Sentencing for an 11-year-old charged in the killing of Noah Bush, the 8-year-old boy who was found dead in southeast Georgia in an excavated area called a borrow pit, was delayed until late August, officials said Saturday afternoon.
Bush was found dead in the pit, which was filled with water, in Jesup on May 16 after being reported missing the previous evening, family attorneys with the Davis Bozeman Law Firm confirmed. When Bush’s body was recovered, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office said there was no foul play and that the child had wandered into the pit and drowned, the firm added.
By July 10, the sheriff’s office had arrested a 10-year-old and an 11-year-old. Three days later, Natalie Hardison, the mother of the older child, was arrested on charges of giving false statements.
“Our family is grateful that at least one of the adults involved is being prosecuted. Until everyone involved, in any way, is held accountable under the law we will not stop fighting for justice,” Demetrice Bush, the victim’s mother, previously said.
The older child was charged with simple battery, involuntary manslaughter, concealing the death of another and criminal trespass. Attorney Mawuli Davis confirmed Saturday that a sentencing hearing was pushed back to Aug. 22.
According to Davis, the lead detective in the case testified that the 11-year-old was seen in a video beating another child.
“The lead detective’s testified that the 11-year-old, who is white, is depicted in a video prior to Noah’s death, where he can be seen beating an African American child and calling him the n-word repeatedly. We can’t rule out that race may have played a factor in these juvenile’s unthinkable acts the day Noah died,” Davis said.
The younger child was charged with concealing the death of another and criminal trespass. Davis said a judge ordered the 10-year-old to be confined for two years.
The autopsy report listed homicide by drowning as the cause and manner of death, the law firm added. The borrow pit had to be drained in order to recover Bush’s body.
— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.
About the Author
