HENRY COUNTY, Ga. — The mother of an 8-year-old girl killed as she tried to board her school bus was hoping the driver accused of causing the crash would accept a plea deal during a court hearing.
But that didn’t happen.
Henry County prosecutors said 25-year-old Kaylee Andre rejected their offer.
Andre was very emotional from the moment she arrived in court. And Ashley Pierce said she had to listen to her constant sobbing.
“I just kind of turned it off myself,” she told Channel 2’s Tom Jones.
She sat in the row in front of Andre during the hearing. Pierce says Andre wasn’t crying for her daughter, 8-year-old Adalyn Pierce, whom she will never see again.
“She’s definitely crying cause she knows she’s gonna have to face accountability and punishment now,” Pierce said.
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Police said Andre drove around a stopped school bus -- with flashing lights, its stop arm out-- and hit and killed Addy on Jackson Lake Road in February 2024.
Andre faces several charges, including first-degree vehicular homicide.
“For her not to take the deal, we’re kind of upset, just because now I wonder what did you think you deserved here?” Pierce said outside court.
Andre’s attorney said she would enter a non-negotiated plea later this month.
“I expect our presentation would take roughly 30 mins to an hour,” the attorney told the judge.
Pierce said the delay is just inflicting more pain on her and her family.
“This was kind of supposed to be the closure of the media and everything surrounding this, and now again it’s gonna be a little later,” she told Jones.
Pierce will be back in court on May 22 for a new plea hearing.
She hopes Andre honors her daughter by accepting accountability and not trying to avoid punishment
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