Judge reduces sentence in Ole Miss student hit-and-run case

A Lafayette County Circuit Court judge has reduced the prison term of Seth Garron Rokitka, the Tennessee man convicted in the hit-and-run that killed Ole Miss student Walker Fielder and badly injured Blanche Williamson, changing the practical outcome of a case that has shadowed Oxford since the crash.

Circuit Judge Kent Smith suspended the balance of Rokitka’s sentence and ordered him released from custody in April, after reviewing his conduct behind bars. Rokitka, 28, of Collierville, Tennessee, had been sentenced in August 2025 to 10 years for leaving the scene of an accident and a five-year suspended sentence for aggravated DUI, with the terms set to run consecutively. Under the amended order, the leaving-the-scene sentence was reduced to time served, and the rest was suspended on conditions of good behavior.

Smith’s April 2 order said, “Mr. Rokitka should be re-sentenced in light of his continued rehabilitation and his institutional conduct, education and treatment.” The judge’s ruling also allowed Rokitka’s supervision to transfer to Tennessee, meaning he will not remain under Mississippi custody while serving the remaining conditions. He must complete 50 hours of community service with the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office and submit to random alcohol and drug testing.

The crash happened around 1:14 a.m. on Oct. 16, 2022, when Oxford police responded to reports that two people had been struck in the parking lot behind Oxford City Hall. Investigators said Rokitka was driving a Toyota pickup when it hit the students. He had originally faced more serious charges, including aggravated assault, manslaughter and leaving the scene of an accident, before later pleading guilty to aggravated DUI and leaving the scene of an accident causing death. A second Collierville man, Tristan Holland, was charged as an accessory after the fact and given a $25,000 bond in October 2022.

Fielder, 21, of Madison, died from his injuries. Williamson, then 20 and from Raleigh, North Carolina, suffered a broken pelvis and could not walk for a month before recovering from her critical injuries. Mississippi law requires a driver involved in an accident causing injury or death to stop, return if necessary and remain at the scene until legal duties are met.

The ruling lands in a case that already carried deep emotional weight in Oxford and on campus. The University of Mississippi Foundation announced a Walker Allen Fielder Scholarship Endowment in February 2023, later reported at $50,000, and Fielder was remembered by his family, Sigma Chi and the university community as a finance student from Madison. In Mississippi, fatal DUI and hit-and-run cases can bring long prison terms, which makes Smith’s decision to suspend the balance of Rokitka’s sentence notable against the state’s usual sentencing pattern.