Director Randall Miller, who was sentenced to two years in jail after the death of camera assistant Sarah Jones, has broken his silence and released a statement about the tragedy.

On February 20th, 2014, on the set of Midnight Rider, 27-year-old Sarah Jones was struck by a train and killed. Miller and the filmmakers had criminally trespassed and were filming on live train tracks when the accident occurred, which also injured six others. According to Deadline, Miller had been denied permission to film on the tracks but decided to do so anyway, a fact which he did not tell the crew. There was no safety meeting held and no medic or railroad personnel on set.

Miller pleaded guilty two weeks ago to charges of involuntary manslaughter and trespassing, being sentenced to two years in jail and eight years probation, as we previously reported. He will also have to pay a fine of $20,000, serve 360 days of community service, and he may not work on any film production for ten years.

In Miller's statement, he takes responsibility for the tragedy, saying that it will haunt him forever. The director said he pleaded guilty to protect his wife and family, out of respect for the Jones family, and to take responsibility for his own failure.

Miller did say that the his location manager, production designer, unit production manager, cinematographer and assistant director all made mistakes too, but that he was the one in charge and he should have asked more questions. He concluded by saying he hopes this tragedy will set a precedence for the rest of the industry for on-set safety measures.

Part of Miller's deal was having the charges on his wife, Jody Savin, dropped. Savin also worked on the film as co-writer and producer. She issued a statement of her own, saying that the accident has been tragic for everyone and that she and her children are trying to be strong and brave for Randy.

A new video obtained by ABC News shows the recklessness of the film's production. In the video, which thankfully does not include the death of Sarah Jones, the crew has to rush to remove a hospital bed being used for the scene off the tracks when a train approaches.

image courtesy of Peter West/ACE/INFphoto.com