Director Randall Miller pleaded guilty Monday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of assistant camera operator Sarah Jones, who was killed in an on-set train accident last year while working on Midnight Rider.

Randall Miller Pleads Guilty

Miller reportedly decided to plead guilty, a rarity in such cases, so that he could be sure to protect his wife and business partner Jody Savin from prosecution, according to the Los Angeles Times. Savin, had he not pleaded guilty, would have likely faced prosecution for involuntary manslaughter and criminal trespass charges that have since been dropped.

Per Miller’s plea deal, he will serve up to two years behind bars, which are to be followed by eight years’ probation – though it’s likely he’ll get out of prison after one year. Additionally, Miller was fined $20,000 and ordered to perform 360 hours of community service.

Jones was killed Feb. 20, 2014 on the first day of filming Midnight Rider, a biopic about rocker Gregg Allman, in Georgia. The crew was shooting on the train tracks without a permit when a freight train charged down the tracks towards where Jones and other crewmembers were setting up. Jones was the lone fatality, though six others were injured.

“It sends a message, frankly, that if you do not respect those that you’re in charge of, you may end up behind bars,” said Richard Jones, Sarah Jones’ father, said after the day in court. “I think that will get attention.”

Richard Jones added, “We do call for the movie and television industry to examine themselves and examine the myth of this bubble of cinematic immunity they may think they have.”