Alabama grandmother convicted in girl’s running death could be executed

Alabama grandmother convicted in girl’s running death could be executed

After being convicted of capital murder on Friday, Joyce Hardin Garrard will face either life without parole or the death penalty.

An Alabama woman accused of having her granddaughter run until she died as punishment will face either life in prison or the death penalty when a jury decides her fate.

A judge told jurors to report back to court on Monday to sentence 49-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard, who has been charged in the killing of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin in February 2012, according to an Associated Press report.

During the sentencing, the jurors will hear more evidence to determine whether Garrard deserves life without parole or the death penalty, the latter of which the prosecution is asking for, arguing that she made the girl run for hours as punishment for telling a lie when she finally collapsed and died from seizures.

The defense, however, says that jurors should spare the woman, arguing that she is married and has eight other grandchildren, and that it would be wrong to think that she realized the severity of what she was doing and only has a ninth-grade education.

Garrard was found guilty on Friday of capital murder after being on trial for two weeks, with testimony showing that the girl had been made to run and carry wood for hours until her collapse. Medics arrived on the scene finding her unconscious, and she was kept on life support until her father returned from Pakistan and took her off a ventilator, according to a Gadsden Times report.

Garrard supposedly forced the girl to run after lying about eating chocolate candy bars.

Killing a child under 14 in Alabama is only punishable with either the death penalty or life without parole.

The conviction offers a preview of sorts for the trial of 30-year-old Jessica Mae Hardin, the child’s stepmother who allegedly spent time on her laptop computer as the girl was made to run around picking up sticks, choosing not to intervene. Prosecutors say that Hardin should go to prison for not stepping in on that fateful day.

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