice” by a mothers group.

Couch, 20, was released from the Tarrant county jail near Dallas, on Monday morning, according to Tarrant county sheriff’s spokesman David McClelland, who provided no other details. It was not immediately clear where Couch went after leaving jail.

The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving issued a statement calling Couch’s short stint in jail “a grave injustice to the victims and their families who have been dealt life sentences because of one person’s devastating decision to drink and drive”.

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Couch, who was 16 at the time of the crash in 2013, was found to have a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers. He was subsequently charged with manslaughter.

A psychologist at his trial blamed the teen’s irresponsibility on his family’s wealth, dubbing it “affluenza”. A juvenile court sentenced him to 10 years of probation. That probation was revoked in 2016 after he attended a party where alcohol was served, then fled to Mexico with his mother to avoid punishment.

Couch’s lawyers, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, issued a statement on Monday saying Couch had always been sorry for what he did.

“From the beginning, Ethan has admitted his conduct, accepted responsibility for his actions, and felt true remorse for the terrible consequences of those actions,” they said, adding he will serve the remaining six years of his community supervision under the terms imposed by the court.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ethan Couch and mother Tonya Couch after fleeing to Mexico. Composite: Reuters/AP

Those terms include wearing a tracking device, sticking to a 9pm curfew and taking regular drug tests, a court filing shows. Couch, who turns 21 next week, is prohibited from drinking alcohol while he is on probation.

Couch lost control of his family’s pickup truck in 2013 and veered into a crowd of people helping the driver of a disabled vehicle on the side of the road. Authorities later estimated he was driving 70mph (110km/h) in a 40mph zone.

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The crash fatally injured the stranded motorist, a youth minister who stopped to help her and a mother and daughter who came out of their nearby home.

Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering arising from when she fled to Mexico with her son in 2015. Fred Couch, Ethan’s father, was sentenced in December 2016 to a year’s probation for falsely identifying himself as a peace officer. He has not commented publicly on his son’s release.