Road death mother spared jail

A US woman who was arrested after her four-year-old son was struck and killed by a van as they were walking across a busy street was spared a prison sentence following an outcry over her prosecution.

Raquel Nelson, 30, was convicted by a jury earlier this month of vehicular homicide and other charges for not using a crossing point and could have got three years behind bars — far more than the six months the hit-and-run driver served.

Instead, without explanation, Judge Kathryn Tanksley gave the suburban Atlanta, Georgia mother a year’s probation.