Single mother faces prison for letting her 14 year old babysit

[Celerity]

4. Criminal proceedings have now been ongoing for two years, as her attorney, David DeLugas, argues the

charge is unconstitutional and seeks to get it dismissed. He cites a Georgia Supreme Court ruling in 1997 that ruled that charging a mom for a normal parenting decision is unconstitutional. In that case, Hall v. State, a mom left her 11-year-old babysitting her younger sibling who died in a tragic accident.

The court ruled at the time that the state's reckless conduct statute is susceptible to 'arbitrary enforcement,' with the majority ruling that the state failed to 'contend that the [reckless conduct statute] is violated by the many parents who on a daily basis, often due to necessity, leave an older child to care for their younger siblings while the parents work or attend to other business.'

Moreover, DeLugas - who is working pro-bono for the Henderson family - argues that Georgia's own child protective guidelines say children can babysit at the age of 13 with a parent's permission.

'They claim that the same thing happened a year earlier,' DeLugas told FOX News. 'So you're saying a year earlier, she left her children in charge of her then 13-year-old, almost 14-year-old, and somehow two rights make a wrong. 'It wasn't wrong then, and it's not wrong now.' He has now filed a motion to dismiss the case, Reason reports.

what a waste of taxpayer money

Henderson said her son, Thaddeus, left the house when he saw a friend outside. The friend lived in the house at the right

(why aren't the parents of THAT child also charged, IF he/she (I assume the friend was close in age) was out alone too? I would think they were alone, as if a teen or up was there, they would have not let the child leave his house without checking to see if it was ok.