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Ethan Couch was 16 years old when, as a drunk driver, he struck and killed four pedestrians. He dodged prison after a suggestion at trial that his irresponsibility was a result of his entitled upbringing — something dubbed it "affluenza".
He violated his probation and ended up in a low-security jail, but now he's free from there too and community groups are angry.
Couch, 20, was reportedly released from the Tarrant County jail near Dallas, Texas.
The group Mothers Against Drunk Driving issued a statement calling Couch's short stint in jail "a grave injustice to the victims and their families who have been dealt life sentences because of one person's devastating decision to drink and drive".
Irresponsibility blamed on family's wealth
Couch was found to have a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers after the crash in June 2013. He subsequently was charged with manslaughter.
A psychologist at trial blamed the teen's irresponsibility on his family's wealth, dubbing it "affluenza". A juvenile court sentenced him to 10 years of probation.
That probation was revoked in 2016 after he attended a party where alcohol was served then fled to Mexico with his mother to avoid punishment.
Couch's attorneys issued a statement saying he had always been sorry for what he did.
"From the beginning, Ethan has admitted his conduct, accepted responsibility for his actions, and felt true remorse for the terrible consequences of those actions," they said.
He will serve the remaining six years of his community supervision under the terms imposed by the court.
Those terms include wearing a tracking device, sticking to a 9:00pm curfew and taking regular drug tests, court documents show.
Couch, who turns 21 next week, is prohibited from drinking alcohol while he is on probation.
Vehicle hit crowd helping disabled driver
Couch lost control of his family's ute in 2013 after he and his friends had played beer pong and drank beer stolen from a Wal-Mart.
He veered into a crowd of people helping the driver of a disabled vehicle on the side of the road. Authorities later estimated that he was speeding.
The crash fatally injured the stranded motorist, a youth minister who stopped to help her and a mother and daughter who came out of their nearby home.
Couch's mother, Tonya Couch, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of hindering apprehension of a felon and money laundering arising from when she fled to Mexico with her son in 2015.
Fred Couch, Ethan's father, was sentenced in December 2016 to a year's probation for falsely identifying himself as a peace officer.
He has not commented publicly on his son's release.
AP
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, courts-and-trials, crime, united-states
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