Daily Archives: July 25, 2011

The devastated mother of a 4-year-old boy who was killed in a drunken hit-and-run accident is facing more jail time than her son’s killer because she was jaywalking during the accident.

Raquel Nelson, 30, could get up to three years behind bars after being convicted on July 12 of second-degree vehicular homicide, reckless conduct, and failure to use a crosswalk during the incident in April 2010.

Nelson and her three children had gotten off a bus in Marietta, Ga., after a shopping trip. They were hurrying across a four-lane highway when drunken ex-con Jerry Guy plowed into the family with his van, killing 4-year-old A.J.

Nelson and another daughter were injured, while another daughter was unhurt.

Guy, who already had two other hit-and-run convictions, pleaded guilty last year and has already served six months in the slammer.

He was released on Oct. 29 and he’s on probation for five years.
Nelson will be sentenced on Tuesday.

“I’ve had to accept that he’s gotten six months,” Nelson said Monday in an emotional interview on NBC’s “Today” show. “There’s nothing I can do about it.”

“I’ve had to forgive that portion of it. However, I think to come after me so much harder than they did him, it’s a slap in the face. This will never end for me,” she said.