Ethan Couch is headed to jail.
He should have been there all along. He got a light sentence: probation. For what? Oh, for killing four people in a motor vehicle accident in Fort Worth while driving a pickup truck. He was roaring drunk, at least three times over the minimum legal limit.
But then came the astonishing defense that the judge apparently swallowed. Couch’s lawyer said the young man suffered from “affluenza,” having been raised in a wealthy family, by parents who failed to teach him right from wrong.
Then the kid went on probation, only to violate the terms of his sentence. He was caught drinking. He fled the country, ending up in Mexico — with the assistance of his mother.
It’s good that he was caught. Couch, who was 16 at the time of his crime, has just turned 19. Texas law doesn’t allow much of a jail sentence because the young man was a juvenile when he committed the original crime.
But at least he’s going to serve nearly two years in the slammer.
I’m glad to see that the young man will get what was due at the beginning.
Now, how about throwing the book at his mother — Tonya Couch — for aiding and abetting his escape from justice?
