(Image Source: New York Daily News)

BY: MYCHAELA BRUNER

ANCHOR: ANA COMPAIN-ROMERO

A Georgia Mother could face up to 3 years in jail after her son was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver.  The tragedy happened last year.

“Nelson and her three children got off a Marietta, Georgia bus on April 10th 2010 and were crossing a four-lane highway to her apartment when they were struck by a man who had two prior hit-and-run convictions. Four-year old A.J. Nelson died. The driver, Jerry Guy, served six months in prison and is now on probation." (WOAI)

Then, authorities went after Nelson, saying she was also to blame -- for not going over a half mile out of her way to the nearest crosswalk. Nelson tells NBC...

“I've had, like I said, to accept that he's gotten six months. There's nothing I can do about it. And even though he has had a history of it, I know nobody gets up that day and says I’m going to kill a 4-year-old. So I've had to forgive that portion of it. However, I think to come after me so much harder than they did him, I say it's a slap in the face. This will never end for me." 

Nelson was convicted of reckless conduct, improperly crossing a roadway and second-degree homicide by vehicle.  She could be sentenced to as much as 36 months -- six times the sentence Guy served. A blogger from D.C. Streets Blog finds this ridiculous.

“Bus service runs once an hour. There is no crosswalk to connect a bus stop with an apartment building it serves -- nor any crosswalk for three blocks. A convicted hit-and-run driver who is half-blind and has alcohol and pain-killers in his system is considered less of a threat to the public than a woman who rides the bus and walks with her kids." 

Nelson was convicted by a jury that had never relied on public transportation -- just one juror admitted to ever riding a public bus. A blogger for the Huffington Post thinks the city deserves at least part of the blame for giving pedestrians few options.

“... there is something to be said for designing cities with an eye toward how people actually behave, not how urban planners wish they would. Putting a bus stop in the middle of a busy highway, three-tenths of a mile away from the nearest crosswalk -- while zoning for apartments and businesses on the other side of the same street -- is poor planning." 

Nelson was convicted last week. She will be sentenced on July 26.

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