Skip to main content
Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

The Latest: Driver in deadly Georgia crash pleads guilty

FILE - In this April 22, 2015 file photo, a Georgia state trooper works the scene of a deadly crash in Ellabelle, Ga., west of Savannah. A hearing for John Wayne Johnson was scheduled for Thursday, July 14, 2016 in Bryan County Superior Court. Johnson, a truck driver from Shreveport, La., was indicted last month by a grand jury on criminal charges including five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide. The charges stem from the April 2015 crash on Interstate 16 west of Savannah that killed five nursing students from Georgia Southern University. Johnson was behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer that slammed into stop-and-go traffic stalled by an unrelated wreck.(AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
FILE - In this April 22, 2015 file photo, a Georgia state trooper works the scene of a deadly crash in Ellabelle, Ga., west of Savannah. A hearing for John Wayne Johnson was scheduled for Thursday, July 14, 2016 in Bryan County Superior Court. Johnson, a truck driver from Shreveport, La., was indicted last month by a grand jury on criminal charges including five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide. The charges stem from the April 2015 crash on Interstate 16 west of Savannah that killed five nursing students from Georgia Southern University. Johnson was behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer that slammed into stop-and-go traffic stalled by an unrelated wreck.(AP Photo/Russ Bynum) FILE - In this April 22, 2015 file photo, a Georgia state trooper works the scene of a deadly crash in Ellabelle, Ga., west of Savannah. A hearing for John Wayne Johnson was scheduled for Thursday, July 14, 2016 in Bryan County Superior Court. Johnson, a truck driver from Shreveport, La., was indicted last month by a grand jury on criminal charges including five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide. The charges stem from the April 2015 crash on Interstate 16 west of Savannah that killed five nursing students from Georgia Southern University. Johnson was behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer that slammed into stop-and-go traffic stalled by an unrelated wreck.(AP Photo/Russ Bynum)

By Associated Press 3 min read

PEMBROKE, Ga. (AP) – The Latest on a fiery interstate crash in Georgia that killed five nursing students last year (all times local):

11:a.m.

A Louisiana truck driver charged in a fiery interstate crash in Georgia that killed five nursing students last year has pleaded guilty to nine counts, including five counts of first-degree vehicular homicide.

A judge sentenced 56-year-old John Wayne Johnson on Thursday to five years in prison, plus five on probation. He would have faced up to 93 years if convicted at trial.

The sentence was part of a plea deal with prosecutors.