Jury convicts grandma in child's running death; will consider death penalty
An Alabama woman accused of causing her granddaughter’s death by forcing her to run for hours was convicted of capital murder on Friday.
Jurors who convicted Joyce Hardin Garrard on Friday return to court in Etowah County on Monday to consider whether to recommend the death penalty, report the Associated Press and the Gadsden Times.
Prosecutors had contended Garrard forced her 9-year-old granddaughter, Savannah Hardin, to run as punishment for telling a lie about eating candy. The child was hospitalized and placed on life support after she suffered a seizure and collapsed. Her father was working in Pakistan as a government contractor at the time. He contends the hospital failed to properly treat the girl for low sodium levels.
Under Alabama law, the judge gets the final say on punishment, according to the articles. His only options are the death penalty or life without parole, under the Alabama law for intentional murder of a child under 14.
Still awaiting trial on a murder charge is the girl’s stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, the Associated Press reports in a separate story. Prosecutors have said she watched the punishment from a distance while on her laptop computer, then went inside to avoid watching the ordeal.
ABAJournal.com: “Did grandma on 911 tape ask for a ‘smoke’ or ‘throw’? Word disputed at trial for child’s death”
ABAJournal.com: “Grandma faces capital murder case in running death of girl, 9, despite med-mal issue”
Updated at 1:22 p.m. to rephrase a sentence.
