Teen Ordered to Hand Over 'Affluenza' Records

Judge sides with passenger injured by Ethan Couch
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted May 31, 2014 6:31 AM CDT
Teen Ordered to Hand Over 'Affluenza' Records
In this December 2013 image taken from a video by KDFW-FOX 4, Ethan Couch is seen during his court hearing in Fort Worth, Texas.   (AP Photo/KDFW-FOX 4, File)

The psychologist who inadvertently made the term "affluenza" a term to be ridiculed isn't out of the national spotlight just yet. A judge has sided with the family of a teen injured in the crash caused by Ethan Couch, ordering Couch's attorneys to turn over all their records pertaining to psychologist Dick Miller, reports WFAA. Miller used the term in court during last year's trial to suggest that Couch had been so spoiled by his rich family that he never developed a sense of right and wrong. It apparently worked, because Couch, 16 at the time of the DUI crash in Texas, got a sentence of only probation and rehab despite killing four people.

While the Couches have settled or are in the process of doing so with most of the victims, the family of injured passenger Lucas McConnell is going to trial. Their attorneys successfully argued that the psychologist's records should be fair game, presumably to try to poke holes in the theory. Couch's legal team, who call it a breach of privacy, is expected to appeal before the June 27 deadline to comply, reports AP. Miller himself said in an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper after the trial that he regretted using the term. (More affluenza stories.)

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