Police in Texas are seeking to re-arrest ‘affluenza’ teen murderer Ethan Couch (below) who apparently has gone AWOL on his parole officer.
Couch, 19, made headlines two years ago when he was given a slap on the wrist for multiple counts of vehicular homicide, committed while he was intoxicated.
His lawyer convinced a court that the notoriously reckless juvenile suffered from “affluenza” -- a pathology caused by his parents’ vast wealth and excessive doting that “impairs” his ability to know right from wrong.
The blatantly bogus mental-health disorder, and the lenient sentencing he received as a result, highlights the disparity between how rich and poor offenders are treated in America’s criminal justice system.
According to this week’s arrest warrant for Ethan Couch, both he and his mother, with whom he lives, have unlawfully left jurisdiction together and their whereabouts are now unknown.
The probation department learned the pair had secretly fled in early December, after Couch missed at least one scheduled meeting with his parole officer and was photographed drinking in public.
Those acts constitute serious violations of Couch’s home-arrest status, and could see him finally jailed for the manslaughter of four in 2013, when he was once again driving under the influence of alcohol.
