14 DAY TRIAL // The parents of the drunk teen, who killed four people and injured 3 more in a horrible car crash and got away with it in court, also have their own sins. The millionaires have been accused of multiple offenses, which they paid big sums of money to have hidden.
Ethan Couch, now known as the “affluenza” kid, was only sentenced to ten years of probation after his lawyers argued he was too rich to understand what consequences are and that his parents spoiled him so much that he cannot be fully responsible for his actions.
“The teen never learned to say that you're sorry if you hurt someone. If you hurt someone, you sent him money,” Gerry Miller, the psychologist who testified in court on behalf of Ethan's defense said, according to Daily Mail.
They got at least one thing right, his parents' involvement in shaping Ethan's character. The whole family was used to paying everything off, believing their wealth can actually make everything, good or bad, go away.
The Couch family has been accused of a variety of criminal charges, starting with theft, assault, evading arrest and not to mention the long sheet of traffic offenses. All of the cases involving the wealthy family were dismissed in time, going back as far as 1989, notes Mail Online.
Paying substantial restitutions was the way the Couch family solved their problems, either personal matters or law-related issues. The boy's father, Fred, officially has 22 offenses on his record, for criminal misdemeanor and traffic violations, and has been arrested for theft and evading arrest.
Mrs. Tonya Couch has a shorter records sheet but still, she isn't a saint either, as the 16-year-old's mother was accused with reckless driving, speeding, inadequate securing procedures for minor in the car and intentionally driving a motor vehicle off the road.
The couple has been slammed for their horrible parenting skills and blamed for their son's behavior. Even the defense lawyer accused the two of inducing that horrendous character onto their child that is now unable to assume responsibility for anything he does.
Well, it seems that their wealth cannot actually fix everything, but it can make things worse and paying off people to get their son on the clear may not have been the best way of dealing with his out-of-control habits.