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Raquel Nelson, the Atlanta-area mother convicted of vehicular homicide for the death of her son while they were crossing the street outside a crosswalk, appeared on the Today show this morning.
Nelson’s 4-year-old son, A.J., died after being hit by a driver, Jerry Guy, who later admitted to having consumed alcohol and painkillers. Guy fled the scene, but was later apprehended. He ended up serving six months on the hit-and-run charge, but vehicular homicide and other charges were dropped. You can read my earlier post about Nelson’s story here.
Nelson, in contrast, could face up to three years in jail. She has two other children, ages 9 and 3. Her sentencing is set for tomorrow, July 26.
Here’s what she said to the Today show’s Ann Curry about the possible sentence that faces her tomorrow and about the jury that convicted her:
It’s three years away from the two that I have left …
I don’t think that they could relate to what I was going through … All of the jurors stated they’ve never ridden public transportation and they’ve never really been in my shoes, so I think there’s maybe not a jury of peers.
Her aunt had this to say:
We are just hoping as a family that [the judge] is compassionate.
There’s a petition at Change.org asking for the judge to exercise leniency in the case, and for the Cobb County Transportation Department to install a crosswalk at the spot where Raquel’s A.J. was killed. As of the writing of this post, nearly 58,000 people had signed it.
