By Russ Bynum
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) --Authorities broke a promise to grant a filmmaker immunity from prosecution when they charged her with crimes in a fatal train collision during shooting of a movie about singer Gregg Allman, the woman's attorneys said.
Hillary Schwartz was working as an assistant director on the ill-fated "Midnight Rider" movie Feb. 20 when a freight train plowed into the crew on a railroad bridge spanning the Altamaha River in rural Wayne County. The crash killed Sarah Elizabeth Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant from Atlanta, and injured six other crew members.
Schwartz is one of four people charged with involuntary manslaughter and trespassing. Schwartz's attorneys filed court documents Monday asking a judge to dismiss the charges against her. They said prosecutors got her to talk by assuring Schwartz she was a witness, not a suspect. Less than two months after she gave authorities an interview, Schwartz was indicted.
Schwartz's motion included a copy of a May 29 letter from John B. Johnson, an assistant district attorney, asking Schwartz to return to Georgia from California for an interview with prosecutors and sheriff's investigators.
"I have talked with Jackie Johnson, the district attorney, and we both agree and it is the office opinion, that your client is only a witness in this case," the letter says. "It does not appear from any of our investigation that she is culpable in any crime involving the incident on the railroad trestle in February."
Jackie Johnson said Tuesday she was looking into the allegation. Her office has two weeks to file a response.
"I'm not aware of any immunity agreement," she said.
A March 9 trial has been scheduled for Schwartz; the movie's director, Randall Miller; his wife and business partner, Jody Savin; and executive producer Jay Sedrish. CSX Transportation, which owns the railroad trestle, has said in previous court filings that it twice denied the filmmakers permission to shoot on its tracks, each time in writing.
Sheriff's investigators have said the crew had permission to be on property surrounding the tracks that is owned by forest products company Rayonier.
Production on "Midnight Rider," based on the life of the Allman Brothers Band singer, was halted after the train collision.
Defense attorneys say Schwartz sat for an interview with authorities on July 29, less than three weeks after a grand jury indicted Miller, Savin and Sedrish. Schwartz's lawyers say John Johnson again told her during their face-to-face meeting: "This interview is being done for the purpose of you being a witness and not being prosecuted in that case."
A grand jury indicted Schwartz on Sept. 10.
Schwartz's motion doesn't quote any prosecutor saying specifically that she had been promised immunity from prosecution.
Involuntary manslaughter is a felony carrying a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Criminal trespass is a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in prison.
After 20 Years of Acting, Megan Park Finds Her Groove In The Director’s Chair On “My Old Ass”
Megan Park feels a little bad that her movie is making so many people cry. It's not just a single tear either — more like full body sobs.
She didn't set out to make a tearjerker with "My Old Ass," now streaming on Prime Video. She just wanted to tell a story about a young woman in conversation with her older self. The film is quite funny (the dialogue between 18-year-old and almost 40-year-old Elliott happens because of a mushroom trip that includes a Justin Bieber cover), but it packs an emotional punch, too.
Writing, Park said, is often her way of working through things. When she put pen to paper on "My Old Ass," she was a new mom and staying in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic. One night, she and her whole nuclear family slept under the same roof. She didn't know it then, but it would be the last time, and she started wondering what it would be like to have known that.
In the film, older Elliott ( Aubrey Plaza ) advises younger Elliott ( Maisy Stella ) to not be so eager to leave her provincial town, her younger brothers and her parents and to slow down and appreciate things as they are. She also tells her to stay away from a guy named Chad who she meets the next day and discovers that, unfortunately, he's quite cute.
At 38, Park is just getting started as a filmmaker. Her first, "The Fallout," in which Jenna Ortega plays a teen in the aftermath of a school shooting, had one of those pandemic releases that didn't even feel real. But it did get the attention of Margot Robbie 's production company LuckyChap Entertainment, who reached out to Park to see what other ideas she had brewing.
"They were very instrumental in encouraging me to go with it," Park said. "They're just really even-keeled, good people, which makes... Read More