Woman Convicted of Homicide After Drunk Driver Kills Her Child

Enter the Marietta, Georgia, case of 30-year-old Raquel Nelson, which has been bandied about in the comments section the last few days. Last April, Nelson was crossing a street with her three children when her 4-year-old was struck and killed by a car. She was crossing at an intersection, but was apparently not in a designated crosswalk. The driver who killed her had been drinking, taking painkillers, and was blind in one eye. He also has two prior hit-and-run convictions. Nelson and her daughter were also struck and injured. Residents of Nelson’s apartment building have complained to the city about the intersection. The nearest crosswalk is a half mile away.

If we have as little to fear from overly aggressive prosecutors as supporters of Caylee’s Law claim, we could expect the prosecutor in this case to show some discretion and mercy for Nelson, right? Yes, she admits to jaywalking. Yes, she erred, and subjected her kids to unnecessary risk. But she just lost her son. It’s hard to fathom a more punishing, heartbreaking sentence. Moreover, the underlying “crime” here was a misdemeanor, one most of us commit every day. So mercy, right?

Of course not. Nelson was charged with second-degree vehicular homicide. Which is insane. She was convicted last week. When she’s sentenced later this month, she could spend more time in jail than the man who struck and killed her son.

I can’t even imagine how horrible it would be to lose a child. But to be prosecuted for their death for the crime of jaywalking – something countless Americans do every day – when the real culprit, the man who killed your child while drunk and on painkillers, is charged with a lesser crime… I simply can’t fathom it, I can’t wrap my brain around the horror of it all. I really can’t. It makes me angry just thinking about it. The death of a child is sadness enough. Now Nelson’s surviving children will be without a mother as well.

More to the point, this reveals just how broadly laws can be interpreted if prosecutors want to push the case. It would have been simple enough to view what happened, take into account the fact that complaints had been made about the intersection, that the driver was high, and so forth and decide to just let the case go. Or fine the mother for jaywalking. Or put in a crosswalk.

Instead the state spends countless dollars intensifying a tragedy. This isn’t justice. And the intersection remains a danger to the community.

Now we have a push to write new laws, such as Caylee’s Law, which gives prosecutors more power in child death cases. As Balko notes, “Prosecutors don’t need more “tools” in these cases. They have plenty. They need more discretion. And empathy. And a more complete understanding of justice.”

This is the fallback for all failed prosecutions. The right “tools” weren’t in place. More laws are needed. If prosecutors simply had more ways to bend and manipulate the law themselves, surely justice would be done. But that’s not at all true. When a bad guy gets off on a technicality, that’s a problem. But it’s much worse when an innocent person is convicted on a technicality. More often than not, a wrongful conviction just leaves the actual criminal out on the streets. In cases like the Nelson case, it rips up an already shattered family.

 

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