Driver Sentenced for Late Judge’s Death

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On September 3, Oconee Judicial Circuit Chief Superior Court Judge Sarah F. Wall sentenced a driver whose actions led to the fatal accident which took former Montgomery County Magistrate Judge Mona Richardson Bell’s life and left her grandson seriously injured.

Bell, who was elected to the Montgomery County Magistrate in 2002 and served until her retirement on December 31, 2018, and her grandson, Bragg Alford, were driving down Georgia Highway 19 on March 27, 2021, when Randonovan Anthony Lewis crossed over the centerline and hit the vehicle headon near Cat Squirrel Road in Wheeler County. Bell and Alford were transported to the Memorial Health Meadows Hospital by ambulance. Bell soon succumbed to her injuries. Lewis was also seriously injured in the crash and was flown by helicopter to receive medical treatment in Macon.

The Georgia State Patrol investigated the accident, which continued from page

was reported to have been caused by Lewis’s driving while impaired.

Lewis pleaded guilty to one count of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, one count of serious injury by vehicle, and one count of driving under the influence (per se) during a court appearance in Wheeler County on August 12. Though originally indicted on these charges, along with an additional count of homicide by vehicle in the first degree, driving under the influence (less safe) (alcohol), and reckless driving, Lewis was granted a Noelle prosequi order on these additional charges, as the prosecution agreed to drop these added counts as part of a plea agreement between the parties.

The court scheduled Lewis’s sentencing date for September 3 during court in Montgomery County to give both Bell and Lewis’s families an opportunity to speak prior to the sentencing orders. On September 3, members of both families addressed Judge Wall and court regarding the impact which the collision had on them. Lewis also spoke at the hearing, as he related his remorse for the crash and asked both families to forgive him for his actions.

Lewis was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his counts of homicide by vehicle in the first degree and driving under the influence and an additional six years of probation for the charge of serious injury by vehicle. Judge Wall mandated that Lewis serve at least nine years in the Department of Corrections before he becomes eligible for probation.