FORT WORTH, Texas – The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck has been transferred to an adult jail.
Records show that 18-year-old Ethan Couch was moved Friday from a juvenile detention center to the Tarrant County jail.
A hearing had been scheduled for Feb. 19 to determine whether his case would move from juvenile to adult court. It wasn't immediately clear if the jail transfer affected his status in the juvenile system.
Couch was given probation for the 2013 wreck that killed four people. During the juvenile trial, a defense expert said Couch's wealthy parents coddled him and invoked the term "affluenza."
Couch was ordered to the juvenile center after being deported from Mexico last month. Authorities believe he and his mother fled as prosecutors investigated whether he violated his probation.
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