‘Midnight Rider' director Randall Miller exonerated 11 years after fatal on-set train crash
Miller was granted a court order this week that completely wiped out his involuntary manslaughter conviction from his record, according to documents obtained by TheWrap.
The motion was made under the Georgia First Offender Act, which is available for first-time criminals who complete their probation without violations.
'I am so grateful that this day has finally come. With this exoneration my record has been cleared,' Miller said in a statement.
Miller completed 10 years of probation, during which time he was prohibited from filmmaking.
He was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released after spending just one year behind bars.
He had pleaded guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing resulting in the tragic death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, who was just 27, on the very first day of filming 'Midnight Rider,' a movie about singer Gregg Allman.
The movie's executive producer, Jay Sedrish, also pleaded guilty and got 10 years on probation.
The pair were deemed responsible for the horrifying Feb. 20, 2014 incident after they knowingly filmed on a railroad bridge in rural southeast Georgia without permission from owner CSX Transportation.
The crew assumed no more trains would pass that day and were attempting to film actor William Hurt, in the role of Allman, in a hospital bed placed on the tracks when a train came barreling down the bend.
Traveling at 55 mph, the train smashed into a metal-framed bed on the tracks, sending shrapnel flying as crew members scrambled for safety and clung to the bridge's metal railing high above the Altamaha River.
Jones was hit by the edge of the fuel tank, sending her onto the train's path, where she was run over. She died instantly.
Miller's prosecution was the most recent high-profile case against a filmmaker until Alec Baldwin, who was acting and serving as a producer, accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of 'Rust' in 2021.
Charges against Baldwin were ultimately dropped. The movie's armourer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Hutchins' death inspired a California project that would grant $1.5 million in tax incentives to filmmakers for hiring a safety supervisor on set.
Miller is set to benefit from the pilot program for this upcoming independent feature film 'Supercrip,' about a quadriplegic Uber driver who meets an egotistical movie star.
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