Affluenza Teen Ethan Couch Gets 'Rock Star' Lawyer

It could be many months before Couch's return to US is even a possibility
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 2, 2016 11:49 AM CST
Affluenza Teen Ethan Couch Gets 'Rock Star' Lawyer
Affluenza teen Ethan Couch just got a fancy new lawyer.   (Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor?s office via AP)

The US teen diagnosed with "affluenza" will now be represented by a lawyer described as a "rock star." CBS DFW reports Mexican attorney Fernando Benitez will be representing Ethan Couch as he attempts to avoid deportation back to the US. Benitez is looking into whether Couch's human rights or due process were violated when he was detained in Mexico last week, according to Fox News. He says it could be months before Couch's return to the US is even a possibility. "He hasn't committed a crime in Mexico," Benitez tells WFAA. "Why would Mexico go along with this idea of locating someone and summarily kicking them out of the country so the marshals can grab him across the border? I don't think that's okay."

Benitez says Couch's past—in which his family's wealth allowed him to avoid jail after killing four people while driving drunk—is irrelevant, and that this is "an international law case only," Fox reports. The lawyer says the legal treatment Couch gets in the US "may not be up to Mexican constitutional standards." According to CBS, Benitez denies earlier reports Couch was in possession of a gun while in Mexico. Couch is currently being held in an immigration facility in Mexico City, WFAA reports. His mother was deported last Thursday. Benitez is well known for a previous case in which he got a former US Marine out of jail after the Marine "accidentally" entered Mexico with three guns. (More Ethan Couch stories.)

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