Texas authorities move 'affluenza' teen to adult jail

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck was transferred to an adult jail on Friday.

Records from the Tarrant County jail show that 18-year-old Ethan Couch was moved to the facility from a juvenile detention center in Fort Worth where he had been held since he was deported from Mexico last month. Authorities believe he and his mother fled in December, as Texas prosecutors investigated whether he had violated terms his probation in the 2013 wreck.

A hearing had been scheduled for Feb. 19 to determine whether Couch's case would be moved from juvenile court to the adult system. It wasn't immediately clear if Friday's jail transfer affected his status in the juvenile system.

Couch's attorneys, Scott Brown and Reagan Wynn, didn't immediately return phone calls seeking comment on the status of the case.

The then-16-year-old Couch had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he swerved off a road near Fort Worth and hit a disabled car, killing its driver and three people helping her. Several other people were injured.

Couch was sentenced only to probation for the accident in juvenile court. During the sentencing phase in the trial, a defense expert invoked the term "affluenza" when arguing that Couch's wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility.