ACC should go around to all the houses on that street. My friend was attacked several years ago probably by the same dog. The owners could care less. This dog has already had his "one free bite" and should be put down - along with its owners!!

She is an addict and has school aged children in this town. My prayers go out to her children who will always remember that their mother chose pills over them.
Sadly, that is what happens. They have a fine father who has managed to make things as right as can possibly be for them - but still - the pill always wins...

I am glad to see that there was evidence recovered. These POS's should face the music. But I still don't get the fact that both the father of the child and the half sister of the child are blaming the mother and think she had something to do with it.
Who would say the night after their toddler was murdered - I wonder when the life insurance will pay? I still think after all is said and done it will come out that this mother knew the thugs and had some kind of "vested interest" in them. Not to say that they won't get the maximum - but it will mitigate the sentence.

Can anyone say "Susan Smith" If I were on the jury, I would want to see some proof. She gets grazed along the ear and her leg??

And, the next day, she has him cremated and gives his clothes and diapers away??

I am just waiting to see the evidence come in on this one. Something is just not right here. It is horrendous. In her interview she has put on red lipstick. I would have forgotten how to breathe if this happened to my child, much less put on lipstick for the camera...

@Ugles: Sadly, I know that...
All of the commentators that advocate "a few days in the slammer with no bail" simply do not understand the devastation of addiction. A friend's son who overdosed a few years ago was arrested 10 times in 3 months for heroin possession and the parents never bailed him out of the Fulton County Jail. He kept using and abusing anyway. One day, whatever was in the needle overwhelmed his body and took his life. He too, was a young man, who had a good education, all of the advantages of the middle class, etc etc.

He goes by the name of "Bear" Broun - or Collins Broun but I think his legal name (according to news reports) is Paul Collins Broun.

@rcbljc: Yes, I was referring to the son, Paul Collins Broun, Class of 2009, Athens Academy. He did not get any special treatment was my point.

@retiredandhappy: I am so stunned at most of these posts calling both the sons of Paul Broun and John Barrow, "rich boys" who will get out of whatever bad situations they are in. WAKE UP PEOPLE. These boys are addicts and substance abusers. Paul Broun Jr. was expelled from Athens Academy with a month to go in his senior year. There is no evidence that James Barrow has been able to wing his way out of anything. You don't see ankle monitors on poor folks with their third, fourth or fifth arrest on substance abuse. If anything these kids have gotten what has been coming to them but what they need is months and months of treatment, mental health counseling and whatever it is that "cures" addiction. Talk to us middle class folks whose sons don't make the paper when they steal from us, steal from others, overdose and sometimes don't come back. There is no special treatment...

She has been reinstated at Athens Academy. All you private school bashers who ranted about private schools not understanding military people blah blah blah can realize that the school did the right thing at the inception and the conclusion of this very sad story.

@BehindEnemyLines: I cannot understand that she is blamed for "allowing the situation to reach the point that it did." Also, her credibility is not the one damaged. Ms. Boyd's reputation and credibility are beyond reproach. She did what she had to do to get a drunk and high perpetrator out of her house even if that perp is called a "son." I doubt her son will ever be around to mend this relationship. He will either be drunk or dead. An earlier article stated that he has been hospitalized twice for alcohol poisoning SINCE THE INCIDENT. The one I feel the most sorry for is the new 5 year old stepchild. I pray that she is not in danger with this crazed beast of a man.

@BehindEnemyLines: I cannot understand that she is blamed for "allowing the situation to reach the point that it did." Also, her credibility is not the one damaged. Ms. Boyd's reputation and credibility are beyond reproach. She did what she had to do to get a drunk and high perpetrator out of her house even if that perp is called a "son." I doubt her son will ever be around to mend this relationship. He will either be drunk or dead. An earlier article stated that he has been hospitalized twice for alcohol poisoning SINCE THE INCIDENT. The one I feel the most sorry for is the new 5 year old stepchild. I pray that she is not in danger with this crazed beast of a man.

@grove600: This is moronic. It is no more illegal for Jamie Hood to be on a cell phone while driving than it is for Judge Haggard. He has not been given any special dispensation. Wishing for talking and driving to be illegal is not the same as being actually illegal.

Folks are you even reading beyond the fact that Will Heaton lives in Cartersville?
The attorney, (who I know) is from Cartersville. Calls for the father to resign as principal are ridiculous. Was there such a call for Paul Broun to resign after his son got caught for pills for the third time? Was there a call for principal, Clark to resign from Barnett Shoals when his daughter mowed down Kurt Clouspy for no good reason? Is there a clamoring for John Barrow to resign because his son got caught with drugs?
It sounds like that this perpetrator has a greater connection to Cartersville than to Athens. The Cartersville attorney offered to have the suspect turn himself in six hours after the fact. I know that LE tends to manipulate the facts of who is cooperating or who is not according to their way of orchestrating the investigation - not a bad thing, I might add - but nevertheless puts innocent people in a bad light - namely the parents.
Let this scenario play out in the justice system. It is mere speculation that Principal Heaton has tampered with or covered up information. As a parent of a loser/substance abuser, I know what it feels like to know that your child has done something, but you are not in the loop at all. Someone in Cartersville arranged for the suspect to "lawyer up" as 98% of us would have done and now the judicial process will take place.

@whurlitzer: I still think that scenario throws the parents under the proverbial bus when there is absolutely NO EVIDENCE that they aided in any cover-up. It doesn't matter what the conditions were in which Will Heaton wanted to turn himself in - they could have waited to charge him - and still he could have turned himself in. There is nothing more that the Heatons could have done with their son - apparently he is not in their home - he is in Cartersville - and again - I repeat - when you have a 22 year old with substance problems, you can't just put them in their car seat and drive them down to the police station. I know from where I speak that they are going down the road of hell with this and no, they are not wealthy people that can "buy their way out of this" as some have suggested.
Prayers to the Bowman family - and I hope the true perpetrator, young Will Heaton, pays for this through the justice system.

Although I have a bit of a legal background - I don't know the answer to this and am hoping some of you legal eagles can help me...
What is the distinction in Georgia at pointing a loaded gun at someone as opposed to an unloaded gun? Either scenario, if used in self-defense is justified, so I thought and either scenario, if used improperly is aggravated assault.
Officer Kovacs made much of the fact that a bullet was in the chamber "ready to fire" - and I'm wondering if there is some legal precedent to cover a loaded gun vs. an unloaded one.

@environmentalist: What the heck does the fact that she works for a private school have to do with this? And, by the way, does the son get a pass for being a combat veteran? He was an addict long before he was in the military - I can assure you of that.

@environmentalist: What the heck does the fact that she works for a private school have to do with this? And, by the way, does the son get a pass for being a combat veteran? He was an addict long before he was in the military - I can assure you of that.

The child did not see the incident!! Ms. Boyd probably moved the argument into a back room because she did not want the child to witness the brutality of her new stepfather. Officer Kovacs must be young - he seems to dwell on the part that Mrs. Boyd disassociated herself with the fact that this beast was her flesh and blood. LOOK AT HIS TRACK RECORD. He has been hospitalized TWICE with alcohol poisoning SINCE THE INCIDENT. If I had to fight an addicted, violent man 20 years my junior, I would be dead - notwithstanding the fact that I call the man my son. So very sad - hope Mrs. Boyd gets this crap dismissed and can go back to work where she is loved and missed by all of the students.

@gooddogmom: For what?? I know the father and the stepmother and they are fine, fine people who work hard and try to do the best for their children. As many of you know on this message board I am the mother of a 23 year old addict and many a time, I have prayed that he has not gotten beyond the wheel of a vehicle. Had he done what this 22 year did, I would be at a loss to try and explain anything except for the fact that I was the legal owner of the vehicle.
These young men who drink and drug find ways to beat the drug screens - how in the world are the parents supposed to "put him on restriction." In this case, there is much ado about the fact that the father is a school principal - so what?
The boy apparently calls Cartersville his home and even if he lived in the same house as his father, there is absolutely NO way that the parents are responsible for the reprehensible thing that this young man did. I say prosecute this 22 year old to the fullest extent of the law for what HE did as an adult.

I admire the father beyond all words for what he did. I wish more parents were like this.

While this 22 year old needs to be dealt with in the criminal justice system,
I have a soft spot for the parents of this boy. All of these comments such as,
"If they know he did it, they should turn him in..." How many of us with children who have alcohol or substance abuse issues can say for sure who was where and at what time? There is no indication that the parents are "hiding" him - they are just not transporting him to law enforcement.
The fact that the father is a school principal makes him no different than the Mama in the housing project who screams to the camera, "You've got the wrong person..."
While we can speculate on this kid and what he did and how he should be punished, I think we should reserve judgement on the parents. I can assure you the police know where the perpetrator is - they are trying to build a case - as they should - and since the parents were not witnesses, nothing they could say would help. Just my opinion - as someone who has never been able to vouch for their son... - either positively or negatively.

What gets me is that the officer was quoted as saying something like, "the gun was loaded as the bullet was in the chamber..." I hardly think an unloaded gun would be effective. And one other thing - and I am just speculating of course, but many people questioned why the argument went into the back room of the house. I think because the article mentioned that the son's stepchild was with them that Ms. Boyd, in her wisdom, took the argument away from the child.
Just speculating, of course...

@georgiamom: What action did Athens Academy take? My sister's child is in the high school there and she had not heard of anything that the school has done. She IS an award winning teacher and I agree, I hope she is exonerated quickly.

She is a wonderful mother who has put up with crap from both of her boys for many years. They have robbed her blind because of their "substance abuse" issues. I don't blame her for having a loaded gun in her house. So sad that she was the one arrested. Yes, the son should be thanked for his service but that doesn't give him an excuse to threaten his mother.
As for her drinking, it was her home and she had every right to have an alcoholic beverage in her own home. It sounds like the son was the one with the alcohol problem and was so threatening that the mom had to pull a gun.
Having a child myself with substance abuse problems, it doesn't matter if they have served ten tours in the military - when they become combative, it's Hell to pay.

Oh Lord, now start the comments about "All he needed was a good butt-whipping." Seems like the demon has already gotten into him....