FORT WORTH, Texas — A Tarrant County mother, who reportedly "invested" $30,000 for her son to travel to Mexico while he was on probation for a fatal drunken driving crash that killed four people, is appealing a money laundering charge filed against her.
Tonya Couch's son, Ethan, pleaded guilty in June 2014 to driving drunk and his involvement in causing a crash that killed four people. Ethan Couch was sentenced to 10 years' probation, and after undergoing rehab, the search was on for him and his mother after he missed a probation meeting in 2015. The pair were later caught in Mexico and Tonya Couch is accused of withdrawing $30,000 from a bank account for the illegal trip.
"'Withdrawing' funds is not, in any ordinary meaning of the words, 'financing' or 'investing' them," Couch's attorneys argued in their appeal of the money laundering charge before the 2nd District of Texas Court of Appeals in Fort Worth on Tuesday.
"If Ms. Couch had engaged in some conduct that amounted to 'financing' or 'investing' this $30,000, the State would have described that conduct, rather than 'withdrawing ... to finance' in the latest indictment," Couch's attorneys said.
Ethan Couch was released from jail in April 2018 after completing a two-year sentence for violating the terms of his probation, but his mother has been in and out of the court system since 2018 after she too was accused of violating the terms of her release.
The case drew national attention after a psychologist described Ethan Couch as a spoiled teen who grew up in a rich and dysfunctional family and said he was a victim of "affluenza."
The appeals court's three-judge panel has not yet ruled on Tonya Couch's request to dismiss her indictment on the money laundering charge. Her case has been delayed several times over the years and has not gone to trial due to the appeals.
