'Affluenza' Teen's Mom Did Not Break Any Texas Laws, Lawyer Says
Tonya Couch is now in custody in Los Angeles.
-- The mother of the teen wanted for a probation violation who allegedly avoided law enforcement by going to Mexico did not break any Texas laws, despite being charged in the case, her attorneys said.
"While the public may not like what she did, may not agree with what she did, or may have strong feelings against what she did, make no mistake — Tonya did not violate any law of the State of Texas and she is eager to have her day in court," Tonya Couch's attorneys Stephanie K. Patten and Steve Gordon said in a statement released to ABC News.
Tonya Couch was picked up in Mexico alongside her son Ethan on Monday and she was deported to California on Wednesday. Texas' Tarrant County District Attorney has charged her with hindering apprehension of a felon and set bail at $1 million.
Her attorneys confirmed that Couch, 48, is being held in Los Angeles and is not planning to fight the expected extradition process that would bring her to Tarrant County, Texas.
"She looks forward to being returned to Texas as quickly as possible," the attorneys' statement reads.
As for her 18-year-old son, he is being held at a migrant detention center in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City which is technically not a jail or prison, according to a Mexican immigration official. He is expected to stay there while his deportation appeal is considered.
The teen was being sought after missing a mandated probation check-in with Texas authorities earlier this month. During his 2013 trial on drunken-driving charges -- a crash that left four dead -- a defense witness testified that Ethan was afflicted with so-called "affluenza,” meaning his irresponsible behavior and lifestyle were a product of his affluent upbringing and "profoundly dysfunctional" parents.