Deportation delayed as Couch wins amparo

If the judge considering the appeal decides there was a mistake made in the process of detaining Couch, he could be released, and authorities would have to re-arrest him, Lopez said.

The stiffest punishment Ethan Couch can receive for fleeing the country while on probation is several months in jail, Wilson said Tuesday. His defense attorneys claimed the teen, then 16, suffered from "affluenza" to explain irresponsible behavior as the result of his privileged upbringing.

(Mexico's Jalisco state prosecutor's office via AP)FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) - The Texas teenager who used an "affluenza" defense in a deadly drunken-driving wreck grew up in a wealthy yet unstable household where his parents underwent an acrimonious divorce, which included accusations that his mother was addicted to pain pills and his father was abusive. She is scheduled to appear in Tarrant County court on January 14.

A guard stands watch from atop a building inside the Agujas immigration detention center, where USA fugitive Ethan Couch is being detained in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015.

Meanwhile, Tonya Couch arrived back on United States soil early on Thursday, touching down at Los Angeles International Airport looking haggard in a navy-blue sun dress.

During Ethan Couch's trial in juvenile courtroom over the crash in 2013, a psychologist testified on his behalf that he was stricken with "affluenza", which means that he was so spoiled by his wealth that he couldn't inform the distinction between proper and fallacious.

After two weeks on the lam, Couch and his mother Tonya were both taken into custody.

It's unlikely the pair had gone to Mexico for a vacation, said the sheriff, Anderson. She is accused of aiding her son to flee to Puerto Vallarta, said Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson on Thursday. She looked down, with her hands shackled behind her, as two US Marshals escorted her to an unmarked auto.

An employee of a Mexican resort where Ethan and Tonya Couch hid from justice this month tells the Dallas Morning News that while the pair were staying there, the "affluenza" teen went to a strip club, spent more money than he had, and had his mother bail him out.

Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said he was informed about 8 a.m. Wednesday that the Couches weren't returning to Texas as planned.

Los Angles prosecutors say that won't happen until at least next week.

Tonya Couch was deported on Wednesday.

She will remain jailed in Los Angeles until officers can take her to Texas.

Ethan Couch is still being held in a Mexican lockup after filing a writ of amparo, which sends the case to immigration court.

A Mexican immigration official confirmed that Ethan is being held at a migrant detention center in the Iztapalapa borough of Mexico City which is technically not a jail or prison.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he or she wasn't authorized to be quoted by name.

That official tells AP reporter Mark Stevenson that a judge has agreed to hear arguments on Couch's appeal.

An official in Mexico says a teen fugitive from Texas known for using an "affluenza" defense has been granted a three-day delay in deportation.

He believes Mexican authorities will pursue the gun investigation.

The timeline for Ethan's return to the States is less clear, however, since it is entirely dependent on the schedule in the Mexican court that will be hearing his case.

TEHRAN, Iran - President Hassan Rouhani on Thursday ordered the accelerated production of missiles in response to possible new US sanctions.

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