Nine months' jail for woman who wed 15-year-old

A 37-year-old woman accused of child molestation after marrying a 15-year-old friend of one of her sons pleaded guilty to statutory rape and was sentenced to nine months in jail in Gainesville, Georgia.

Lisa Lynnette Clark was also forbidden by the judge from having contact with her young spouse – the alleged father of her month-old son – until at least his 17th birthday.

Clark will get credit for the two months she has already been in jail. After her release she will be on probation until 2010.

Clark was arrested in November on charges of statutory rape, child molestation and enticing a minor.

A few days before her arrest she married the boy under a 1962 Georgia law that allows children of any age to get married if the bride-to-be is pregnant. Clark gave birth to a boy on February 11.

The wedding prompted Georgia lawmakers to revisit the state’s marriage laws, and last month the Georgia House approved a proposal that would bar teenagers under 16 years old from marrying without juvenile court permission.

The boy’s grandmother, Judy Hayles, has said that her grandson will seek a divorce and undergo intense counselling.

After Clark’s arrest, the boy bolted from a detention centre in Georgia only to be found later in Cleveland, Ohio. Clark allegedly contacted him while he was missing.