Dallas (WBAP/KLIF News) – Mothers Against Drunk Driving President Colleen Sheehey-Church says it’s outrageous that attorneys for Ethan Couch are trying to get his conviction overturned.
Couch’s legal team filed a motion to have all rulings against him thrown out on the grounds that his case should’ve been handled in civil court, not criminal court. That’s because, according to the motion, Couch was 16 at the time of his drunk driving crash, and juvenile cases are handled by civil courts.
Sheehey-Church disagrees with the motion for a number of reasons. She says for one thing, it’s unfair to the so-called “affluenza” teen’s victims.
“You have four families who have been through a grieving process,” said Sheehey-Church. “It’s like taking a Band-Aid and ripping it right off again after you’ve just healed for a little bit.”
She says Couch has committed a number of criminal acts, among them the crash that killed four people and injured nine more.
“This young man was a criminal the night he killed those four people. He was a criminal when he failed to show up for a meeting with his probation officer. He was a criminal when he fled the country.”
Couch had been given a suspended sentence, 10 years’ probation and ordered to undergo treatment. But when a video surfaced showing him at a party where alcohol was being consumed, he and his mother ran off to Mexico. His two-year sentence was reinstated when he was extradited back to Tarrant County in January.
MADD has launched an online petition drive, with the hashtag, #stillacriminal.
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