Man found guilty in Douglas County for fatal I-20 crash after jumping from car

A Douglas County jury has found 45-year-old Kristopher Graf guilty of multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter and reckless conduct after a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 20 left two people dead and several others seriously injured.The verdict was delivered on April 24 following a trial presided over by Chief Superior Court Judge Cynthia Adams. Senior Assistant District Attorney Nelly Ndounteng and Assistant District Attorney Madeline Ross prosecuted the case, while Georgia State Patrol Trooper Joseph Vincent led the investigation with assistance from the Douglas County Sheriff's Office.The charges stem from a Jan. 14, 2022, incident, when Graf and his wife, Stacy Edwards, were returning home from an evening out in Atlanta. Both had consumed multiple alcoholic beverages and were intoxicated when an argument broke out during their drive. According to testimony, Graf flung himself from the moving vehicle while traveling westbound on I-20 near Exit 37 at around 80 miles per hour.Graf survived the fall but lay injured in the middle of the interstate. A semi-truck driver swerved to avoid hitting him, moving into the emergency lane. However, a passenger van carrying five people struck the rear of the semi-truck. The violent collision caused the van to spin out, ejecting two passengers. Two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while others inside the van sustained serious injuries, including one man whose leg was amputated. Remarkably, one ejected passenger survived without physical injury. The semi-truck driver was unharmed.Edwards, who was driving, told authorities that she and Graf had been drinking both before and during the evening. She was arrested at the scene for DUI, and later testing revealed a blood alcohol content of .174 — more than twice the legal limit of .08.Graf, who was treated at the hospital for his injuries, was later arrested under grand jury warrants. Following the guilty verdict, Judge Adams sentenced him to 20 years in prison, followed by 48 months of probation.Edwards previously pleaded guilty to DUI charges and was sentenced to 12 months of probation, with the first 24 hours to be served in custody, contingent on her providing truthful testimony at Graf’s trial.District Attorney Dalia Racine said in a statement, "The absurd recklessness demonstrated by these defendants resulted in a chain reaction that took and altered numerous lives that day. While this verdict will not bring back the lives lost or heal the life-altering injuries caused, we hope that the jury’s finding will help on their journey to find peace and healing."