I didn’t mean to compare them to an average household income, but to point out that the "affluenza’ nonsense was just that.
This kid was neglected and spoiled, but not exceptionally affluent.
Mom is a piece of work, but not exceptionally wealthy.
My comment is that they aren’t that wealthy… Rich enough that he rules don’t apply.
Looks like she posted bail last night and is going to be released this morning to live with older son.
Can’t wait to see what happens next with Ethan.
Then defense should have been what we call PPP (P*$$ poor parenting).
Darn. I was hoping she wouldn’t be able to post bail.
Some of you are commenting that the business was worth a lot, but the family income wasn’t that large. I think the numbers are probably misleading. We know, for example, that the business owned the car Ethan drove the night of the accident. I’ll bet the family didn’t own any cars. I’ll also bet the business bore virtually all of the family expenses, which were tax deductible to the business and meant that the actual pay they received was mainly disposable income. I suspect, based on how frequently the dad broke the law in his every day life, that they cheated on everything they could get away with, every day. I wouldn’t be surprised if all their entertaining and restaurant bills ended up being called business development and got paid for, and deducted, by the business too.
Her bail was too high to begin with, as the judge rightly stated. A talented defense attorney will cast doubt on the idea that she consciously planned to help the kid violate probation and flee. She might argue that she planned the trip for herself and the kid came along. He’s 18 and responsible for his own conduct. Did she have an obligation to report a probation violation once he became 18?
That said, the kid’s conduct was and continues to be astoundingly dumb. Why did he run in the first place? Did he believe that his attendance at the party was a probation violation, even if he didn’t consume alcohol? And the poor fool apparently does not realize that his extradition to Texas from Mexico is inevitable.
@OspreyCV22, actually, the D Magazine article states that he graduated from high school in Texas.
^^^Ack. Still sounds like white trash origin.
I’m still curious about , “It’s not clear where he got the capital to start the business…”
@LakeWashington - I understand your point that Ethan is 18, but imagine the prosecution will have witnesses testifying that the “going away” gathering held before they left included discussions about running to Mexico to evade law enforcement - there are quotes from people who attended in the court documents. There is Fred Couch - who could potentially testify that she told him he would never see either one of them again. She tried to withdraw $60,000 from her bank account - was able to take out only $30,000, etc. - hard to say you are vacationing with all that cash. I think it would be difficult to convince a jury that she was an innocent person on a Mexican vacation and Ethan tagged along.
Given public sentiment towards this family - I would imagine we see a plea deal. Would she really want to gamble on a jury trial? Then again, logical decision making is not her forte.
She clearly helped him violate his probation and avoid capture. She’s his mom and was in the courtroom during his trial and sentencing. She understood the sentence and knew that he was violating the terms of his probation by leaving the country, a process that she funded. She also knew that he was not allowed to drink and yet she paid for $2,000 worth of bar and stripper fees in Mexico. He altered his appearance. They were using cash to avoid capture. They got rid of their cell phones.
Whether the family has a lot of cash in the bank or not, they definitely acted like a wealthy, powerful family and were treated as such. Ethan lived by himself in a second home (a large home). He had his own expensive car which he drove to school even before he had a license. During the first trial and other news stories, there was discussion of lots of disposable income as well as a total lack of parental supervision.
Well, he’s back in the US: http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/28/americas/texas-mexico-affluenza-ethan-couch/index.html
Almost sounds like he’s on some sort of tranquilizing meds.
Oh, goodie. This should be interesting.
Here’s the latest:
via npr: Judge Moves ‘Affluenza Teen’ Case To Adult Court http://n.pr/1Wwl10y
Good. I hope they throw the book at him and his mother.
While I have zero sympathy for this family, I would like to note that the media-frenzy “affluenza” term came from an outside source.
He’s a stupid upper-middle class kid with stupid parents. Affluent parents don’t trundle kid into a truck across the border and hole up in a vacation spot. Affluent parents would have scooped teen up in their private jet and deposited him in an undisclosed location.
Personally, I think you have to be pretty affluent to just pick up and go across the border for a while. Even most upper-middle class people can’t just pick up and go without apparently having a source of income, etc.
I’m not contesting your value, but living here. … It’s just not that hard to drive over the border.
I think you are confusing the Canadian border with the Mexican.
Frankly, I think this case has little to do with money. This was [is] a kid who was never told “no”. Like all kids, rich or poor, whose parents don’t take the time and energy to teach their kids to delay gratification, consider the impact of their actions on others, and do what they deep down know to be the right thing, he acted in selfish and immoral ways. It’s not all that different from a lower class kid selling drugs, except that at least the drug dealer can plead economic need as justification. The travesty is that the judge in Couch’s case let him get away with a sentence so light that it gave him little motivation to change. I can imagine the kid thinking, “See? I am better and more special than other kids. The fact that my family was smart enough to get a wily attorney and I was such a great actor that the judge let me off shows it. I am a golden boy.”
And of course all of us perfect parents could never have produced a “bad actor” teen.