Community Corner

Raquel Nelson Appeals for Dismissal

The Marietta mom is scheduled for a second trial in her son's jaywalking death in Cobb County.

Raquel Nelson is making another bid to end her vehicular homicide case without a second trial.

Nelson, the Marietta mom of her 4-year-old son in April 2010, is asking the Georgia Court of Appeals to review Judge Kathryn Tanksley’s last month, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Tanksley did against Nelson during pretrial motions from defense attorney Steven Sadow, who took on the case after the first trial.

Find out what's happening in South Cobbwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Tanksley oversaw Nelson’s first trial, at which of all three misdemeanor charges.

The judge spared the mother of two surviving girls any jail time and , then gave her the unusual option to .

Find out what's happening in South Cobbwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Steven Sadow

Jury selection in the until the appeal put the process on hold.

If Nelson goes to trial, she will risk being sentenced to two years in jail, one for each of the two charges against her, but she will be back before a judge who refused to put her behind bars the first time.

Also, the prosecution said during sentencing in July that it had no desire to jail Nelson, only to establish her legal responsibility for son A.J. when he was struck by a van on dark Austell Road.

Nelson and her three children tried to cross the road directly from a bus stop to their apartment complex instead of walking at least a quarter-mile either way to a crosswalk.

The driver who hit the boy and drove away, Jerry Guy, served six months in jail last year after pleading guilty.

The remote possibility that Nelson could have been sentenced to three years in jail, six times as much as Guy served, contributed to , and outrage over her case.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here