Ethan Couch, the Texas teenager who became known nationally as the “affluenza” teen, was tried in court as an adult for the first time on Wednesday, April 13 — and subsequently sentenced to nearly two years in jail.
Couch, who turned 19 earlier this week, was hit with four consecutive 180-day jail terms for each of the four victims he killed while driving drunk as a 16-year-old back in June 2013.
“You’re not getting out of jail today,” State District Judge Wayne Salvant told Couch Wednesday, per NBCNews.com. The teen appeared in court with long hair and a beard, wearing a red jumpsuit.
In response, Couch’s defense attorneys asked Salvant for a lesser jail sentence, to which the judge demurred.
“Nothing I do is in stone, so I might reconsider,” Salvant said. The case will reconvene in two weeks.
Couch was first dubbed the “affluenza” teen after his defense team claimed he was suffering from a condition known as “affluenza” during his initial trial. They argued that because Couch’s affluent parents had coddled him from an early age, they had prevented him from learning that there are consequences to his actions.
In December, Couch made headlines after he and his mother fled to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in direct violation of his initial sentence of 10 years probation. They were later captured after authorities tracked the pair down following Couch’s phone call to place an order at Domino’s Pizza.
