Grand jury indicts man on vehicular homicide charges
May 13—A 35-year-old Brunswick man's alleged reckless driving on U.S. 17 last year caused the death of an Ohio woman and seriously injured her husband, according to a Glynn County grand jury indictment.
The indictment announced Wednesday charges Joshua Xavierlee Sturgis with one count each of first degree vehicular homicide, serious injury by vehicle, reckless driving, improper passing and driving on the wrong side of the road.
According to the indictment, Sturgis pulled into oncoming traffic on U.S. 17 while attempting to pass a vehicle in a no-passing zone on Sept. 11, 2021. County police said Sturgis collided with an oncoming vehicle in which Deborah Littman and Marc Littman of Trotwood, Ohio, were traveling.
The crash killed Deborah Littman and seriously injured Marc Littman.
Deborah Littman was the mother of three daughters and 11 grandchildren, according to an obituary.
County police arrested Sturgis and booked him into the Glynn County Detention Center on Feb. 21, according to jail records.
Sturgis was listed during booking as a Brunswick resident but homeless.
According to the indictment, Sturgis "did drive a motor vehicle in reckless disregard for the safety of persons by passing in a no passing zone and driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic."
Sturgis remained Thursday in the county jail.
Other indictments were handed down by the grand jury.
A 34-year-old Glynn County man was indicted on a charge of voluntary manslaughter for his alleged role in a fight in February that left another man dead.
Juan Hernandez-Rodriquez had faced murder charges after his arrest by county police on the night of Feb. 19.
Police responded at 9:30 p.m. to a fight in the 1700 block of Townsend Street to find Ignacio Fernandez with serious injuries. Police said Hernandez-Rodiquez fled, but investigators later found him at his residence nearby.
Fernandez was taken by ambulance to Southeast Georgia Health System's Brunswick hospital and Hernandez-Rodriquez was charged with aggravated assault. Fernandez died of his injuries the next day, prompting police to up the charge to murder.
The grand jury concluded Hernandez-Rodiquez's actions amounted to voluntary manslaughter.
The grand jury determined he knocked Fernandez to the ground and caused fatal brain injuries "while acting solely as the result of a sudden, violent, and irresistible passion, resulting from serious provocation sufficient to excite such passion in a reasonable person."
The grand jury additionally delivered a true bill against Clinton Levi Taylor, charging him with criminal attempt to commit murder in connection with an incident on Jan. 14 in which he allegedly attacked another man with a machete. Taylor also is charged with aggravated assault.
County police say Taylor nearly hacked the man's arm off during the attack at a residence on Pennick Road.
Police initially charged Taylor with aggravated assault, but added the attempted murder charge May 3.
The grand jury indictment accuses Taylor of "striking and stabbing (the victim) multiple times with a machete."
Taylor, 33, remains in the county jail.
The grand jury also indicted the following:
—Travis Geiger on charges of rape and aggravated sexual battery against a woman stemming from an incident on March 30, 2019.
—Nigile Mangram, Jaylin Jashon Grovner and Alvin Eddie Canidate on charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon in connection with an alleged burglary on Dec. 5, 2020.
—Jeffery Baird and Victor Bernard Smith on a charge of possession and trafficking in more than 28 grams of methamphetamine. They were arrested June 21, 2021.
—Louis Jamell Roberts and Jesshay Domonique Roberts with tracking methamphetamine, possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, terroristic threats and possession of a firearm by a first-offender on probation stemming from an incident on Jan. 18, 2019.
