Jury Convicts Defendant of Vehicular Homicide in Fatal
Head-On Collision
Summerville, GA — On August 28, 2025, following a four-day trial
before Superior Court Judge Brian House, a Chattooga County jury returned guilty verdicts on all 10
counts against Daniel James Craig for his role in a fatal head-on collision on Taylor’s Ridge. The
charges included Homicide by Vehicle in the First Degree, Serious Injury by Vehicle, and multiple
counts of Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol (Per Se and Less Safe).
The collision occurred on July 20, 2017, at the top of Taylor’s Ridge. Evidence at trial showed
that in the early morning hours, the Defendant had been drinking until approximately 4:00 A.M.
At 6:47 A.M., the Defendant’s vehicle was seen by a civilian witness who testified at trial that
Defendant was traveling erratically—running off the road four to five times, striking a guardrail, and
then crossing the center line. He collided head-on with the Vaughn family vehicle.
• Opal Vaughn, a back-seat passenger, was killed instantly on impact.
• Kenneth Vaughn, the driver, survived but sustained multiple fractured ribs.
• Michael Vaughn, the front-seat passenger, suffered a fractured hip and additional rib fractures.
Two other civilian witnesses testified that they spoke with the Defendant immediately after the
crash. He admitted to them that he had been drinking alcohol with friends and they testified that he
smelled of alcohol at the scene. Georgia State Patrol Trooper Lee Bowden testified that at the hospital he
could also smell alcohol coming from the Defendant and that the Defendant had bloodshot and watery
eyes.
A blood draw performed at 9:30 A.M. measured the Defendant’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC)
at .05. A crime lab expert testified about retrograde extrapolation, explaining that with the standard
metabolism rate of .015 per hour, the Defendant’s BAC at the time of the 6:47 A.M. crash would have
been above .08, the legal limit.
The jury also heard that in 2023—after this fatal crash—the Defendant pled guilty to a separate DUI
charge in Kentucky. Incredibly, while District Attorney Clayton Fuller cross-examined the Defendant at
trial, the Defendant told jurors that his guilty plea in Kentucky was his “greatest regret in life” rather
than the life he took and the devastation he caused to the Vaughn family in this case. In more tough
cross-examination questions from DA Fuller, the Defendant admitted he had been arrested for DUI in
Tybee Island, Georgia just twenty days before the fatal accident.
Once the Defendant was found guilty on all counts, Judge House sentenced the Defendant to 30
years with 10 years to serve in the Georgia Department of Corrections.
- Statement from the Vaughn Family:“We appreciate that District Attorney Fuller received this case only a few weeks ago and made sure itwent to trial. He has been focused on moving older cases like ours, and he got it done. Because of hiswork and the conviction his team secured, we can now have some measure of justice knowing that thedefendant is going to prison for a long time.”District Attorney Clayton M. Fuller commended the Georgia State Patrol, the civilian witnesses whocame forward, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Crime Laboratory experts while alsoacknowledging the delay in bringing this case to trial:“This case should have been tried long ago, and I apologize to the Vaughn family for that delay.Since becoming District Attorney in 2023, one of my priorities has been moving older cases like thisforward to ensure families see justice without waiting years. That’s because driving under the influenceis nothing short of a deadly weapon on our roads and deserves swift justice. If you take a life in myCircuit driving drunk—just know this. The only bars in your future are prison bars.”