Grandma: Child Groom to Seek A Divorce

Before the hearing, the boy's grandmother, Judy Hayles, said he would seek a divorce.

Lisa Lynnette Clark was arrested in November. A few days earlier, she married the boy under a 1962 law that set the marrying age in Georgia at 16 but made an exception in the case of pregnancy.

She gave birth to a baby boy earlier this month. Her lawyer said the baby is being cared for by "someone else" he would not identify.

Clark did not speak during the hearing, but her lawyer, Daniel Sammons, said she was feeling anguish, depression and loss.

Sammons asked the judge if the child groom could be given the baby's white hospital bracelet as a memento. The judge denied the request, saying it violated a court order forbidding contact between Clark and the boy.

The defense attorney added that he plans to argue the couple's marriage is a shield that protects his client from the charges.

"The law gave him permission to marry. It emancipated him," Sammons said. "Under the law, he's an adult."

Hayles said Clark's not guilty plea was "fantastic." She had expected Clark to accept a plea bargain, which she said would have sent the woman to prison for 10 months but would have allowed her a two-month reprieve to spend time with her newborn baby.

"That (would be) two more months I've got to fight her," Hayles said. "She's a predator and she wants her prey. And that prey is my grandson. She'll go to any length to get him," she said.

Hayles said her grandson is expected to enroll in an intensive counseling program. He had previously bolted from a detention center only to be found later in Cleveland, Ohio. Clark allegedly contacted him while he was missing.

The wedding prompted Georgia lawmakers to revisit the state's marriage laws.

On Thursday, the Georgia House voted 142-27 to approve a proposal that would bar teens under 16 from marrying without juvenile court permission.