Johnston County Resident Sentenced For Manslaughter Publisher: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Oklahoma Dateline: Muskogee, Oklahoma Date: 30 July 2024 Subjects: American Government , Crime, Motorcycles

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announces that Edward Jay Williams, age 47, of Milburn, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 96 months imprisonment for one count of Involuntary Manslaughter in Indian Country.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, the Tishomingo Fire Department, the Milburn Fire Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On November 30, 2023, Williams pleaded guilty to the charge.  According to investigators, on December 8, 2022, Williams crashed his motorcycle into another motorcycle while both riders traveled northbound on State Highway 48A in Johnston County.  Williams’ passenger was thrown from the motorcycle and died from injuries sustained in the collision.  A blood test revealed Williams was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision.  The crime occurred within the boundaries of the Chickasaw Nation Reservation, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma.

The Honorable John F. Heil, III, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, presided over the sentencing hearing.  Williams will remain in the custody of the U.S. Marshal pending transportation to a designated United States Bureau of Prisons facility to serve a non-paroleable sentence of incarceration.

Assistant United States Attorney T. Cameron McEwen represented the United States.

Updated October 16, 2024