Jail for ‘affluenza’ drink-driving teen

A judge has ordered a Texas teenager who used an ‘affluenza’ defence in a fatal drink-driving case to serve nearly two years in jail.

Ethan Couch, appearing in adult court for the first time after he turned 19 on Monday, received 180 days for each of the four deaths he caused in a June 2013 crash.

Couch had always faced the prospect of adult jail time as part of his probation once his case had moved out of the juvenile system. Prosecutors did not ask the judge to declare Couch had violated his juvenile probation by fleeing to Mexico with his mother, or to consider it in his ruling.