‘Affluenza’ mom Tonya Couch will have to wear ankle monitor — if she makes bail

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

‘Affluenza’ mom Tonya Couch will have to wear ankle monitor — if she makes bail
Reuters
08 Jan 2016 at 20:37 ET

The mother of the Texas teenager ridiculed for his “affluenza” defense in the killing of four people while he was driving drunk, did not enter a plea at her arraignment in a Fort Worth court on Friday on a charge of helping her son flee to Mexico after he was suspected of violating probation.

Tonya Couch, 48, could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the charge, a third-degree felony, of aiding her son, Ethan, 18, after he was suspected of violating a deal that kept him out of prison.

The court on Monday is expected to consider a motion by her lawyers to reduce the $1 million bond that she is being held on. Her lawyers want $15,000.

The judge said if she is released on bond, she would be required to surrender her passport and wear a monitor on her ankle. Couch, wearing a yellow jail jump suit, told the court she did not have a passport because it was not returned to her when she was deported from Mexico.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2016/01/affluenza-mom-tonya-couch-will-have-to-wear-ankle-monitor-if-she-makes-bail/

[MADem]

1. I think they oughta chain her to a radiator in her house, with enough chain to make it to the

crapper and the fridge!

I wouldn't put it past her to go on the run again with a stolen passport.

How rich is that awful woman?

[840high]

2. Rich. Agree with you.

[rpannier]

3. She ought to stay in jail until she surrenders her passport

That the government of Mexico has it and has not returned it is not the fault of the court

[MADem]

8. If they can chain her to the radiator, we don't have to pay the cost of housing her! nt

[forest444]

4. Sounds like a plan.

Same goes for the judge that turned 'affluenza' into a bona-fide judicial precedent, Jean Boyd.

I lived in the Deep South for several years, and I can tell you that complicity from public officials is the vehicle that keeps the good ole boy network and its myriad corrupt tributaries going. And it'll only get worse and even more brazen as long as Washington looks the other way.

[totodeinhere]

9. If she is a bona fide flight risk then she should not be granted bail at all.

But if she is granted bail chaining her up to a radiator would be inhumane and inexcusable. That's not how we treat people accused of committing crimes who have not been convicted yet.

I can only assume you were serious because I saw no sarcasm tag.

[A Simple Game]

13. How would I as a relatively poor person be treated if I was in her situation?

You're right that's not how we treat charged but not convicted people in this country. While not convicted I would get to stay in a 6' by 8' cell. That is exactly how we treat presumed innocent people in this country.

Give me a choice and I will pick the chain in my own home.

[MADem]

17. You think a concrete bed in a small cell with a crapper on display to passing

guards is "more humane?" A thin blanket, a scratchy institutional uniform, cold floors, showers only once or twice a week, the crappiest food known to mankind--fats and cardboard, in essence-- is "more humane?"

I'd take a comfortable bed, a color tv, a refrigerator I can raid when I please, a telephone where I can call out to friends or for pizza, and a crapper in my own house and a shower I can access whenever I feel like it infinitely preferable to the conditions in the BEST jail in the country, even if I had to deal with a chain around my ankle to prevent me from hopping in my car and fleeing AGAIN.

Your definition of "inhumane" is weird as hell.

If the choice was a) Stay in jail; b) Be released to your house, chained to a radiator I'd choose B. Hands down. Of course, I wouldn't help a multi-murderer escape to Mexico in the first place, so I probably wouldn't ever have to face that kind of choice.

[totodeinhere]

22. Like it or not we have a system under which those who can make bail get to go out

on bail whereas those who cannot have to remain in jail. I know it's not fair but being poor is never fair. I'm not sure what alternative we can have to the current system. Certainly chaining people up to radiators in their houses is not the answer.

[MADem]

24. Are you being deliberately obstreperous, or do you not employ much in the way of a sense of

irony on an average day?

If you care so much about "the poor" my tongue-in-cheek proposal should have resonated with you. Instead, I get the

smh!

Clearly, the point I am making here is to deny a WEALTHY person who can easily "make bail" their liberty, while at the same time, not BURDENING the POOR taxpayers for the cost of her maintenance, save the price of a chain to a non-existent TX radiator.




Have a nice day!

[totodeinhere]

25. Of so now it's tongue-in-cheek.

As I originally said since I didn't see a sarcasm tag I had to take it at face value.

[MADem]

26. Oh kay, then. nt

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. It's Texas. What's a radiator?

Maybe chain her to the radiator of a truck. Let her son drive.

[MADem]

18. HAHAHAHA!!!!! That's right--it gets hot down there.

They're everywhere in places where it snows....they hiss, too, when it gets cold!!

[bluestateguy]

16. I believe Ethan should get the death penalty

But when I said this on DU the post got hidden.

[MADem]

19. I think he should have been tried as an adult and

been awarded 25 to life.

[bluestateguy]

20. I respect your opinion

I am just baffled that when I expressed mine, my post got hidden.

[MADem]

21. Death penalty support isn't popular around here.

In DU2, there used to be a greater tolerance for differing opinions, so long as people hewed to a general support of the Democratic Party Platform. Nowadays, you can get a post hidden for anything--or nothing.

It's not a good situation here nowadays. We couldn't even go back to a moderated environment, because the moderators would likely show bias towards their favorite candidate. It's unfortunate.

I got a post hidden for absolutely NO reason recently so I can relate.

[sakabatou]

5. What is with the family?

First, her son get s away with vehicular homicide (iirc) and now his mom tried to flee the country.

[treestar]

12. the rules just don't apply to them and shouldn't

in their minds. They just don't understand why they should have to follow rules made by others (society).

I know a family like this. Somewhat different but they think they are full of life and passionate and that their fights are natural and that if someone calls police, it's all very unfair and all the consequences are quite wrong and they complain to high heaven about them. How unfair it is that they have to go to court, or pay a fine! The fight it over and society has not right to complain it is inconvenienced. I call it the criminal mind set. Some people just have it. They may obey the law to a point but where they find it to their interests not too, they expect understanding from the rest of us, the police and the courts.

[olddots]

6. she should wear a bag over her head

[Sunlei]

7. bail will be reduced for a a third-degree felony charge.

[treestar]

11. I bet she will find that really unstylish, inconvenient and unfair

that's how lawbreakers think. They always have their reasons for what they did that society should understand.

[NCjack]

14. I'm OK with a $1 million bail bond. If she flees, that's a 2-fer for USA. /nt

[iandhr]

15. Since she fled the country with a fugitive she shouldn't get bail at all.

[Skittles]

23. the best thing she could do for her son is stay away from him