Criminal Charges In Allman Film Death

The director of a movie about singer Gregg Allman and two others involved in the project have been indicted on criminal charges stemming from a fatal crash in which a freight train plowed into the crew in southeast Georgia, prosecutors said Thursday.

Photo: Stephen B. Morton / AP Photo

'Midnight Rider' director Randall Miller, takes the witness stand during a hearing in Savannah, Ga.

A grand jury returned charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass against “Midnight Rider” director Randall Miller as well as his wife and business partner, Jody Savin, and the film’s executive producer, Jay Severish, Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson said in a short news release.

The indictment comes more than four months after a train slammed into Miller’s crew Feb. 20 on a railroad bridge in rural Wayne County southwest of Savannah. The collision killed Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant, and injured six other crew members. Sheriff’s investigators have said that while filmmakers had permission to shoot on industrial property surrounding the train trestle, they had no permit to be working on the train tracks themselves.

Involuntary manslaughter is a felony carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison under Georgia law. Criminal trespass is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in prison.

Three civil lawsuits by victims of the crash are also pending in the case. Miller said during a court appearance in May that he didn’t know his crew was in danger.

“I did not know it was a live train trestle,” Miller said.

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