Solicitor Bob Ariail, left, and Billy Wilkins, right, look on as John Ludwig is sworn in. Greg Beckner/Staff
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Ludwig escapes jail time

Judge gives probation, community service

by Cindy Landrum

Published: Nov. 22, 2009, 4:18 p.m.

John Ludwig sat alone at the defense table in a darkened Courtroom 8, the largest courtroom in the Greenville County Courthouse.

His mother and father, disabled sister, his high school football coach and a number of other friends sat a few feet away as Ludwig stared at a projector screen hanging to his left. He had already pleaded guilty to reckless homicide.

Greenville County Solicitor Bob Ariail was narrating the images on the screen of computer animations and an accident reconstruction team’s calculations.

But when he got to the photographs of the inside of the Bardsleys’ house, the place where Ludwig in his 2007 Maserati careened through the living room, killing 62-year-old Bill Bardsley, Ariail fell silent.

He didn’t have to say anything about the devastation, the couch Bardsley had been sitting on tipped on its back, the two-by-fours framing the room splintered and torn, the gaping hole where the front window had been.

Ariail’s goal: to convince retired Circuit Judge James C. Williams Jr. to sentence Ludwig to 10 years in prison. He didn’t get it.

Instead, Williams said he was impressed with Ludwig’s generosity when times were good and sentenced Ludwig to three years probation and 500 hours of community service. If Ludwig violates probation, he faces five years in prison.

Ariail filed a motion Wednesday asking the judge to reconsider the sentence.

The accident, the investigation, the charges, the decision – every step since that April 25 night that brought together an unassuming grandfather and a businessman who had sold a company for $4 million and was building another has caused a community to wonder just how just its justice system is.

Consider: two other pleas of reckless homicide resulted in jail time for the defendants.

The Bardsley family accepted a $3 million payment from insurance companies for Ludwig and his company days before Ludwig’s court appearance.

The Bardsley family refused to meet with the solicitor or investigators and would communicate only through their attorney.

Ludwig who in May wrote on his bond paperwork, ostensibly to change its provisions, was hauled back into court for contempt four hours after his release. His bond was revoked and the judge let him out of jail on bond three days later.

A special judge was appointed just to hear this case by Chief Justice Jean Toal because it was controversial and complex.

Ludwig hired as his attorney Billy Wilkins, the retired chief judge of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

“He came out better than anybody I’ve ever seen with similar circumstances and similar background,” said John Abdalla, a former prosecutor and public defender.

Wilkins said money had nothing to do with the outcome. “We have only one justice system,” Wilkins said. “There is not one for the rich and one for the poor.”

In court Monday, Wilkins described Ludwig as a man who was not wealthy— in fact, he had lost everything: his business, his house, his wife.

In court on Monday Ludwig was far from the man associates have called cocky and ruthless. He looked almost bewildered. His “Yes sirs” and “No sirs” were clear and steady.

He swallowed once when Williams accepted the plea, and then sat back down at the defense table. He looked at his mother, Reesie, who gave him a slight smile.

Ariail then described the night of the accident. Ludwig and Will McKibbon, the lawyer for the company Ludwig owned at the time, SDI Networks, agreed to meet in downtown Greenville for dinner after leaving a wedding reception at the Green Valley Country Club.

McKibbon told investigators he was traveling on Roe Ford Road, a two-lane country road with a posted speed limit of 35 mph, at between 50 to 60 mph when Ludwig passed him, cut back in front and lost control.

An accident reconstruction team put Ludwig’s speed at between 85 and 96 mph when he left the roadway, Ariail said.

“The actual speed could have reached 100 mph,” the solicitor said.

The car traveled 342 feet through a field in 3.7 seconds. Then Ludwig applied the brakes, Ariail said. The car started to turn sideways before its traction control system straightened it out, he said.

“In a normal vehicle, this car would have rolled and most likely would have resulted in the death of Mr. Ludwig,” the solicitor said.

Instead, the car hit a thicket of trees, went airborne for more than 65 feet before landing 12 feet inside the Bardsley home. It came to a stop in the driveway.

Ariail showed copies of 24 tickets – for speeding and at-fault wrecks – Ludwig has accumulated since 1992.

“His continued behavior shows he does not heed warnings, from law enforcement or the courts, to slow his speed down,” he told the judge. “He was traveling at a speed in excess of any posted speed limit in this country.”

Ludwig’s behavior, the prosecutor said, showed a lack of concern for the safety of others.

The Bardsley family was not in the courtroom. Their attorney, Pete Roe, read a statement saying they wanted Ludwig to be held accountable for his actions.

“The depth of our loss is immeasurable and beyond our expression,” Roe said.

As Ludwig stood before the judge, his mother at his side with her hand around his waist, Wilkins said his client admitted to driving recklessly from the beginning.

“He did a very foolish thing,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins said two deer stepped out of the woods and Ludwig overreacted. “He should have been able to stop the car,” Wilkins said. But a light on the dash indicated a possible problem with the car’s front suspension system and a potential faulty braking system, a problem for which the car manufacturer issued a recall, Wilkins said. Ludwig was making arrangements to have the car repaired but was told the car was safe to drive, his attorney said.

Wilkins said there’s a possibility his client may have accidentally hit the accelerator. After the crash, Ludwig heard a dog barking inside the house and went inside. He saw Bardsley’s wife standing at the top of the stairs, Wilkins said. He helped her get outside before going back in to find Bardsley unconscious in the living room, Wilkins said.

Alcohol and drugs played no role in the incident, he said.

“There’s a lot more to this man than those 15 seconds,” Wilkins said.

Wilkins told the story of a man who began working at 11 in an icehouse, got a football scholarship to Furman University where he worked in the cafeteria so he could eat for free and did janitorial work to earn spending money, and who built his own businesses to make big money. He said Ludwig offered to buy the Bardsley house after he heard the family could not move back in because of the memories.

Ludwig bought back his father’s chicken farm in Lincolnton, Ga., and built a specially equipped home for his sister, Angie, who is wheelchair bound and has muscular dystrophy.

Ludwig broke down crying when Wilkins told the judge about the difficulty Ludwig’s sister has traveling and her insistence at being in court.

Ludwig’s mother broke down as she started speaking. Ludwig quietly told her, “It’s all right,” and took a handkerchief from his pocket.

Her sobs masked her words except, “He’s a good person.”

Wilkins said Ludwig was “truly living the American dream” before the wreck. Once the murder charges were filed, Ludwig was forced to sell his business to save his employees’ jobs, Wilkins said.

Wilkins patted Ludwig on the back twice before Ludwig addressed the judge.

Red-faced with a clenched jaw, he cleared his throat and said, “I want to say I’m deeply sorry and I take full responsibility for the accident. I extend my deepest sympathies to the Bardsley family.”

After the hearing, Ludwig briefly started toward a side door in the courtroom before he stood at the defense table. He exchanged tearful hugs with his family and friends before signing probation paperwork.

Then Ludwig left the courtroom, silently, this time followed by a line of reporters instead of supporters.

Contact Cindy Landrum at 679-1237 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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