MADD To Present "Fight Affluenza" Signatures During Ethan Couch Hearing
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NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) announced that representatives with the organization will attend the transfer hearing for "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch in Tarrant County tomorrow.
During the hearing Tarrant County prosecutors are expected to present a motion to have Couch's case transferred from juvenile to adult court.
Ethan was 16-years-old when he was driving drunk, with a vehicle full of other young people, and slammed into a disabled SUV parked on the side of the road. The crash killed four people. After being convicted of four counts of intoxication manslaughter, and two counts of intoxication assault causing serious bodily injury, Ethan was sentenced to therapy and 10 years probation.
Ethan Couch and his mother, Tonya, fled the U.S. in late November after a video surfaced showing what appeared to be Ethan at a party where people were drinking alcohol. Drinking could cause Couch's probation to be revoked. His mother was recently released on $75,000 bond and is on house arrest here in North Texas. Ethan remains in Mexico, as he fights deportation back to the U.S.
The statement from MADD said:
"Transferring Couch to adult court gives the criminal justice system the opportunity to hold him accountable by ensuring his probation extends beyond his 19th birthday in April 2016," said MADD National President Colleen Sheehey-Church, whose 18-year-old son Dustin was killed by an underage drunk and drugged driver. "Couch is not a child. His actions are not that of a child, and everything possible must be done to hold him accountable and to ensure that Couch has no more victims."
Last week, MADD launched a petition they labeled #FightAffluenza to demand that Ethan Couch's case be moved adult court. The goal was to get a total of 30,000 signatures before the January 19 court date, but that goal was reached within 24 hours.
Now MADD is trying to double the goal and have 60,000 signatures to provide to the prosecution.
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