The director of a Gregg Allman biopic, 'Midnight Rider', has pleaded guilty in the death of a camera assistant, who was killed by a train as his crew filmed on tracks without permission.

Randall Miller will spend two years in the county jail, another eight years on probation and pay a $20,000 fine for the involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespassing charges stemming from the February 2014 crash.

In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped charges against his wife and business partner, Jody Savin. The executive producer, Jay Sedrish, also pleaded guilty and got 10 years on probation.

The parents of 27-year-old Sarah Jones, the camera assistant killed in the crash on a rural Georgia railroad bridge last year, spoke with reporters outside the court in Jesup on Monday.

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Locked up: Randall Miller, in court on Monday with his wife, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the death of a camera assistant who was killed as his crew filmed on train tracks without permission

'We hope the sacrifice of our daughter's life will continue to change the film industry,' Jones' father, Richard Jones, told reporters outside the courthouse. 'I believe it sends a message, frankly, that if you do not respect those you're in charge of, you may end up behind bars.'

The crew had stepped onto the railroad bridge spanning the Altamaha River for the first day of filming 'Midnight Rider' on February 20, 2014.

They were on the bridge even though CSX Transportation, the railroad company that owns the bridge, said it twice denied the filmmakers permission to film there.

Assistant District Attorney John B. Johnson said Miller and the other filmmakers even attempted to rewrite the script to drop the scene they planned to shoot with actor William Hurt, in the role of Allman, in a hospital bed placed on the tracks.

Miller decided to shoot the scene anyway, Johnson said, after the owner of the property surrounding the tracks said the movie crew could access its land. He said Miller and his crew went onto the railroad bridge after mistakenly thinking no more trains would pass that day.

Killed: Sarah Jones, a 27-year-old camera assistant, was struck by a train as the crew filmed last year

Support: Richard and Elizabeth Jones, whose daughter was killed during the filming, speak with reporters outside the Wayne County Courthouse in Jesup, Georgia on Monday after Miller's guilty plea

A metal-framed bed was pulled across the tracks as a prop. When the freight train, which was traveling 55 mph, struck, it smashed the bed and hurled metal fragments at the fleeing crew.

The train struck and killed Jones, a young camera assistant from Atlanta who had worked on TV series including 'Army Wives' and 'The Vampire Diaries.'

'Sarah Jones was hit by the edge of the fuel tank and was run over by the train,' Johnson told the judge. 'She died instantly.'

A sobbing Miller called Jones' parents to tell them she was dead.

Actor William Hurt had been on the set in his role as the Allman Brothers Band singer in his later years, but he was unhurt.

Jones' death galvanized behind-the-scenes film workers nationwide to push for improved safety standards on sets.

The case is a rare example of filmmakers being prosecuted for deaths.

Struck: Footage taken from the CSX locomotive shows a bed on the tracks as it approaches the fleeing camera crew. The train hit the bed, which knocked Miss Jones and forced her into the train's path

Under state law, someone can be convicted of involuntary manslaughter for committing a misdemeanor — in this case trespassing — that unintentionally causes another person to be killed.

The director, whose previous films included 'Bottle Shock' and 'CBGB,' testified last May in a related civil case that he had been told only two trains a day crossed the bridge and he only set out with his crew onto the trestle after a pair of trains had passed.

Asked if the crew had obtained permission from the railroad to film on its tracks, Miller said that wasn't his job. But he bristled at the suggestion he recklessly put his crew in danger.

'I was in the middle of the track and I almost died,' Miller said in civil court May 12.

Speaking to ABC 20/20 last year, hairstylist Joyce Gilliard, who suffered an arm injury in the crash, said those involved in the shoot had been told that if a train comes, 'you have 60 seconds to get off the track'.

'They wanted to get the shot, so whatever it took to get the shot is what they did,' she said. 'The entire crew was put in a situation where we all had to basically run for our lives.'

Arrested: Miller and his business partner and wife, Jody Savin, right, turned themselves in to authorities after the crash. As part of his plea deal, the charges against Savin have now been dropped

Biopic: The crew were filming the scene for a movie about musician Gregg Allman, pictured in January

The 'Midnight Rider' movie has been in limbo since the crash. Allman sued Miller to prevent the director from reviving the film. They settled out of court last year, and terms were not disclosed.

After his plea was accepted, Miller followed a sheriff's deputy from the courtroom to begin his two-year sentence at the Wayne County jail.

Miller's attorney, Ed Garland, said he expects the director could be released from jail within a year. He said Miller accepted the plea deal to prevent prosecution of his wife, who left the courthouse in tears. Garland said the filmmaker never intended to put his crew at risk.

'Randall Miller at the time this happened believed there were not any more trains that would come down that track,' Garland said. 'But he accepts responsibility.'

Sedrish's attorney, John Ossick, declined to comment as he left the courthouse.

Miller previously directed the 2008 film 'Bottle Shock' as well as 'Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing & Charm School' in 2005, 'Noble Son' in 2007 and 'CGBG' in 2013.