Judge moves 'affluenza' teen's case to adult court

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A judge on Friday sent the Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a fatal drunken-driving wreck to adult court, raising the possibility that he could get jail time for the 2013 crash that killed four people.

During his juvenile trial, a defense expert invoked the term "affluenza" while arguing that Couch's wealthy parents had coddled him into a sense of irresponsibility.

Staying in juvenile court could have set off a series of hearings to determine if Couch violated his existing probation, which potentially could have led to 10 years in adult prison when Couch ages out of the juvenile system at 19.

Couch's blood-alcohol level was three times the legal limit for adult drivers when he rammed a pickup truck into a crowd of people trying to help a stranded motorist on the side of a road near Fort Worth.

The probation sentence handed down by a juvenile court judge outraged prosecutors, who had called for him to face detention time.

Affluenza is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by the American Psychiatric Association, and its invocation during Couch's trial provoked a backlash from some medical experts and families of the dead.