A pregnant Lisa Clark, 37, appears on The Tyra Banks Show, in December. Clark married her teen groom in November. (Mike Warner, Warner Bros.)
There were few friendly faces when Lisa Clark Gonzalez walked into the crowded courtroom, so the 39-year-old understandably lit up at the sight of a familiar one.
She hadn't seen Juanita Mitchell in months, and she may have expected a few pleasantries when she sat down on the hard wooden pew beside her."I'm here being nosy - and that's it," Mitchell said with an icy edge, her arms folded across her chest. "I tell it like it is."
Even her half-sister was too embarrassed to be seen with Clark Gonzalez. But then again, Clark Gonzalez has found little comfort since she married her son's 15-year-old friend.
Their November 2005 nuptials forced Georgia lawmakers to tighten the state's marriage laws and left Clark Gonzalez with a lengthy rap sheet. Since her release from prison, though, she's seemed anything but ashamed of her relationship. And in some ways, she's flaunted it.
She pleaded guilty to helping her young husband, Adrian Gonzalez, escape from a group home in Atlanta. While serving a two-year sentence for her crime, she penned a book full of lurid details of their taboo relationship. And she reunited with him when she was released.
In the latest chapter of her saga, she showed up in court this week with her husband to fight for custody of their 2-year-old boy.
The couple used a 1962 law that set the marrying age in Georgia at 16 but made an exception in the case of pregnancy. Clark Gonzalez, who was pregnant at the time, was able to squeeze through the loophole and marry the 15-year-old.
But the law didn't stop prosecutors, who soon charged her with sexually molesting a minor. She was sentenced to nine months in prison after pleading guilty to statutory rape, and a judge tacked on a two-year term after she pleaded guilty to helping her husband escape from a group home near Atlanta.
Lawmakers in 2006 quickly moved to tighten the loophole. Gov. Sonny Perdue signed a bill that bans teens under 16 from tying the knot. The new law allows 16- or 17-year-olds to wed with the approval of a parent or guardian and a probate judge.
Meanwhile, Clark Gonzalez gave birth to a son in prison in February 2006, and soon had to turn him over to family friend Angela Perkins.
In her book, "Betrayed: The True Story of Lisa Lynette Clark," she called it "the darkest moment of my life when that nurse took my baby from my arms and I watched his little body go out the door."
The couple refused to comment during a brief appearance at the Douglas County Superior Court Tuesday, but attorneys reached a compromise. Clark Gonzalez's attorney, Kim Dymecki, would not disclose the details.
Clark Gonzalez has recently ducked media questions, but she told reporters in March that regaining custody of the child was her top priority.
She faced stiff resistance from Perkins, who in court filings listed more than a dozen reasons detailing how the couple are unfit to be parents.
Mitchell, for her part, said she feels no sorrow for her half-sister.
"She made her bed when she screwed up with a 15-year-old," she said. "Her future looks bleak - real bleak. Trying to raise a baby with a 17-year-old, that's not cool."Click here for previous GPB News coverage of this story.
(The Associated Press)
