A second Georgia boy who admitted drowning 8-year-old Noah Bush was sentenced to 24 months in a juvenile detention center on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
The 11-year-old boy admitted holding Noah’s head underwater until he drowned in May.
Noah, of Jesup, Georgia, was found drowned in a clay pit on May 15. His mother, Demetrice Bush, reported him missing the day before.
Jesup residents, including Noah’s 2 friends and their parents, conducted an overnight search for Noah.
The next day, Noah’s body was found in the flooded pit.
Under questioning, the 11-year-old admitted he and another boy, 10, led the 8-year-old child down to the clay pits and pushed him in the water.
The boys said Noah was soaking wet, but alive when they last saw him.
Wayne County Sheriff Chuck Moseley originally said Noah’s death was not foul play. And the case was closed.
In July, after the Bush family hired a law firm to investigate Noah’s death, the prosecutor’s office found probable cause to arrest the boys.
The 11-year-old’s mother, Nicole Hardison, was charged with falsifying statements to police.
In July, a Wayne County judge sentenced the 10-year-old boy to 2 years in a detention center.
The prosecutor said 2 years is the maximum sentence the children could receive under the law.
“This isn’t justice. My baby was 8-years-old with a full life ahead of him. And two years is what the State of Georgia calls justice for an entire life that’s lost,” said Noah’s mother, Demetrice.
Her attorneys say they believe the crime was racially motivated because Noah’s killers are white.
This is not the end,” said attorney Mawuli Mel Davis. “The adults who were involved, who helped mislead this family, must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law as well.”
