A Register man has been sentenced for his role in a fatal crash that happened in April 2024 in Bulloch County.
35-year-old Erich Andrew Richter was booked in the Bulloch County Jail on a Homicide by Vehicle – 1st degree charge on April 16, 2024, according to jail records, as well as Serious Injury by Vehicle, Failure to Maintain Lane, and misdemeanor Obstruction of Law Enforcement.
The charges were an escalation of a prior arrest by the Georgia State Patrol on April 7 – the day of the crash – when Richter was charged with DUI (alcohol) – Less Safe, Open Container, and No Seatbelt on the day of the crash. Richter bonded out the same day, but a letter from Chief Assistant Solicitor General Judith Oglesby dated April 10, 2024 stated she was made aware by the citing officer that felony warrants were forthcoming for Richter and subsequently the case would be transferred to Superior Court.
According to records, Richter was driving a 2019 Polaris Razor SXS on Aden Lanier Road near Jim Waters Road at the time of the crash. Citations say it happened just after midnight on the morning of April 7. The crash resulted in the death of Jerrett Wilson, a husband and father of four from Savannah, who was entrapped and drowned when the vehicle overturned into a body of water.
Indictment
In May 2024, a Bulloch County grand jury returned a True Bill of Indictment for Richter.
- Homicide by Vehicle (1st degree) – for causing the death of Wilson by driving a vehicle recklessly, leaving the roadway, and striking a culvert.
- Homicide by Vehicle (1st degree) – for causing the death of Wilson by driving under the influence of alcohol
- Reckless Driving
- Driving Under the Influence (Less Safe) (Alcohol)
- Open Container
The Obstruction of a Law Enforcement Officer charge from the warrants did not make it through the indictment process. The Georgia State Patrol initially charged Richter, stating in warrants that Richter and his wife ‘fabricated’ a story about who was driving the night of the fatal crash and that Richter was ‘willfully being deceptive and withholding information.
Plea & Sentence
Represented by defense attorney Martha Hall, Richter entered a guilty plea in Bulloch County Superior Court. The plea was previously negotiated with ADA Candace DeLoach and subsequently accepted by Judge Lovett Bennett Jr.
Richter was sentenced under the First Offender Act and ordered to serve eight months in a probation detention center, followed by ten years on probation, and to pay $4,122.38 in fines and add-on fees. Richter also received credit for time served in the Bulloch County Jail – a total of 233 days, meaning, he will not serve any additional time behind bars.
As part of his probation, Richter will also have to complete 40 hours of community service, complete a substance abuse evaluation, an Alcohol Risk Reduction Program, and successfully complete the Bridges of Hope Treatment Program. He’s also barred from consuming alcohol or drugs, associating with anyone who consumes either, and he cannot occupy a residence, vehicle, or establishment where alcohol or illegal drugs are present.
If Richter successfully completes the terms of his probation, the charges will be discharged from his record.
Previous History
A search of Richter shows that Richter was one of the driver’s charged with DUI in a wreck that killed WTOC news anchor Don Logana in February 2017.
In that wreck, Richter was arrested by the South Carolina Highway Patrol on charges of Driving Under the Influence when he was driving a 2009 Mitsubishi Gallant with Logana and two others in November 2016. The car collided with a 2000 Dodge pickup driven by Cleveland Coleman on U.S. 17 in Jasper County near the Talmadge Bridge.
Coleman was also charged in that crash and was listed as the at-fault party due to his crossing the center line and driving under the influence. In 2018, a jury found Coleman ‘Not Guilty’ on all charges. Richter pleaded ‘Nolo Contendere,’ which means a plea by which a defendant in a criminal prosecution accepts conviction as though a guilty plea had been entered but does not admit guilt, in his DUI case.
