Sep 13, 2008



johnson@onlineathens.com A Clarke County
Teen faces adult trial in hit, Juvenile Court judge ruled Friday a 15-year-old Athens boy will be prosecuted as an adult for allegedly running over and killing a woman as she walked along Commerce Road in June.
Teen faces adult trial in hit, run
Woman killed in June
By Joe Johnson | joe.johnson@onlineathens.com | Story updated at 11:37 pm on 9/12/2008


A Clarke County Juvenile Court judge ruled Friday a 15-year-old Athens boy will be prosecuted as an adult for allegedly running over and killing a woman as she walked along Commerce Road in June.

Judge James McDonald listened to two days of testimony before he ordered the case of Able Gonzalez-Perez transferred to Clarke County Superior Court.

Juvenile court proceedings are closed to the public, and authorities would not release Gonzalez-Perez's name while his case remained in the juvenile justice system.

Authorities say Gonzalez-Perez was at the wheel of a borrowed pickup truck the night of June 14 when it swerved onto the shoulder and hit 19-year-old Nayasheika Cooper from behind.

The driver sped off and left Cooper to die on the side of the road, according to police.

Cooper was walking with her 3-year-old son from their home on Commerce Road to a nearby convenience store.

Gonzalez-Perez allegedly was drunk at the time.

A Mexican national, he is in the country illegally and worked at a local poultry plant under an assumed identity.

Police investigated for a week before locating the damaged pickup and the teen at his apartment complex on Sunset Drive.

Police charged Gonzalez-Perez as a juvenile with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident, DUI, possession of alcohol by a minor and driving without a license.

His case will now be presented to a Clarke County grand jury.

McDonald heard about 10 hours of testimony during the two-day hearing.

Witnesses who testified included Athens-Clarke police officers, state Department of Juvenile Justice officials and employees of Pilgrim's Pride, the poultry plant where Gonzalez-Perez worked.

The man who loaned the truck to the teen, Mandy Drive resident Alberto Rebollar, did not testify.

Police think Rebollar may have fled to Mexico.

Cooper's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Rebollar, alleging he knew Gonzalez-Perez didn't have a driver's license and had a history of driving while intoxicated.

Although Rebollar could not be found, the company that insured his truck settled with Cooper's family for an undisclosed amount, according to the family's attorney, Kenneth Dious.

The family is pleased with McDonald's decision, Dious said.

"The Coopers are very happy about it because they want to see justice done," he said. "They didn't see how trying (Gonzalez-Perez) as a juvenile would have been justice."

Gonzalez-Perez remains held without bond at the Gainesville Regional Youth Detention Center.

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, September 13, 2008




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