Judge to Sentenced Child Molester: 'There is Something Terribly Wrong With You'

By Scott Bernarde

A Lawrenceville man was sentenced in Cobb County to 40 years for molesting a young girl, according to the Cobb County District Attorney’s office.

Cobb DA Vic Reynolds said in a press release Friday, March 28, that Adrian DeShawn Burney, 38, was sentenced by Judge Henry Thompson to 40 years, with 20 years to serve in custody.

Burney was convicted on March 7 on two counts of child molestation. He had lived with the victim at the time of the acts, which began when the girl was 8 and continued until she was 12. The victim revealed the abuse while watching an episode of “Oprah” on child molestation in 2005, when she was 15, according to the press release.

In the interim, Burney also pleaded guilty to raping two underage girls in Alabama, and was serving time in that state when he was extradited to Cobb County to face charges there.

According to the DA’s office, Judge Thompson told Burney:

“Nobody can undo the damage you have done to your victim. I’m not trying to be insulting, but there is something terribly wrong with you. A normal person has compassion for children and a protective instinct, but you have nothing. It’s almost like you have a hole in your soul where a normal person keeps that protective instinct for children. I don’t know if there’s any cure for it, but at this point you are no longer the main concern. The main concern is the protection of society from you.”