Wife of UGA legend Lindsay Scott released from jail

By S.A. REID
September 26, 2006

The wife of a former University of Georgia football legend is free Tuesday after an Atlanta judge approved her early release from jail.

Ronda Cross-Scott, 41, walked out of the Lowndes County Jail Tuesday afternoon after serving 55 days at the facility. She landed there after pleading guilty in June to voting-related false swearing and registration charges in neighboring Clinch County.

She wasn't available for comment Tuesday, but her husband Lindsay Scott said family members are happy to have her back home.

"We're just elated," said Scott, who in 1980 scored the winning touchdown in UGA's victory over Florida on its way to the national championship. "It was a long time coming. This situation is about family. We're going to get back on track of raising our family."

Fulton County State Court Judge John Langford ordered Lowndes County Sheriff Ashley Paulk to let her go after her lawyers argued in Lowndes County Court for her immediate release.

In legal documents, the Southern Center for Human Rights said Clinch County Superior Court Judge C. Dane Perkins violated state and constitutional law by extending her jail stay an extra 45 days. Cross-Scott began serving her 90-day sentence Aug 1.

Perkins amended her original sentence to block Paulk from granting her 45 days of "good time" credit, allowing her to leave jail Sept. 15. He argued that Cross-Scott's plea deal called for her to serve 90 consecutive days with no opportunity for early release. But her lawyers say the order didn't include those stipulations.

Langford apparently agreed. Paulk couldn't be happier. He described Cross-Scott as a good inmate who deserved to be released early.

"We're very satisfied with it," said Paulk, adding that she was freed about 1:30 p.m. "It proved our interpretation of the law was right. We felt like we're in the business to do right."

Voter-fraud related charges that Clinch County authorities filed against Cross-Scott earlier this year were based on questions raised about her residency after she lost her Clinch County Commission seat in a 2004 primary. She registered to vote in Homerville, her hometown where she is a well-known pharmacist, community leader and developer.

The Scott family lives in Homerville and Valdosta, but the county's Board of Registrars determined Valdosta to be her primary residence.

Cross-Scott and her supporters claim the charges are retailation for her role in bringing to light the Clinch County Sheriff's Department practice of charging pretrial inmates a fee for their jail stay. The county eventually settled a federal suit by agreeing to reimburse up to $27,000 to inmates.