Carol Robinson

al.com

(TNS)

A former Alabama fire chief is heading to prison after he lost his appeal for leaving the scene of a deadly hit-and run on Interstate 59/20 near Bessemer.

Franklin Nelson Edwards, a 55-year-old former assistant fire chief and interim fire chief in Selma, was convicted in March 2025 of leaving the scene of an accident causing death, a Class C felony.

The jury found him not guilty of manslaughter.

The fatal crash happened at 11:50 p.m. that Friday, June 26, 2020, on Interstate 59/20 southbound at mile marker 102.

Matthew Scott Sartin, a 22-year-old from Pineville, Louisiana, was killed in the crash. He was pronounced dead at 1:04 a.m.

According to troopers, Sartin was driving a 2000 BMW 1200 motorcycle. After troopers secured the scene, they found a 2009 BMW 750 sedan about two miles south of the crash. It was disabled and abandoned.

Investigators determined the vehicle had been driven by Edwards.

Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff Circuit Judge Thomas Thrash initially sentenced Edwards to 10 years in prison with three years to serve, but Edwards was later re-sentenced to 10 years with two years to serve, followed by two years of probation.

Edwards’ attorney, Derrick Collins, argued that the victim caused the accident and his own death by being districted on a video telephone call playing a video game while driving.

Additionally, Collins said, Edwards suffered a severe concussion in the wreck that included memory loss so he couldn’t give a reliable narrative of what happened that night. His mental state, the attorney said, was altered by the concussion.

The attorney argued that Edwards was a lifelong public servant who had served as a firefighter, police officer, police chief and fire chief and that his sentence was “totally unreasonable” for a non-violent offense.

The judge denied Collins’ request for a judgment of acquittal and a lesser sentence.

Edwards appealed the conviction and sentence to the Alabama Court of Appeals, and the judge granted Edwards be released on an appeal bond, with electronic monitoring, over the objection of prosecutors.

The conviction was affirmed by the Alabama Court of Criminals and Edwards’ application for a rehearing was denied.

Edwards was booked into back into the Jefferson County Jail this week and is awaiting transfer to the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Edwards was arrested in 2024 on unrelated first-degree theft charges, accused of stealing $4,4400 from the City of Selma.

Court records show those charges have since been dismissed..

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