‘Affluenza' Teen's New Mexican Lawyer Hints at Human Rights Issues

The newly appointed Mexican lawyer for the fugitive American "affluenza" teen Ethan Couch told NBC News he took the case to make sure Couch gets due process through the legal system and isn't simply kicked out.

"Maybe the Mexican authorities are going along with a plan to get him back quickly, but they're disguising an extradition as a deportation, and that's not cool," the attorney, Fernando Benitez, told NBC News Monday. "We're not gonna go along with that. Because, of course, human rights are being infringed upon."

Benitez, speaking in his Tijuana law office, said he has yet to meet or speak with Couch, 18, who was arrested with his mother last week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, as prosecutors in Texas investigated whether he had violated his probation for a 2013 drunk-driving car crash that killed four people.

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