# Assuming "affluenza" teen & mom have fled the US - What penalty does Mom get? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 19, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854 "2015-12-19T16:37:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/21 "2015-12-31T08:52:07Z")
According to this article, Tonya Couch was deported back to the United States. [http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/tarrant-county/2015/12/30/ethan-tonya-couch-fighting-extradition/78070682/](http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/tarrant-county/2015/12/30/ethan-tonya-couch-fighting-extradition/78070682/) Her son, Ethan, remains in Mexico. Let him fight extradition. According to what the officials in Texas said he could only be sent to jail for a few months, until he turned 19, anyway. (That’s one weird juvenile justice system they’ve got in Texas. Only place I’ve heard of where violating probation can’t include the possibility of going to prison for the rest of the period.) So if he’s only going to get a few months behind bars, better it be in a Mexican detention facility. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/22 "2015-12-31T10:03:57Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I feel the same way. The issue with the beer pong video was probably manageable by his lawyers, but then going on the lamb… You know what they say about anyone who “fucks one sheep”! ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/23 "2015-12-31T10:54:02Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > The news just said that the lawyers are fighting extradition so it will be delayed for a few weeks. Do his clients really want to sit in a shithole Mexican jail for weeks? I would be asking for the first flight home to a Texas jail. He’s in immigration detention so I imagine it would be a little better than a typical Mexican jail, but I can’t see it being Club Med. I also wonder what the hell they were planning to do. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/24 "2015-12-31T12:23:07Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I’m really enjoying that they were busted by ordering Domino’s Pizza. _So_ not worth going to jail for! Well, maybe. After all, Domino’s did change their sauce so the pizza’s not as bad as it used to be! ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/25 "2015-12-31T12:28:10Z")
In an ideal society, it would be the parents of Mr. Couch who receive the more severe or at least equivalent punishments since they failed to raise their child properly. Probably forced labour on some infrastructure project such as high-speed rail construction or a brief session of flogging (as hinted at in Heinlein’s _Starship Troopers_) are some of the more optimal punishments. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/26 "2015-12-31T12:38:05Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > In an ideal society, it would be the parents of Mr. Couch who receive the more severe or at least equivalent punishments since they failed to raise their child properly. Oh, for crying out loud! There is a limit as to what parents can do. Children will follow their own paths. Your plan means that Ted Bundy’s parents would also have been executed. That Aldrich Ames’ parents would be in prison for life. Stop and think for a minute about the repercussions of your idea. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/27 "2015-12-31T17:07:29Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Oh, for crying out loud! There is a limit as to what parents can do. Children will follow their own paths. > > Your plan means that Ted Bundy’s parents would also have been executed. That Aldrich Ames’ parents would be in prison for life. Stop and think for a minute about the repercussions of your idea. The difference is that Ethan Couch was only 16. His parents taught him to drink alcohol. His mother, the pill addict, gave him Vicodin. His drunken father physically abused his mother in front of him. His father let him drive himself when he was only 13. His parents bought him a bunch of stuff and spoiled him while never disciplining him. His parents let him, a minor, live alone in a mansion. His parents created him. They taught him to be a drunk, junkie who drives. And now, at age 18, it was his mother who went on the lam with him. Did Bundy’s parents teach him how to stalk, rape and kill young women and girls? And how old was Bundy when he first raped & killed? Because Bundy wasn’t 16 and still supposed to be living in his parents’ home. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/28 "2015-12-31T21:07:24Z")
> [@lalaith](#): > > According to this article, Tonya Couch was deported back to the United States. > [http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/tarrant-county/2015/12/30/ethan-tonya-couch-fighting-extradition/78070682/](http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/tarrant-county/2015/12/30/ethan-tonya-couch-fighting-extradition/78070682/) > > Her son, Ethan, remains in Mexico. Let him fight extradition. According to what the officials in Texas said he could only be sent to jail for a few months, until he turned 19, anyway. (That’s one weird juvenile justice system they’ve got in Texas. Only place I’ve heard of where violating probation can’t include the possibility of going to prison for the rest of the period.) So if he’s only going to get a few months behind bars, better it be in a Mexican detention facility. I like the US lawyer’s comment: Mrs. Couch did not commit a crime in Texas. Bail for this non-crime: $1 million. I know that the lawyers will drag this out until it is off the front page and then cut a deal, but it is going to be expensive. I just hope the kid doesn’t hurt anyone the next time he ends up in the criminal justice system. And I doubt the judge will cut him any slack… ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/29 "2015-12-31T21:21:27Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > I’m really enjoying that they were busted by ordering Domino’s Pizza. _So_ not worth going to jail for! Avoid the Noid! ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/30 "2015-12-31T21:51:16Z")
> [@lalaith](#): > > Because Bundy wasn’t 16 and still supposed to be living in his parents’ home. No, he was 14. **Qin** did not limit his “ideal society” solution to juveniles still living at home. Nor did he limit it to such useless parents as Couch’s apparently are. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/31 "2015-12-31T22:27:48Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Oh, for crying out loud! There is a limit as to what parents can do. Children will follow their own paths. > > Your plan means that Ted Bundy’s parents would also have been executed. That Aldrich Ames’ parents would be in prison for life. Stop and think for a minute about the repercussions of your idea. The parents paid the lawyer for the affluenza defense so yes it is all there fault. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/32 "2015-12-31T22:52:59Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > No, he was 14. > > **Qin** did not limit his “ideal society” solution to juveniles still living at home. Nor did he limit it to such useless parents as Couch’s apparently are. If you’re claiming that Bundy raped and killed his first girl at age 14 while supposed to be living with his parents, I’ll have to ask for a cite on that. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2015, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/33 "2015-12-31T23:49:39Z")
> [@lalaith](#): > > If you’re claiming that Bundy raped and killed his first girl at age 14 while supposed to be living with his parents, I’ll have to ask for a cite on that. [Ted Bundy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy). > [@](#): > > Eight-year-old Ann Marie Burr vanished from her Tacoma home on August 31, 1961 when Bundy was 14. The Burr house was on Bundy’s newspaper delivery route. The victim’s father was certain that he saw Bundy in a ditch at a construction site on the nearby UPS campus the morning his daughter disappeared. Other circumstantial evidence implicates him as well, but detectives familiar with the case have never agreed on the likelihood of his involvement. Bundy repeatedly denied culpability and wrote a letter of denial to the Burr family in 1986; but Keppel has observed that Burr fits all three of Bundy’s “no discussion” categories of “too close to home”, “too close to family”, and “very young”. Forensic testing of material evidence from the Burr crime scene, in 2011, yielded insufficient intact DNA sequences for comparison with Bundy’s. Regardless, isn’t **Qin** ’s argument that Couch’s parents should have raised him better? Doesn’t that apply to anyone who has ever done anything wrong? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/34 "2016-01-01T00:27:22Z")
> [@UltraVires](#): > > I’m not sure about Texas law, but in my state, it depends. If you violate another criminal law, your probation can be revoked and you serve the remainder of the underlying sentence. (For example, a sentence may be 1 to 5 years in the penitentiary, but it will be suspended for, say, 2 years of probation. Even if you do 1 year and 10 months of probation and you violate it, then it could be off to the joint to begin a 1 to 5). > > If you violate an administrative condition of your probation which is not a crime for the general public (consuming alcohol, failing to report to your probation officer, staying out after curfew, etc.) then around here, the max penalty for 1st offense violation is 30 days in jail (which counts as credit for time served on the underlying sentence), 2nd offense is max 60 days in jail, 3rd offense can result in revocation and off to your original sentence. > > Again, I’m not sure about Texas law, but surely this kid committed some crime on his way to Mexico that could act as a crime for revocation purposes. IANAL, but even if the kid doesn’t get more than 120 days of jail time, probation can be unpleasant enough that he’s going to wish he were in prison, because prisoners have more freedom. For example, he can be on a GPS monitor; on a mandatory curfew; increased reporting requirements (e.g., once a week instead of once a month); mandatory substance abuse meetings; mandatory counseling; and they can prohibit him from having contact with his mother. He may also be required to find and hold a job. His probation officer can and will check up on him by talking to his employer, his landlord, his AA/NA sponsor/group facilitator, and therapist. Basically, Tarrant County Probation can and probably will keep this asshole on a VERY short leash and make his life miserable in the process. ---
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/35 "2016-01-01T01:16:00Z")
I understand fleeing to Mexico if you live in Texas. To catch the first flight you can (OUT OF MEXICO) to the non-extradition country of your choice. Mexico is not “home-free” to any US citizen with two brain cells to rub together. I mean, if you only have a couple grand in cash, you might have to lay low (please discard your cell phones) in Mexico and hope for the best, but these people had money. They checked into a resort in Puerto Vallarta for a short stay before renting a condo in town. What the actual fuck? Stupid is as stupid does. And that’s all I have to say about that. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/36 "2016-01-01T02:21:06Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > IANAL, but even if the kid doesn’t get more than 120 days of jail time, probation can be unpleasant enough that he’s going to wish he were in prison, because prisoners have more freedom. > > For example, he can be on a GPS monitor; on a mandatory curfew; increased reporting requirements (e.g., once a week instead of once a month); mandatory substance abuse meetings; mandatory counseling; and they can prohibit him from having contact with his mother. He may also be required to find and hold a job. His probation officer can and will check up on him by talking to his employer, his landlord, his AA/NA sponsor/group facilitator, and therapist. Basically, Tarrant County Probation can and probably will keep this asshole on a VERY short leash and make his life miserable in the process. he works for his father and the truck he was driving when he murdered four people is registered to the father’s company.(according to wiki) Maybe we should start a social media drive to boycott the dad’s company and then they cant pay the lawyers ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/37 "2016-01-01T11:48:27Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > IANAL, but even if the kid doesn’t get more than 120 days of jail time, probation can be unpleasant enough that he’s going to wish he were in prison, because prisoners have more freedom. Although you are right that probation is worse than not having any restrictions, it hardly compares to prison. There’s no way that a spoiled rich kid could survive in that environment. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/38 "2016-01-01T11:58:34Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > Stupid is as stupid does. And that’s all I have to say about that. I don’t see why they fled in the first place if he was only facing a few month’s in jail. Likewise, why is he fighting the extradition back to the US? Surely he couldn’t expect to win and it will simply add to the total time he’s in detention as his stay courtesy of the Mexican government isn’t going to reduce any sentence in the US. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/39 "2016-01-01T18:04:25Z")
I’m guessing if the dad’s business is the money pump for all this that there may not be the defense resources available this time around. He appears to be actively distancing himself from this flight attempt by his son and ex-wife. Out of curiosity can the father be legally compelled to provide financial defense assistance for his 18 year old son in this circumstance? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2016, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854/40 "2016-01-01T19:38:17Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Regardless, isn’t **Qin** ’s argument that Couch’s parents should have raised him better? Doesn’t that apply to anyone who has ever done anything wrong? No, not at all, unless you start from the assumption that everyone who breaks the law did so because they had bad parents. **Qin** is not, as far as I can see, making that argument. Rather, he’s looking at specific acts of bad parenting that seem almost tailored to turn this kid into a dangerously self-centered douchebag. Still probably not good policy for a number of reasons, but “Wouldn’t that include all criminals?” is not one of them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assuming-affluenza-teen-mom-have-fled-the-us-what-penalty-does-mom-get/740854.md?page=3)