Mom of ‘affluenza’ teen won’t fight extradition from Calif.
LOS ANGELES — The mother of a Texas teenager derided for his "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken-driving case on Tuesday waived her right to fight extradition to Texas during a brief court hearing in California.
Wearing dark jail clothes and looking downcast, Tonya Couch, 48, was told she will be held in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and that the state of Texas has two weeks to collect her.
She spoke only in one-word replies to questions posed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Sergio Tapia.
Couch's fugitive son, Ethan Couch, 18, is fighting extradition to the United States from Mexico.
The pair fled to Mexico after officials in Tarrant County, Texas, began an investigation into whether the teenager violated the probation deal that kept him out of prison after he killed four people with his pickup truck in 2013.
Couch and his mother, Tonya, were found in Mexico Dec. 28 after going missing a few weeks earlier. The two entered the country as tourists but stayed longer than they were allowed to.
Tonya Couch, who was wanted on a charge of hindering apprehension, was flown to Los Angeles from Mexico last week and has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles.
Her son was sentenced to 10 years of drink- and drug-free probation, which critics saw as leniency because of his family's wealth. During his trial, a psychologist testified on his behalf that he suffered from "affluenza," meaning he was so spoiled by riches that he could not tell right from wrong.
