tv Nightline ABC December 16, 2015 11:37pm-12:06am CST
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[ cheers and applause ] this is "nightline." tonight, the a influenza teen. the rich texas teenager infamous for killing four people in a drunk driving accident then by passing jail time with his so-called a influenza defense. authorities fear he's on the rub run, issuing a warrant for his arrest after he skipped out on his probation officer. tonight concerns his millionaire mother may be involved. wait, wait, it's so tarntd tantalizing my close. "star wars: the force a wakens." and the legendary actress that brought han solo and princess leia to life. harrison ford how he broke his leg on set. carrie fisher setting thehe record straight about that gold bikini that made her famous in "return of the yesterday yesterday i." first the "nightline 5."
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his probation officer.r. here's abc's matt gutman. >> four, five kids laying in ditch and the the street when. >> reporter: if the crime was outrageous when. >> oh lord, yes, there's another child in thth ditch, oh oh my god. >> reporter: so said the pundits was the defense. >> affluenza. >> a flunds? influenza affluenza? >> too rich for jail. >> the lawyer told the judge he was soich he didn't know right from wrong. >> reporter: it seemed to work. facing up to 20 years in prison for killing four in a drunk car crash, then 16-year-old ethan couch, 10 years prorotion and me in rehab. now almost 2 two years later he's on the run failing to check in with his probation officer earlier this month, police police have issued the equivalentntf a warrant for his arrest. >> if he's still here we'll get him. my fear is he's long gone. >> reporter: his disappearance coming after this undated video surfaced.
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night off peer onbeer beer pong? >> once the video came out they felt a probation violation could be coming. >> reporter: the video retweeted by hannah hard why to the da's office writing, your boy e ean couch violating probation, i got more if you want. >> to be a violation of probation they'd they'd need evidence he was actually drinking. not just at a party where other people were inking. >> reporter: it all started on the night of june 15th, 2013. his blood alcohol alcohol lel 3 times the legal limit when he got behind the wheel of his father's souped-up red pickup truck after a night of partying. gun to'ing to 70 miles an hour he loss control d swerved 92 a ditch, plowing 92 a group of people, bodods scattered hundreds of feet. 15-year-old luke cat cass mcconnell survived. >> do you remember the sound of metal crunching, of glass waelg breaking? >> glass breaking. tires screeching. e car we were in got hit, we
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got shot across the road, we nailed the tree. the back window was completely shattered. a lot of that glass was in the back of our heads. >> reporter: lucas' father kevin approximatelied pulled up to the crash seen moments later. >> it was 88 chaos. there were people lying a round injured, hurt, dead. people yelling, screaming, help me. >> reporter: the teen behind the behind the wheel wau walked a way from that mangled truck. >> once ethan couch, the story came together quickly. >> reporter: it wasn't yous just alcohol? his sell systst. >> there were traces of. thc, valium, and other drugs which according to our tox on thes were bad enough on their own but you combine those with alcohol, just a recipe for dissass fer. >> reporter: richard alpert, assistant district attorney who came on the case a day after the crash. he says he charged ethan with everything he could, including four counts of intoxication manslaughter.
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little rich kid to do w boy big boy time. >> we were hoping for and asked for 20 years. >> reporter: it was detererned he'd be tried as a juvenile. when ethan couch loped 92 court with his self why swagger from facebook had been replaced with this will be abbie jennings, daughter o o brine jennings, couldn't believe it. >> they made him look really innocent for the trial. that's not who he was. >> reporter: it turned out there would be no trial. ethan couch admitted guilt and the proceedings moved d dectly to a sentencing hearing. and now we come to the key moment in this case. while recommending treatment over incarceration, dr. dick fill mimier, prominent psychologist hired by the powerhouse defense team, dropped a curious term. >> affluenza. >>eporter: which bows off goes off like a bomb. affluenza. >> he talked about the fact that the reason for this crime was he was a child of privilege. and his parents didn't say no to him. >> when you heard it, what did
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u think? >> i smiled. im, it was ridiculous. >> reporter: and that may have been a factor in the judge sentencing ethan to 10 years probation and time in a rehab facility. four dead, 9 injured, not a single day behind bars. five of the families involved in the fatal crash brought civil lawsuits. the kuchs settled those suits without admitting a a wrongdoing but not before depositions were taken in 1 has case. and for the first time the boy and his parents at the center of this story were forced to speak. >> tell us your name, please, sir. >> ethan couch. >> reporter: it fell to lawyers to extract the ploor peculiar family history that shaped young ethan's wife life. . >> taken valium, hydrocodone, marijuana, cocaine, xanax, viyvanse, tried ecstasy once. pretty sure sure that was it.
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>> reporter: they say his parents let ethan pass forward that a adult hood, a howing him toll in this 4,000 square foot ranch house, these pictures from the website zillo show a bet wet bar in the den, zipping pool out back. letting him drive a car from the time he was 13 years old. >> you understood if he was at any time he was u uer 16 he was never to be driving by himself? >> yes. >> nevertheless, you a allowed that behavior to happen, correct? >> yes. >> i kept asking because i wanted to. eventually they started let letting me drive. just to like the corner store. by myself. >> reporter: just four months fore the fatal crash, 15-year-old ethan was stopped by police at 1 o'clock a.m. under the influence and relieving himself in a parking lot. >> his shoerth s sws mother shows up,, she knew he was out there.
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the alcohol and vodka that was in the truck? >> no. i should have but i did not. >> reporter: these attorneys say ethan couch was v vlating as mama as five laws that night. as a result of that incident, before the deadly crash, ethan was required to complete an alcohol awareness course and 8 hours of community service within 90 days. guess what. >> we didn't do the community service. >> you understood, did you not, that he was likely to continue the drinking and driving if there weren't consequences? if. >> i should have known that, yes. i really didn't think that that would happen again. >> reporter: ethan is questioned about the night of that deadly ash. >> do you remember pulling out of the driveway? >> not really. i love have like this picture in my head of just turning out of the driveway but that's it. >> what's the next thing you recall? >> waking up handcuffed to the hospital bed. >> reporter: after all of this,
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ethan's father actually distances himself from the affluenza phrase. >> i don'tven know thatible a i believe affluenza is real. >> reporter: ethan's parents branded in the media as the worse parents ever. >> i don't think we're profoundly dysfunctional. >> did you teach ethan that wealth bought privilege? >> i don't believe i ever intentionally tried to teach him that. >> do you believe do you recall ever disciplining ethan for anything? >> sometimes i would take little things a way from him or we would just discuss the problems. >> when's the has time you recall disciplining ethan for anything? >> i don't remember. >> reporter: tononht authorities say they fear ethan couch is on the run. and there's speculation that his mother may have helped. >> certainly she could face criminal charges for doing that. it is against the lala clearly. >> reporter: authorities fear he may have left the country. >> with the kind of money and resources and a bit those people have? they could be somewhere we're
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>> reporter: for "nightline," i'm matt gutman in lance. up next, david muir sits down with han solo and princess leia. the epic reunion 3 decades in the making. later, "train wreck" star amy schumer dishes about how she's hoping together her real-life love life back on track.n: i'll never remember all the projects, presentations, or neetings i gave up my nights for. (music's drums intensify) but days like this, i'll never forget. get out there, in the 2016 ford escape. be unstoppable. this is my fight song take back my life song g (music) with my moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, the possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. thinking about what to avoid,
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let "world news tonight" anchor david muir in on the secrets to their iconic chemistry. turns out there's a little behind the seens competition as well. >> reporter: the even opening of "star wars: the force a wakens" almost here. >> chew chew why, we're home. >> action! >> reporter: director janet jackson janet jackson abrams and the cass on day 1. >> we are here on day one. of "star wars episode 7." how incredible that is? >> reporter: janet jackson janet jackson abrams has said he loves what creator george lucas set out to do from the very smart start. >> that these were filming about the every is man, every is woman, absolute nobody hot were decembered. >> thank you. yeah. i think that's true. that is salt of the earth type people are put in difficult circumstances. >> it's true. all of it.
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>> reporter: you've seen this thing. >> oh this thing? this big thing, truss me. it's good. >> what do you think? >> the parts where i'm in it are distressing. but everything but everything else is really great. >> when they hear the art parts with lie yeah are distressing when. >> i gotot older and anyone told me. and then they put me on a screen really, really big. and they put me i hi-def. >> reporter: the epic reunion fans have been waiaing more thaha 30 yearsrs for. harrison ford and carrie fisher together again in "star wars." >> you spend spent so much time with harrison ford over the years and in this move why that you ran out of things to s s except that you're still endlessly impressed by how svelte he still is. >> that is so a nowing. men have 1 fat sell and women have 2 to that 1. harrisonooks reallyood and he works at it too. he also was born with d a dna jackpot. >> reporter: we told him what she said. >> moseley interested in how
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harrison hasas stayed in such good shape all these years. >> thank you, carrie. >> reporter: carrie fisher setting the record straight all those years later on that controversial gold bikini in "return of the jedi." i never hated the bikini. i was surprised when it happened because i'd been covered in white for most of the movies. if you're going to water wear a slave outfit, make sure a giant slug forces you to do it. and make sure that you're 23. >> reporter: in fact, she was just 19 in the first "star wars." >> i had a very round face and they asked me to lose, tap, 10 pound pounds. they thought it was all in my face. >> at 19 when they tell you that you have to lose wait for a film when. >> you want to hide. you think they're going to say, oh, you didn'tt lose it. bring in jodie foster! >> which didn't happen. >> no, but i seriously was when you know. nervous. >> the irony there, thoughgh that is princess leia reallll inspired young girls right from the start.
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>> but not to be pretty. >> but she was really pretty. >> no, no when yes, and yes know that. >> reporter: she knowswshat now. harrison ford's own return didn't go quite as expected. >> fa pass to forward 30 years ar or monther more, you make it to the set, they nearly take you out. >> second day, yeah. yeah. >> when the door comes down. >> waelsed the first whole day. >> reporter: he broke his leg, pinned to the floor. >> were you on the set when the door came down on him? >> you could feel a disturbrbce in the whenning some had had bad happened. i was in think my trailer. you literally looked up and thought,ing some bad happened. then it sort of moves through when it was in the air. it was really bad. >> reporter: then anonoer accident. haired to son ford's crash in his vintage manner. the fuel system failed. >> then you break the other leg. >> i break the other @eg. it's been a tough year for my family. >> reporter: but he's flying again. >> has anyone in the fall family said, maybe we should just stick to the falcon?
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>> reporter: he recovered by summer to join carrie and the companies at cammic-con. >> you walk out, the audience is wild. there was actually a moment when harrison looked a little overwhelmed, moved. >> doubt it. he's per never been moved. >> han solo or harrison? >> i don't know. >> was that a reminder of the wonder of this film from the very beginning? >> yeah, it was a remine minder of sort of power of the audience. and i was glat glad to be you know, still a round. >> reporter: it was the tension between han solo and princess leia that fueled it all here in "empire strikes back." >> a trade i was going to leave without giving you a good is by dis. >> i'd just as soon disdisa would be why. >> i can arrange that. >> you said, i'd rather play happen han solo? >> yes, that's true. that's the business character. i'm glad the female can yell at the men.
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>> you're driver than i thought. >> from "star wars" to "empire strikes back" and one of the most famous seens of all. >> i love you. >> i know. >> the famous moment where you say i love you. >> i know. >> that'sshat he says. >> i know. >> would he say that today? >> yeah he would >> not wiser? still the wise guy? >> he is still a wise guy. but what we've all been through a lot, we're trying together to get it togethth. >> do you get together? >> i can't tell you that. present you. >> you might need this. >> i think i can handle myself. >> that's why i'm giving to it you. >> life experience in 30 years. >> there's history which has influence on his character. the notes of ironic cynicism, the certain wobbly moral system, is still there. >> reporter: a generation later the children who once watched in awe are now part of it. after actor john boyega bringing his storm trooper for harrison to sign.
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>> hesigned his a aion figure! >> do they have any what what they're walking 92? >> how could you know? you have no idea. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm david muir in new york. >> oh, "star wars: the force a wakens" comes from our parent company disney. the hotly anticipated film opens in theaters everywhered from. amy schumer candidly sharing very specialntimate requirement for what she wants in a man.
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we all know amy schumer is the comedy goddess, stealinin the spotlight, snatching awards, hosting shows, rubbing elbows with famous friends. when it comes to men it's funny when she manages to make our own barbara walters lol. >> reporter: 2015 was the year of amy schumer. from ruling the box box office with "train wreck." >> what happened, did did church let out early?y? >> reporter: to starring in the show she created for herself on comedy central, "inside amy schumer." and earning an emmy. >> thanks, everybody, who has helped me, the girl who gave me the sort of smoke why eye. >> reporter: it's it's no wonder she made barbara walters' list of the 10 most fascinating people of 2015. >> amy. what a year this has been foror you. can you tell me, you should exexcuse the expression, the climax? >> i would never want to excuse
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that i guess press. expression. i got to hose "snl" which is a huge dream of mine. >> i am so happy to be here. i'm hosing "saturday night live"! >> what's the business thing about being famous, what's the worst? >> the business thing best thing is that you can get a table at a restaurant that doesn't take reservations. >> i a agree. >> and the worse thing is everything else. >> reporter: despite the fame she still has time for her friends. like superstar pal jennifer lawrence. >> i love love my friends. especially my girlfriends. we're such huge support systems for each other. >> reporter: when it comes to picking a romantic partner, let's just say amy knows exactly what she wants. >> when you could pick the things about a man that arere the most important to you what would they be? >> symmetrical testicles, can i say that? >> you just did. >> i really like a guy who's
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