Jaywalking Cobb mom's 2nd trial postponed until November

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By Marcus K. Garner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A Marietta mom convicted after her son was killed in a hit-and-run accident won't begin her unprecedented second trial Tuesday as scheduled.

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Raquel Nelson, 30, was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges after she and her three children disembarked from a bus in April last year, and her son, A.J., ran from her grasp and was struck and killed by a vehicle.

Hyosub Shin, hshin@ajc.com Raquel Nelson, 30, was convicted of vehicular homicide and other charges after she and her three children disembarked from a bus in April last year, and her son, A.J., ran from her grasp and was struck and killed by a vehicle.

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The trial is unusual because Raquel Nelson was offered the do-over without her attorney ever filing a motion to request one, and without any apparent legal or judicial shortcomings that typically trigger such a request.

But that defense attorney is embroiled in a murder trial in Savannah, and would not be able to provide his pro bono services this week. Jury selection for the trial is set to begin at 9 a.m. Nov. 28, in courtroom 3A of the Cobb County State Court.

Nelson’s 4-year-old, A.J. Newman, was hit as he crossed Austell Road on a Saturday night in April 2010, after returning home on the bus with his mother and two young sisters.

While the driver, hit-and-run repeat offender Jerry Lee Guy, pleaded guilty to get a six-month jail sentence, police charged the pedestrian mother with vehicular homicide, reckless conduct and crossing outside a crosswalk [roughly half a mile away], threatening jail time of up to three years.

And when a Cobb County jury found Nelson guilty, State Court Judge Katherine Tanksley made the extraordinary offer of a choice between probation for a year or a new trial.

Of course, Nelson has supporters and detractors.

Cobb County Solicitor General Barry Morgan is the only one who can drop the charges against her outright.

But assistant solicitor, Jim Newkirk argued vehemently against a recent pretrial motion to dismiss the case, accusing the mother of negligence in keeping A.J. from pulling from her grasp and running into the street.

“It’s very foreseeable that the child could’ve been in danger [while crossing the street] if she doesn’t hold his hand,” Newkirk said in a motions hearing earlier this month.

And LaBron Newman, Nelson’s ex-husband and A.J.’s father, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she shouldn’t be allowed to escape prosecution for the little boy’s death.

“To me, it’s like she’s slapping the Cobb County court in the face,” Newman said in a phone interview from his home in Bedford Heights, Ohio.” A year’s time probation and 40 hours of community service and she thinks that is too much? Since she’s been on TV everywhere, she feels like she can’t be touched.”

That brings to mind the tremendous following Nelson has generated as her story bubbled up to the international media.

With interviews on ABC’s Good Morning America and news outlets CNN, Reuters and the BBC covering her initial trial and sentencing, Nelson became the face of public transit users and perpetual pedestrians whom a sprawling suburbia has left behind.

From former prosecutors and those close to her and her children to pedestrian advocates and civil rights organizations such as the NAACP and the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Nelson’s has enjoyed a groundswell of support.

Kevin Tobler, 46, a Cobb County resident following Nelson’s case said he was upset about the entire situation, but happy she was given a second chance.

“You have to use a little common sense,” Tobler said in July about the ruling to retry. “But I am going to ask the prosecution why they wasted tax payer dollars to try this woman.”

Former DeKalb County District Attorney J. Tom Morgan said the case shouldn’t be tried at all.

“She’s been punished enough,” Morgan said. “Sending her to jail doesn’t help society.”