FORT WORTH — Tonya Couch wants to return to Texas. The mother of "affluenza" fugitive Ethan Couch told a judge in Los Angeles Tuesday that she does not want to fight extradition.
"Are you the Tonya Couch that is wanted by the State of Texas?" the judge asked.
Tonya Couch stood behind a glass and wood partition, with her attorney standing closer to the judge.
"Do you understand that you are giving up your right to resist extradition to the State of Texas?" he asked.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
Outside the courthouse, Tonya Couch's attorney, Stephanie Patten, then raised questions about whether she can receive a fair trial on a charge of hindering apprehension of Ethan Couch, who last month violated his probation on four intoxication manslaughter convictions in 2013 by fleeing to Mexico.
"Our biggest concern is that this has become less about the law, and whether [Tonya Couch] broke the law, and more about retribution," Patten said. "They hate Tonya Couch. They hate Ethan Couch. They want retribution. They want vengeance."
She said Tonya Couch is in a cinder block isolation cell in Los Angeles, not mixing with other inmates for her own safety. In court on Tuesday, Couch was wearing the same clothes as when she arrested in Mexico in late December.
Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he may send deputies to retrieve Couch by the end of this week.
"Her two main concerns remain about her son Ethan, and how he is doing in Mexico... and her dog, Virgil," Stephanie Patten said.
The dog went missing after Mexican authorities picked up Tonya and Ethan Couch last week. There has been no word on the pet's whereabouts.
