Hello,
[NOW TITLED “COFFEE WARS”] Higher Grounds - The Film was directed by Randall Miller and produced by Randall and his wife Jody Savin.
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Camera Assistant Sarah Jones was 27 years old on Feb 20, 2014 when Randall Miller lied to his cast and crew and put them on active train tracks with zero permission from the train company. This willful negligence killed our friend and hurt others. Miller pled guilty to criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter. He is currently on probation and part of Miller’s plea agreement prohibits him from being a director, assistant director, or any role that carries with it the responsibility for safety when it comes to film-set employees for ten years. Since then, Miller traveled to Serbia, Colombia and the UK to put together this film. On 02/07/21, Miller was spared jail for his probation violation but Judge Harrison was clear: Miller is not to direct until his probation is over and Harrison will issue a new order erasing any ambiguity in Miller’s filmmaking status going forward.
Update 02.17.21: Via Deadline: “I get that he was nervous and heard what he wanted to hear,” Judge Anthony L. Harrison declared of Miller misunderstanding the scope of his sentence in the heat of trial back in 2015. Yet, the Georgia judge found it hard to swallow that the director repeatedly was left in such confusion over repeated interactions with the law.
Update 05.29.20: Via Deadline: “I have requested Wayne County probation to issue a warrant for his arrest,” Assistant District Attorney John Johnson told Deadline on Friday. “Randall Miller has violated the terms of his probation,” the Georgia prosecutor added of Miller getting behind the camera on the Kate Nash-starring Higher Grounds. “As a director, he’s in violation.”
Deadline
The parents of Sarah Jones are calling on the DGA to kick Randall Miller out of the guild after learning that he recently directed a new movie, Higher Grounds, in Serbia and Colombia last summer — this despite the special conditions of his probation after he spent a year in jail for the death of their daughter, Sarah Jones……
The Hollywood Reporter
The parents of the young camera assistant killed in the train accident on the Georgia set of "Midnight Rider," as well as an injured hairstylist who survived it, reveal harrowing and graphic new details. "I saw my life, my kids, my family, all of it before me," says the hairstylist. "I was sure I was going to die."….
Forbes
Hillary Schwartz, the first assistant director on the Greg Allman biopic ‘Midnight Rider’ asked for leniency from a Georgia judge, seeking a shortening of her 10-year probation which prohibits her from working in the film industry. Her request was denied. ….
Variety
A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit arising from the 2014 train fatality on the set of “Midnight Rider,” finding that insurer New York Marine is not obliged to continue defending the film’s producers after paying out its $5 million coverage limit……
Deadline
Midnight Rider director Randall Miller, serving a sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 on-set death of 27-year-old crew member Sarah Jones, was denied having his supervision removed by the judge overseeing the case since its beginning.
In his decision, dated today, Judge Anthony Harrison stated that to lift the supervision would be contrary to the intended sentence of the court. …..
The Daily Beast
The Midnight Rider crew should never have walked onto the train tracks that bright February afternoon in rural Georgia. But in the movie business, some people will do whatever it takes to get the shot.
Forty-nine minutes and 10 takes later, Oscar-winning actor William Hurt was among the lucky ones to escape from the narrow bridge alive when a freight train barreled down on the cast and crew of the Gregg Allman biopic at 57 miles per hour…..
Yahoo Entertainment
‘Midnight Rider’ Case: Director Randall Miller’s Ask For Leniency Denied By Judge. Midnight Rider director Randall Miller, who had been sentenced on an involuntary manslaughter charge in the on-set death of 27 year-old crew member Sarah Jones, was denied having his supervision removed by the Judge who has been overseeing the case since the beginning of the criminal case. In his decision, dated today, Judge Anthony Harrison stated that to lift the supervision would be contrary to the intended sentence of the court.
The New York Times
LOS ANGELES — In a rare assignment of criminal liability for safety violations on a film set, the producer and director Randall Miller on Monday pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of Sarah Jones. Ms. Jones was killed by a freight train on the Georgia set of “Midnight Rider” last year……
Billboard
After the fatal accident on Feb. 20, 2014, prosecutors in Georgia charged Miller, who then took a plea deal for criminal trespassing and involuntary manslaughter. He was supposed to serve two years in prison, but only served about half that time thanks to problems later found with the plea agreement. He was released in March 2016, and at the time, those close to Jones expressed outrage…..
The Guardian
Miller, who also admitted criminal trespass, yesterday accepted a plea deal which saw him sentenced to two years behind bars plus eight years of probation and a $20,000 (£13,250) fine, according to Deadline. Jody Savin, Miller’s wife and collaborator, walked free from the court in Wayne County, Georgia, under the terms of the deal, despite having faced near-identical charges over the death of Jones, 27. Both film-makers had initially pleaded not guilty…..