Man found guilty in 2016 death of his girlfriend
May 2—A Glynn County jury convicted a 31-year-old man Friday of homicide by vehicle and driving under the influence for his involvement in the incident that led to his girlfriend's death in 2016.
Richard Robert Wiltfang was found guilty in Glynn County Superior Court following a week-long trial before Brunswick Judicial Circuit Judge Robert Guy on six of the 14 counts he faced connected to the Nov. 26, 2016, incident that resulted in the death of his girlfriend, Megan Twist. She was 23.
Wiltfang began driving his truck that night outside a restaurant in the 1400 block of Reynolds Street in downtown Brunswick while Twist was standing on the running board. She fell, striking her head on the pavement. She later died from her injuries.
Prosecutors contended in the trial that Wiltfang and Twist had been drinking the day of the incident and that alcohol contributed to him acting recklessly while driving his truck, resulting in Twist's death.
He was convicted on one count of homicide by vehicle related to reckless driving, two counts of driving under the influence, one count of reckless driving, one count of making a false statement to police and one count of involuntary manslaughter, according to Superior Court records.
He was sentenced by Guy on Friday, but the sentence had not been filed in the Glynn County Superior Court clerk's office as of Monday evening.
It was the second trial of Wiltfang on the charges after the first ended in a mistrial in March 2018. The mistrial was declared after a Brunswick police officer remained on the witness stand about Wiltfang invoking his constitutional right to remain silent at the scene of the incident.
The court, in a pretrial ruling, ordered the prosecution and its witnesses to refrain from mentioning the defendant invoking his right to remain silent and his right to counsel.
Atlantic Judicial Circuit assistant district attorneys Joe Skeens and Melissa Poole prosecuted the case after Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Keith Higgins recused himself from the proceedings because he used to share office space with defense attorney Robert Crowe.
Crowe and Alan David Tucker represented Wiltfang at trial.
