SAVANNAH, Ga. — A fourth filmmaker has been charged with crimes stemming from a train crash in southeast Georgia that killed a crew member during shooting of a biographical movie about singer Gregg Allman.
Hillary Schwartz, an assistant director on the film Midnight Rider, pleaded innocent Tuesday to charges of involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing in Wayne County Superior Court. She was indicted in September on the same charges filed in July against director Randall Miller; his wife and business partner, Jody Savin; and the movie’s executive producer, Jay Sedrish.
A court clerk, Betty Taylor, confirmed Schwartz’s plea. She also said Judge Anthony Harrison set a tentative trial date of March 9 for all four defendants.
Production on the movie, based on the life of the Allman Brothers Band singer, had just begun when a freight train plowed into the film crew Feb. 20 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.