FORT PAYNE, Ala.– District Attorney Summer Summerford has announced that Joshua Williams has been ordered to serve jail time following a deadly automobile crash in Cherokee County that claimed two lives and injured a third person.

Williams previously entered guilty pleas to two counts of criminally negligent homicide and one count of third-degree assault. He agreed to the maximum sentence of 12 months on each charge, with the sentences to run consecutively.

Following a probation hearing held Wednesday, February 4th, in the courtroom of Circuit Judge Andrew Hairston, the court ordered Williams to serve nine months in the county jail for each homicide count and six months for the assault charge. Those sentences will run consecutively.

Williams’ application for youthful offender status had previously been denied.

The charges stemmed from an indictment handed down by a Cherokee County Grand Jury. Under Alabama law, criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor when a person causes the death of another through criminal negligence.

Because the offenses are misdemeanors, the sentence will be served in the county jail rather than the state penitentiary.

Summerford said the case has been a long and difficult process for the victims and their families, adding that their involvement helped achieve the outcome. The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Colby Mathews.