If Raquel Nelson had not broken the law by jaywalking, her 4-year-old son who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver would be alive today. So says a Cobb County jury who convicted the grieving mom of homicide by vehicle in the second degree for not crossing busy four-lane Austell Road at the crosswalk on the evening of Oct. 29, 2010.
Reckless conduct, reckless endangerment and careless disregard for the law, noted the state of Georgia. 12 jurors agreed.
But Nelson, 30, is hoping that a judge will show her some compassion when she is sentenced this week.
Nelson’s 4-year-old son was struck by a car and killed. Nelson and her younger daughter suffered minor injuries, and her older daughter was not injured.Jerry L. Guy, the driver who admitted hitting the child when pleading guilty to hit-and-run, served a six-month sentence. He was released in October and will serve the remainder of a five-year sentence on probation.
Guy said he had been drinking “a little” on the day of the accident. But Nelson is facing an even stiffer sentence than the one handed down to her son’s killer. This, despite the fact that the driver fled the scene after running over Nelson’s son and leaving him for dead.
Nelson is facing up to three years in prison when she is sentenced on Tuesday, according to the Atlanta Journal.
That maximum sentence would be “three years away from the two [children] that I have left,” Nelson told Ann Curry, anchor of NBC’s “Today” show.
Nelson said she and her children crossed Austell Road outside a crosswalk because the nearest one was .3 mile away, and she was “trying to hurry up and get home so we wouldn’t have to be in the dark.”
“Even though he has had a history of [hit-and-run incidents], nobody gets up that day and says, ‘I’m going to kill a 4-year-old,’” Nelson said.
“However, to come after me so much harder than they did him is a slap in the face,” she said.
Nelson also pointed out that none of the Cobb County jurors had ever ridden public transportation.
“They’ve never really been in my shoes, so I think there was maybe not a jury of peers,” she said.
Lauryn Hill gives birth to a baby boy, but who’s the daddy?
According to Black Celeb Kids blog, R&B songstress Lauryn Hill, 36, gave birth to a bouncing baby boy on Saturday:
“Mother and baby are fine,” says the source, who adds that Hill and family “had a little scare because the baby came out the womb with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. All is well now and everyone is happy.”
Amy Winehouse – “Tears Dry On Their Own” Remix
“She was in her bedroom after saying she wanted to sleep and when he went to wake her he found she wasn’t breathing. He called the emergency services straight away. He was very shocked. At this stage no one knows how she died. She died alone in bed.”
Over the weekend, Outkast member Big Boi tweeted a link to this unreleased remix of Amy’s “Tears Dry On Their Own” by the Dungeon Family (Rico Wade and ‘em)
Jay Z, Kanye Announce Official ‘Watch The Throne’ Release Date and Tour
As we told you last week, the official release date of the Watch The Thronecollaboration LP by Kanye West and Jay Z might be pushed back. Today it was announced the set will be released on August 8 on iTunes, instead of August 2nd. It now makes sense that the super secret listening party for ‘The Throne’ will be held on August 1st at an undisclosed location.
Of course, yours truly was invited to attend the private listening session by our friends at Def Jam. We were assured that both Hip Hop Kings, Kanye West and Jay Z, would be in attendance (we really want to meet Kanye!).
When we asked (twice) if any other bloggers would be attending the private listening session, we received no response. So it is assumed that other bloggers are invited, and they just don’t want to reveal who. (Not that it matters.)
In addition to the release date, a tour was also announced to support the much-anticipated project, which Def Jam execs are already calling a classic. The 21-city ‘Throne Tour’ kicks off in Detroit, Michigan on September 22, 2011, with a stop in Atlanta on October 9 at the Philips Arena.
Watch The Throne is available for pre-order at Watchthethrone.com.
Click the link for more tour dates
9/22/11 Detroit, MI Palace of Auburn Hills
9/24/11 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
9/25/11 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
9/27-28/11 East Rutherford, NJ Izod Center
9/29/11 Washington DC Verizon Center
10/4/11 Philadelphia, PA Wells Fargo Center
10/6-7/11 Chicago, IL United Center
10/8/11 Minneapolis, MN Target Center
10/10/11 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
10/13/11 Tacoma, WA Tacoma Dome
10/14/11 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
10/16/11 San Jose, CA HP Pavilion
10/17/11 Sacramento, CA Power Balance Pavilion
10/19-20/11 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
10/21/11 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena
10/25/11 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
10/26/11 Houston, TX Toyota Center
10/29/11 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
10/30/11 Greensboro, NC Greensboro Coliseum
11/1/11 Baltimore, MD 1st Mariner Arena
11/3/11 Boston, MA TD Garden
Not So Blind Item…
From NY Post’s Page Six:
Which hip-hop artist drove up to his agent’s office in a $200,000 car, wearing a $50,000 wristwatch, to beg for money because he’s “dead broke” and needed $5,000 for child support? . . .
NY Post’s Blind Item
Bow Wow’s Mom Responds to the
That article was in the NY post & had nothing to do with Bow. Y’all know that I will never sit back & let Bow not take care of his daughter. I will never sit back & allow my son not to take care of his responsibility & if he couldn’t I would work my butt [off] to make sure she was [straight]
