MADD Launches Petition to Charge 'Affluenza Teen' as Adult
Mothers Against Drunk Driving representatives have launched a petition aimed at making certain that so-called "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch is charged as an adult during his next court proceedings.
Fox News reports Couch infamously avoided jail time in 2013 following a drunk driving wreck, in which four people were killed, after his attorneys argued the then 16-year-old grew up so privileged he never learned to be responsible for his actions.
More recently Couch fled his Texas home to Mexico with his mother, after a video was made public allegedly showing him violating his probation by drinking with friends. He is now being held in a Mexican jail as U.S. officials fight to have him extradited back to the states.
"Couch has been found, and everything possible must be done to hold him accountable and to ensure that Couch has no more victims," MADD National President Colleen Sheehey-Church said in a statement. "Couch is not a child. His actions are not that of a child. Four people were killed and several injured, and Couch continues to show no remorse and blatant disregard for the law."
Group members added they are hoping to gather as many as 30,000 signatures over the next week in support of their cause.
By transferring the case to an adult court, a judge could move to sentence him to as long as four months behind bars. Even more important to MADD officials, the judge could also extend his probation beyond his 19th birthday, putting Couch under the threat of a much harsher sentence if he were to ever again be found in violation.
"The national attention in the Couch case must be used to start a larger conversation about the country's complacency on drunk driving," Sheehey-Church said. "Our hearts are broken for the hundreds of thousands of victims who have been killed or injured."
Ethan Couch's mother Tonya Couch has already been returned to Texas, where she is jailed on charges as an accomplice in her son's escape from the country. Earlier this month, she complained about the conditions she has faced at the Texas jail where she is being held on $1 million bond.