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Business News Legal
Trial over Gregg Allman biopic train death to begin this week
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 9 March 2015
Jury selection is due to begin later today for the trial of three people involved in the making of Gregg Allman biopic ‘Midnight Rider’ in relation to the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones when she was hit by a train during filming last year.
Director Randall Miller, his wife Jody Savin and Executive Producer Jay Sedrish have all pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing. They face up to eleven years in prison if convicted.
As previously reported, in February 2014, the film’s crew were setting up to film a dream sequence on a railway bridge in Georgia. Unexpectedly, a train emerged, striking a metal bed that had been placed on the tracks, breaking it into pieces which injured six crew members and killed Jones.
In the aftermath, actor William Hurt, who had been playing Allman, pulled out of the film. Allman himself sued Miller to try and stop the director from reviving the production, later settling out of court.
The company that owns the bridge said that it had twice refused Miller’s production company permission to film at the location. However, in a civil case brought against the film’s makers by Jones’s family last year, Miller denied that he had knowingly put his crew in danger – noting that he was also on the tracks when the train appeared.
He claimed to have been told that only two trains came across the bridge per day, and had not allowed anyone onto the tracks before both had come through. He also denied that it was his responsibility to ensure that permission for filming had been granted.
The trial is expected to last a week.
