Texas mom ‘relieved’ to resolve case of helping son flee to Mexico after fatal DWI crash
The attorney for a North Texas mom who was charged with helping her son flee to Mexico after violating the terms of his probation in a fatal DWI crash says she is “relieved” to finally resolve the eight-year long case.
Tonya Couch pleaded guilty to a charge of hindering apprehension or prosecution of a known felon on Nov. 6 in a Tarrant County criminal district court, according to court documents.
Her son, Ethan Couch, was sentenced to 10 years of probation — in addition to undergoing rehab — for a 2014 drunk-driving crash that killed four people.
In 2015, a search began for Ethan after he missed a probation meeting. Ethan and Tonya were later caught in Mexico, and she was accused of withdrawing $30,000 from a bank account for the illegal trip.
“‘Withdrawing’ funds is not, in any ordinary meaning of the words, ‘financing’ or ‘investing’ them,” Couch’s attorneys argued in their appeal of a money laundering charge before the Texas Second District Court of Appeals in Fort Worth in April 2022.
Ethan was released from jail in April 2018 after completing a two-year sentence for violating the terms of his probation, but his mother had been in and out of the court system since 2018 after she too was accused of violating the terms of her release.
The case drew national attention after a psychologist described Ethan Couch as a spoiled teen who grew up in a rich and dysfunctional family and said he was a victim of “affluenza.”
Today's top stories:
→ Baby gorilla born by C-section needs new surrogate mother
→ Student at Eastern Hills Elementary locked in classroom alone, mom says
→ Man nearly decapitated wife, told police she cut herself: affidavit
🚨Get free alerts when news breaks.
Tonya’s case started when the former district attorney assigned two prosecutors, requesting Ethan’s mother be held on $1 million bail for a first-time, nonviolent third-degree felony, according to her attorney, Stephanie Patten.
The former DA “continually” reindicted Tonya on six third-degree felonies, Patten told the Star-Telegram.
Her attorney said she challenged the money laundering charge, in which the former DA “strained to charge” Tonya, through the Court of Appeals and the Court of Criminal Appeals.
“We were successful in achieving clarification from the Court of Criminal Appeals that, contrary to the position taken by the State, facial challenges to the constitutionality of statutes made pretrial are cognizable if a grant of relief would result in immediate release from prosecution for an alleged offense, but release from prosecution for every alleged offense is not required,” Patten said.
The money-laundering charge against Tonya was dismissed.
In a statement, current Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney Phil Sorrells said, “I can’t speak to why the case lingered for eight years prior to me taking office. However, my office is evaluating every case in an attempt to reach a conclusion on all of them, particularly cases that are eight years old. We were able to get a felony conviction on Tonya Couch for hindering the apprehension of a known felon.”
As part of a plea agreement, Tonya was ordered to serve 180 days in the Tarrant County Jail. She was given credit for time served and released, according to documents.
