The so-called affluenza teen who once claimed his parents’ wealth prevented him from distinguishing between right and wrong was released from a Texas jail Monday after a two-year sentence related to a drunk-driving crash that killed four people.
Ethan Couch, now 20, exited the Tarrant County jail to begin probation, which requires him to wear a GPS ankle monitor and be home by 9 p.m., NBC Dallas Fort Worth reported.
Couch “will now serve the remaining six years of his period of community supervision under the terms and conditions imposed by the court,” his lawyers, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, told ABC News in a statement.
Couch wants to regain his privacy “so he may focus on successfully completing his community supervision and going forward as a law-abiding citizen,” the defense lawyers added.
Couch initially avoided prison for the deadly 2013 crash after a judge accepted a psychologist’s diagnosis of “affluenza” that prevented him from distinguishing right and wrong because of his parents’ wealth. He was sentenced to 10 years’ probation and ordered not consume drugs or alcohol.
But in 2015, after he was caught on video at a party featuring alcohol, apparently violating the requirement, Crouch fled with his mother, Tonya Couch, to a Mexican resort town.
Both were arrested by Mexican authorities days later. Tonya Couch was charged with money laundering and hindering apprehension of her fugitive son. Ethan Couch was sent to jail for violating his probation.
In a twist, Tonya Couch last week was booked into the same jail as her son after she failed a court-ordered drug test. Her trial is scheduled to begin in May.
Couch’s father, Fred Couch, was given a year’s probation in 2016 after a conviction for impersonating a police officer.