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Mother convicted of vehicular homicide after son’s hit-and-run death asks for court to drop retrial

April 17th, 2012

A Marietta woman who was convicted of vehicular homicide after her 4-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver went before the Georgia Court of Appeals Tuesday to try and get her case dismissed.

After being convicted last year by a Cobb County Jury, Raquel Nelson was given the choice of a second trial or accepting one year of probation and 40 hours of community service. Nelson opted for a retrial to try and clear her name. Nelson’s Attorney Steve Sadow told judges for the Georgia Court of Appeals the case should be thrown out because there was not sufficient evidence in the original trial.

“This is a tragic accident. That’s the only way it can be explained. It should not be prosecuted as a crime. That just doubled the grief, and it was unnecessary. It served no valid legal or judicial principal.”

And Nelson says she hopes the court will drop the case so she can heal.

“The waiting is very hard, but hopefully it will end.”

Meanwhile Lawyers with the Cobb County Solicitor General’s office, which originally prosecuted Nelson, declined to argue before the court. Instead the office submitted a brief. In the brief, prosecutors said they have no doubt that evidence in the case was sufficient to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Attorneys say the jury’s verdict should stand, because the jury convicted Nelson on several charges including crossing a roadway elsewhere than a crosswalk and homicide by a vehicle in the second degree.

In April of 2010, Nelson and her three children crossed to a median on busy Austell road after getting off at a bus stop across from her apartment complex. Nelson says her son A.J. ran into the roadway and she ran after him. Nelson, A.J. and one of her daughters were struck by a hit and run driver. A.J. was killed as a result of injuries from the accident. The Georgia Court of Appeals will decide whether the case will move forward between now and November. If the court decides the retrial should proceed, the case will be tried again before a Cobb County state judge.