Ethan Couch, who infamously made headlines for his“affluenza” defense in his 2013 drunk driving case, has been arrested in Texas for allegedly violating his probation.
Couch, 22, is in custody at the Tarrant County Correction Center, jail records show.
He has reportedly been accused of testing positive for the psychoactive component in marijuana, THC,according totheFort-Worth Star-Telegram, a violation of his probation.
Couch was placed on 10 years probation after he struck and killed four pedestrians, injuring two others, in a drunk driving incident when he was a teenager in 2013. His blood alcohol level was 0.24 percent, which is three times the legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Couch did not initially receive jail time for the offense, in part thanks to his defense team’s argument that he suffered from “affluenza,” an inability to understand the consequences of his actions because of his wealthy upbringing. He was dubbed the “affluenza teen” during the trial.
Ethan Couch.Tarrant County Sheriff
But he ended up spending almost two years behind bars after he violated his probation in December 2015, when he wascaught on cameraat a party where alcohol was being served. But instead of attending his probation hearing, hefled to Mexico with his mother, spending weeks on the run.
They were eventually found, and Couch was extradited back to the United States after he and his mother were tracked to an apartment in Puerto Vallarta after one of themused a cell phone to call Domino’s Pizza.
Couch thenappeared in court as an adult for the first time, and was sentenced to two years in jail in 2016, one six-month sentence for each of the four lives he took.
Max Faulkner/Getty Images
He wasreleased from prison in April 2018, but is on a curfew that requires him to be home between the hours of 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., theStar-Telegraphreported. He is also required to use an alcohol monitor and substance abuse test patch, which is reportedly how authorities became aware of his alleged testing positive for THC.
“We cannot make any further statement until we have the opportunity to conduct an investigation to determine if, in fact, Ethan ingested THC and, if so, if it was a voluntary act on his part,” his attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn,said in a statementto the outlet.
source: people.com
