CARROLL COUNTY, Ga. -- A judge said he'd take the weekend to consider a motion by the defense to declare a mistrial in the case of a former Georgia State Patrol trooper charged in a crash that killed two teenagers.
Prosecutors allege that Anthony J. Scott was traveling at 90 mph when he crashed into another vehicle on U.S. Highway 27 on Sept. 26, 2015. Kylie Hope Lindsey, 17, and Isabella Alise Chinchilla, 16 were killed; two others were seriously injured.
Scott was fired after investigators determined that he had been speeding at the time of the crash even though he was not on a call and didn't have his blue lights or siren on.
Scott is facing two counts of homicide by vehicle, two counts of serious injury by vehicle and charges related to speeding and reckless driving.
The trial began earlier this week. The defense has argued that the driver of the car that collided with Scott's patrol car was responsible for the wreck.
During closing arguments on Friday, the prosecution replayed the trooper’s dashcam video of the crash that the jury had seen earlier in the trial, but this time prosecutors altered it and enhanced it by adding graphics showing how fast the trooper was going compared with the posted speed limit.
The defense objected to the showing of the video with the graphics, saying it was potentially prejudicial. Jurors had already heard evidence that the trooper was going 90 miles an hour. But the defense argued that the prosecution was wrong to alter video that had already been entered into evidence unaltered.
The judge said that he hadn't seen a precedent for a similar situation and that he'd take the weekend to decide whether or not to declare a mistrial. He told prosecutors that they should have shown the enhanced version of the video to him and to the defense before showing that version to the jurors.
Scott originally faced no charges when he went before a grand jury in February of 2016, leading family to suggest he had gotten special treatment. That changed later that year when he faced a grand jury yet again in November of the same year. But at that time, the grand jury only indicted him for reckless driving speeding.
In August 2017, a third indictment added more serious charges.
MORE HEADLINES |