Ethan Couch violated his probation by allegedly testing positive for THC on Thursday and is again in custody at the Tarrant County Jail.
Couch, now all of 22, is the son of wealthy, bad parents whose “affluenza” defense struck a nationwide nerve. It also helped him to a light sentence of 10 years probation for intoxication manslaughter, after Couch drove drunk at age 16 and killed four people.
He has violated probation before. Couch served two years in jail after late-2015 video showed him around alcohol at party, seemingly playing beer pong. He was arrested for the violation in Mexico, after fleeing there with his mother.
His parents, now divorced, have also taken their turns with the justice system. Most recently it was Ethan’s dad, Fred Couch, arrested for family violence. A grand jury declined to indict last month.
In a short statement to the Associated Press, Couch’s attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, said their client has “never been positive for the use of any substance before.”
“We cannot make any further statement until we have the opportunity to conduct an investigation to determine if, in fact, Ethan ingested THC and, if so, if it was a voluntary act on his part,” Brown and Wynn said in a statement.
Update: The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office said Friday there’s not enough evidence to file a motion to revoke probation. As of now, all they have is a “weak positive” from a drug patch, and it’s impossible to tell whether it was tripped by legal CBD oil or illegal marijuana, the office said. A spokesperson tells me that the office was informed probation officers will retest Couch using a much more accurate hair follicle test, and if it’s positive for marijuana use, they’ll file to revoke.
The spokesperson couldn’t confirm whether Couch had been released in the meantime. The Star-Telegram is reporting that Couch’s attorneys expected their client released either late Friday or early Monday. As of Friday afternoon, he was no longer showing up in the Tarrant County inmate search.
