Prosecutors In Last-Ditch Effort To Jail ‘Affluenza’ Teen

Pressing charges of 'intoxication assault'

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Prosecutors are trying anew to put a Texas teenager behind bars after his now-famous “affluenza” defense succeeded in getting him out of prison time for the drunk-driving car accident that killed four people and injured two.

Ethan Couch, 16, was sentenced to 10 years probation and rehab after he acknowledged he was drunk while driving the car that slammed into a stalled car on the side of the road. Four people are dead and a teen is paralyzed after the accident. But his lawyers argued that Couch suffered from “affluenza” — that he grew up so rich he didn’t understand the consequences of his actions.

 

After the public outrage over the “affluenza” defense, Tarrant County prosecutors are trying to press “intoxication assault” charges against Couch, the Star-Telegram reports. The maximum sentence for that charge is three years in a juvenile detention facility, but prosecutors think it’s better than nothing.

“Every case deserves a verdict,” a prosecutor wrote in an email to the newspaper.

Experts are doubtful the new effort will work, since it’s unusual for the sentencing on lesser charges to be harsher than on the primary charge.

[Star-Telegram]