Exactly 10 years ago, the funerals for two Paulding County teenagers killed in a horrific crash were held hours apart in the same church.
On Wednesday, the former Georgia State Patrol trooper who hit 90 mph before causing that 2015 wreck returned to the courthouse where he was recently convicted and received a 20-year sentence.
Anthony “AJ” Scott must spend 10 of those years behind bars and the other half of the sentence on probation, Judge Erica Tisinger ruled.
Scott was found guilty of two counts of serious injury by vehicle, one count of vehicular homicide, speeding and reckless driving. The verdict came after 13 hours of jury deliberations and more than six years after his first Carroll County trial ended in a mistrial.
A crash survivor and the victims’ mothers gave emotional pleas through tears, asking for the maximum punishment of 30 years in prison.
Scott’s mother and grandmother were among those begging for leniency for a man they said has dedicated his life to service, despite making a horrible mistake the night of the crash.
Since the wreck, he was fired as a trooper, became a city councilman in Buchanan and then was elected as the small town’s mayor, a position he was ousted from after his Aug. 27 conviction.
Following the conviction, Scott was placed in handcuffs and booked into the Carroll jail, where he has been held awaiting Wednesday’s sentencing.
Outside the courtroom that August day, the girls’ mothers expressed their relief and the feeling of closure.
“Finally,” Leslie Woods said.
“Yes, finally,” Kellie Lindsey echoed. “Finally, someone saw what we’ve been seeing for almost 10 years.”
Woods lost her 16-year-old daughter, Isabella Chinchilla, in the crash. Lindsey’s daughter, 17-year-old Kylie Lindsey, also died. Both teens, students at South Paulding High School, were in the back seat of a Nissan Sentra, investigators determined after the crash.
Credit: City of Buchanan
Credit: City of Buchanan
Two others — Dillon Lewis Wall, then 18, and Benjamin Alan Finken, then 17 — were critically injured. Wall, the driver, was the only teen wearing a seat belt. Although alcohol bottles were found in the Nissan, Wall did not have alcohol in his system, according to testimony.
The 2019 mistrial in the case against Scott led to back-and-forth legal challenges. Carroll County Superior Court Judge John Simpson declared the mistrial because he believed prosecutors withheld evidence in the case, including a theory about where one of the girls had been sitting in the car. Prosecutors argued they didn’t believe the new theory was relevant to the case and said they had turned over all evidence.
Simpson and the former Carroll district attorney both recused themselves from the case, leading Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr to appoint the DeKalb County District Attorney’s Office to take over the prosecution.
In the fall of 2019, Scott ran for mayor of Buchanan, winning the seat in the same year of his mistrial. He was reelected in 2023. Buchanan, the town seat of Haralson County, is about 55 miles west of Atlanta at the Georgia-Alabama line and has about 1,000 residents.
The crash survivors and Scott all testified during the retrial.
Scott’s defense team argued the teens had been drinking and Wall did not use a signal when turning in front of the patrol car. Attorney Mac Pilgrim told the jury in closing arguments the crash was an accident.
The jury instead agreed with prosecutors, who said it was Scott’s disregard for the posted speed limit of 55 mph that caused the crash. He was relieved of his mayoral duties.
— A reporter and photographer from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution were in the courtroom for Wednesday’s hearing. Please return for updates.
STORY TIMELINE
Sept. 26, 2015: Trooper Anthony “AJ” Scott collides with a Nissan Sentra on U.S. 27 in Carroll County. Two teenagers, Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16, were killed. Both were students at South Paulding High School.
Oct. 1, 2015: The funerals for Kylie and Isabella are held hours apart at West Ridge Church in Dallas.
Oct. 7, 2015: Georgia State Patrol fires Scott after investigators determine he was driving 91 mph five seconds before the fatal crash.
Feb. 17, 2016: Grand jury fails to indict Scott.
November 2016: The case is presented to a different grand jury, which indicts Scott on misdemeanor charges of speeding and reckless driving. However, a judge later throws out the indictment.
Aug. 31, 2017: Scott is indicted on two counts of vehicular homicide in the second degree, two counts of serious injury by vehicle, violating oath of office, and one count each of speeding and reckless driving.
May 13, 2019: Scott’s first trial begins.
May 24, 2019: A mistrial is declared.
Aug. 18, 2025: Scott’s second trial begins.
Aug. 27: A jury convicts Scott on five of six charges: two counts of serious injury by vehicle, one count of vehicular homicide, speeding and reckless driving. He is booked into the Carroll County jail.
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