FORT WORTH (WBAP/KLIF News) – Taxpayers in Tarrant County could be on the hook for Tonya Couch’s transfer from Los Angeles to Fort Worth.
Tarrant County District Judge Wayne Salvant had ordered Couch to pay $3,177.93 in “extradition costs” as a bond condition. He rescinded the restitution order Friday. “I’m surprised he ordered her to pay it in the first place,” said Scott Palmer, a Dallas-area attorney who is not associated with the case. “Ordering extradition costs as a condition of a bond is something that I’ve never seen before, and I don’t think it’s legal. Normally costs associated with someone’s case, whether it be attorneys fees, court costs, witnesses fees, are only assessed after someone has been convicted.”
Couch is charged with hindering the apprehension of a felon after authorities say she fled to Mexico with her son, Ethan, who was on probation. Palmer said prosecutors are going to have a difficult time proving their case against Tonya Couch. “The statute that we are talking about doesn’t contemplate aiding and abetting the hindrance of a person of probation. Case law speaks to helping someone escape the jurisdiction after they have committed a new crime. Her son didn’t commit a new crime. He violated his probation. I have never seen anyone prosecuted for the felony offense of hindering the apprehension of a fugitive based on these circumstances.”
Click to hear WBAP’s Chelsea Wade talk with Palmer:
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