'Affluenza teen' Ethan Couch released from jail after almost two years

Couch killed four people in a 2013 drunk driving crash

Ethan Couch is released from the Tarrant County Corrections Department (Bob Booth/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/TNS via Getty Images)

The Texas man who avoided a lengthy prison sentence after psychologists claimed he suffered from “affluenza” has been released from jail.

Ethan Couch left prison on Monday after serving slightly less than two years for a revoked probation. The release reignited a national debate that began at Couch’s sentencing, when he avoided a possible 20-year prison term based in part on a psychologist's argument that his family’s wealth had altered his judgement.

In 2013, at the age of 16, Couch hit and killed four pedestrians in a drunk driving crash. Two of the passengers in his pickup truck were injured; one was paralysed.

Prosecutors at the time argued he should serve the maximum of 20 years in prison for four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault. Defence attorneys pushed for rehabilitation instead.

A psychologist called by the defence suggested Couch suffered from “affluenza,” or a lack of personal responsibility spurred by his affluent upbringing.

“He never learned that sometimes you don’t get your way,” psychologist Gary Miller said at the trial. “He had the cars and he had the money. He had freedoms that no young man would be able to handle.”

A juvenile court judge sentenced Couch to 10 years probation – a punishment activist groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) dismissed as overly lenient. But he was sent to prison less than three years later, after violating his probation by attending a party where alcohol was served.

Couch’s mother, Tonya Couch, allegedly helped him flee to Mexico after the parole violation, in an attempt to avoid prison. The two were later found and sent back to the US. Ms Couch has been charged with with money laundering and hindering apprehension of a felon.

Couch will remain on probation after his release, wearing an ankle monitor, using an alcohol detecting patch, and abiding by a 9 pm curfew, according to Mike Simonds of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office. He will also have a video interlock ignition device installed in his car.

MADD released a statement on Couch’s release, calling his two-year prison sentence a “grave injustice to the victims and their families”.

“The 720 days Ethan Couch served for his crimes shows that drunk driving homicides still aren’t treated as the violent crimes that they are,” the group said.

Breanna Mitchell, Hollie Boyles, Shelby Boyles, and Briann Jennings were all killed when Couch struck them with his pickup truck after a house party in 2013. Ms Mitchell’s car had broken down on the side of the road; Mr Jennings and the Boyles had stopped to assist her.

Couch has a blood alcohol level of of 0.24 – three times the legal limit – hours after the crash, according to prosecutors.