Prosecutors Try Again to Put 'Affluenza' DUI Teen in Jail

It's a long shot, but the Texas teen who escaped jail time after a deadly DUI crash on a controversial "affluenza" defense might have to spend time in jail after all. Prosecutors are raising what amounts to a legal technicality: While Ethan Couch was sentenced to probation over the four people he killed, the verdict made no mention of the two teens who were seriously injured in the crash, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Prosecutors want the juvenile court judge to put Couch in jail for those two, one of whom was paralyzed in the crash.

“During his recent trial, the 16-year-old admitted his guilt in four cases of intoxication manslaughter and two cases of intoxication assault,” explains the Tarrant County district attorney. “There has been no verdict formally entered in the two intoxication assault cases. Every case deserves a verdict." But as one attorney not involved in the case points out, it would be bizarre for the judge to issue a jail sentence on the assault charges after issuing just a probation sentence for the deaths. Meanwhile, lawsuits brought against the Couch family by those injured in the crash are piling up, notes NBC Fort Worth. (More affluenza stories.)