Milledgeville woman pleads guilty to charges of killing 3 people in crash

Published 11:00 am Friday, October 28, 2022

A 62-year-old Milledgeville woman pleaded guilty last week in Baldwin County Superior Court to charges related to the deaths of three Putnam County residents who were killed in a 2019 single-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 441.

Lisa Marie Williams, of the 100 block of Harrisburg Road, pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide in the second degree. The charges were related to the April 2 crash that happened near the intersection of U.S. Highway 441 and Williamsburg Road in Baldwin County. The charges were misdemeanors.

The three people killed were identified as Lizzie Reed, 68; Mahlon Ruff, 77; and Jesse Bryant, 29, all of whom lived at an assisted living facility in the Buckhead community of Putnam County.

The victims were pronounced dead at the scene by Baldwin County Deputy Coroner Foster Hurt and Chief Deputy Coroner Ken Garland.

The crash also injured Williams, as well as another woman, identified as Wanda Perry, also of the 100 block of Parks Mill Road in Putnam County.

The victims were passengers in a 2003 Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Williams.

The negotiated plea was arranged between Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III and Chief Public Defender John Bradley. It was accepted last Friday morning by Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Alison T. Burleson.

The judge sentenced Williams to 36 months with the first 24 months of that time to be served in the Baldwin County Jail. The sentence imposed by Burleson was the one recommended by Barksdale and later agreed to by Bradley.

Before sentencing, Williams, who stood beside her defense attorney, told the victims’ families that she was sorry for what happened, Barksdale told The Union-Recorder in a telephone interview.

“She said she cared about each of the victims and that she loved them,” Barksdale said. “It was a very emotional time for everyone in the courtroom. There was even an inmate in an orange jumpsuit who had nothing to do with this case, whatsoever, who was in the courtroom and began crying.” 

The district attorney said he was not happy about the plea arrangement with the defendant.

“But we had to follow the evidence that we had,” Barksdale said. “We understood what the testimony was going to be from the GBI toxicologist in this case, and based on that and following the evidence, this was the best resolution.”

 Barksdale called it “a very sad morning” in Baldwin County.

“It didn’t feel like justice was served, in my opinion, but it certainly was the best we could do with the evidence we had,” Barksdale said. “I’m not satisfied with the sentence, but based on the evidence that we ultimately had and what the toxicologist was going to testify to, the recommendation, and plea that was taken was probably the best resolution we could have gotten.”

The district attorney said he had several discussions with Assistant District Sydney Segers and due to the extreme loss of lives in the case, he felt obligated to take Williams’ plea.

“Nobody from our office was excited about what we offered and ultimately what the resolution was in this case,” Barksdale said.

Originally, authorities believed Williams was driving under the influence of cocaine.

“But she had metabolites in her system and not cocaine itself,” Barksdale said. “The toxicologist would say, and I said this to Judge Burleson, is that she would testify that metabolites are cocaine that [have] been processed in the body. All she (toxicologist) was going to say was that she (Williams) had consumed cocaine and that her body had processed that cocaine, ultimately turning it into metabolites.”

Williams was re-indicted by a Baldwin County grand jury on the misdemeanor counts of vehicular homicide in the second degree.

“I don’t think the evidence that we actually had would have supported a conviction,” Barksdale said.