CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. — The city of Buchanan has a new acting mayor after the previous mayor, A.J. Scott, was convicted on Wednesday in a Carroll County crash that killed two teenage girls.
The families of the victims spoke outside the courthouse after the verdict was read.
Scott, a former Georgia State Patrol Trooper and current Mayor of Buchanan, was found guilty on five of six charges from a 2015 crash. Kylie Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Chinchilla, 16, were both killed.
The victims’ loved ones felt that justice was served.
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“I’m overwhelmed. We have fought so hard for almost 10 years,” Isabella’s mother, Leslie Woods, said.
During the retrial, it was revealed that Scott’s sirens and blue lights were not on as he drove 90 miles per hour before colliding with a car carrying four teenagers. Dillon Wall was the driver. He finally feels vindicated.
“The victim blaming, all the lying, it really hurt,” Wall said. “It’s a lot of weight lifted off.”
That weight also weighed heavily on loved ones who have waited a decade for this day.
“Everything sits in her room as if she’s still there, so now I can dissect and grieve the death of our daughters,” Kylie’s mother, Kellie Lindsey, said.
“Now we’ve justification, the truth,” Wall’s mother, Deborah Wall, said.
Scott’s defense attorney, Mac Pilgrim, also spoke outside the courthouse.
“Obviously, he’s disappointed he doesn’t want to be where he is. He again feels it was an accident, as do I,” Pilgrim said.
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But the jury saw it differently, convicting him of second-degree homicide by vehicle, along with two counts of serious injury by vehicle, speeding, and reckless driving.
His crimes could land Scott in prison for more than 30 years.
“I don’t have anything to say to him. I wouldn’t waste my breath on him. He took my daughter’s last breath, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to give him mine,” Lindsey said.
The judge said sentencing will be scheduled for a later date.
The city of Buchanan says it’s waiting on direction from the city attorney regarding the next step in electing a mayor.
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