Contact: Heather Wedel, MADD, 469-420-4544, heather.wedel@madd.org  

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 18, 2016 /Standard Newswire/ -- ​WHAT: Mothers Against Drunk Driving® (MADD) and the organization's National President, Colleen Sheehey-Church will attend Couch's long-awaited transfer hearing on February 19, to support the victims of the Couch case, and urge the criminal justice system to do everything possible to hold Couch accountable.

"Transferring Couch to adult court is the first step to ensuring Couch's privilege is replaced with prison moving forward," said MADD National President Colleen Sheehey-Church, whose 18-year-old son Dustin was killed by an underage drunk and drugged driver. "Couch killed four people and injured several others and has shown zero remorse. MADD has collected more than 50,000 signatures from people who are demanding Couch's case be transferred to adult court; now even Couch's defense team has accepted the fact that Couch is no child. The defense has stated that they will no longer fight this motion, and I urge them to keep their word tomorrow morning."

WHEN:
Friday, February 19, 2016
8:45a.m. - MADD National President to make statement in front of courthouse
9:30a.m. - Transfer hearing scheduled to begin

WHERE:    
Scott D. Moore Juvenile Justice Center
2701 Kimbo Rd, Fort Worth, TX 76111

WHO:
Colleen Sheehey-Church, MADD National President
Jason Derscheid, MADD North Texas Executive Director

WHY:
After a video of Couch possibly violating probation in December went viral, he fled the country to Mexico where he was later found and returned to the U.S. on January 28. On January 29 Couch faced a detention hearing where the judge ordered to keep him detained in juvenile detention, and was later transferred to adult jail. Tomorrow, February 19, the Tarrant County judge will decide whether or not to move Couch's case from juvenile to adult court.

Last month MADD launched the #FightAffluenza petition demanding Couch's case be moved from juvenile to adult court. The petition went live at madd.org/fightaffluenza and MADD received more than 30,000 signatures within 24 hours. As of today, almost 51,000 signatures have been collected. MADD plans to privately provide the signatures to the prosecution tomorrow morning prior to the hearing to show support.

For those personally impacted by the Couch case, or any one impacted by drunk driving, drugged driving and underage drinking consequences, MADD Victim Services are available at no charge, serving one person every fifteen minutes through local victim advocates and MADD's 24-Hour Victim Helpline, 1-877-MADD-Help.