A Lawrenceville man, who already pleaded guilty to sex crimes against children in Alabama, has been convicted on similar charges in Georgia.
Adrian DeShawn Burney, 38, was recently sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting a young girl over a four-year period, according to a news release from the office of Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds. Burney was convicted on two counts of child molestation in Cobb Superior Court March 7.
Prosecutors say Burney lived with the victim and started molesting her when she was 8 years old. The girl disclosed the abuse in 2005, according to a news release, while watching an episode of "Oprah" about child molestation.
Burney was recently paroled in Alabama after pleading guilty to raping two young girls there, according to the release.
At the sentencing, Cobb State Court Judge Henry Thompson, who was sitting as a Superior Court Judge for this case, told Burney what he'd done to those young girls would stay with them for the rest of their lives.
"I'm not trying to be insulting, but there is something terribly wrong with you," the judge told Burney. "A normal person has compassion for children and a protective instinct, but you have nothing. It's almost like you have a hole in your soul where a normal person keeps that protective instinct for children. I don't know if there's any cure for it, but at this point you are no longer the main concern. The main concern is the protection of society from you."
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