Paulding County

Family still seeking justice for high school sweethearts killed in wreck

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A family is still waiting for justice after a Paulding County teen and her boyfriend were killed in a wreck two years ago.

Time has done little to ease Keith Priester's pain after his daughter Janael died in the crash.

"From time to time I have my breakdown moments," Priester told Channel 2’s Carl Willis.

There was a time when Priester feared that no one would be charged in the wreck.

Days and months, and then a whole year went by before Sarah Dowdy was hit with five charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, for the deaths of Janael and her high school sweetheart, Nicholas Wright.

Thursday, almost two years after the 2015 crash, a second driver on the road that night was supposed to be in court in a civil case.

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The deposition didn't happen but a protest did, because the protesters believe it's time that driver also face criminal charges.

"We were told the case was going to be done at a certain time frame and it wasn't. It's just ongoing,” Priester told Willis.

According to Priester and his attorney, statements from a witness who was behind Dowdy and the other driver suggest the second driver had been driving erratically -- speeding up and pumping his brakes -- just before Dowdy swerved around him and crashed into Janael and Nicholas.

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This is useful evidence in the case according, to Priester.

"It's up to the professionals to actually do what they're supposed to do with it," Priester said.

Willis spoke with the Paulding County district attorney on Thursday who said he's done everything in his power under the law and the second driver likely will never be charged.

Priester said that is not justice.

"It's not over," Priester told Willis.