FORT WORTH, Texas — Tonya Couch, the Tarrant County woman accused of helping her teenage son elude authorities in Mexico in 2015, is trying again to get a money laundering charge against her dismissed.
Couch's attorneys argued their case before the Second District of Texas Court of Appeals in Fort Worth on Tuesday, according to court documents.
A three-judge panel has not yet made a ruling on the case.
Couch was accused of money laundering and also hindering apprehension of a fugitive for her alleged role in traveling to Mexico with her son, Ethan, in 2015. He allegedly withdrew $30,000 from a bank account before heading on the trip.
Ethan Couch, who killed four people in a drunk driving crash in 2013, was on probation in the case when he went to Mexico, officials have said. He was later sentenced to four 180-day jail stints as a result of violating his probation.
Tonya Couch's case for her role in the Mexico trip has been repeatedly delayed through the years and has not gone to trial. The last update in her case came during a court proceeding in June 2020.
At the same time, her attorneys have appealed her indictments, going back to 2019.
In court filings for her appeal, Couch's attorneys have argued that the charge of money laundering is "factually dubious" and that Couch did not finance or invest funds to constitute money laundering.
"If Ms. Couch had engaged in some conduct that amounted to 'financing' or 'investing' this $30,000, the State would have described that conduct, rather than “withdrawing … to finance” in the latest indictment," her attorneys wrote in their filing.
The Second District of Texas Court of Appeals, which is hearing her appeals, denied her motion last year to have her cases dismissed.