Woman gets life sentence in granddaughter’s death

GADSDEN, Ala. — An Alabama woman convicted of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death as punishment for lying about candy was sentenced Monday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Joyce Hardin Garrard, the diminutive grandmother whom prosecutors depicted as the “drill sergeant from hell,” stood before the judge, and told him if she could have anything in the world, it would be to have her granddaughter Savannah back with her today.

Garrard gripped the hand of her defense attorney as Etowah County Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree said he would uphold a jury’s recommendation of life without parole, rather than death by lethal injection. Her husband, Johnny Garrard, cradled another of the couple’s grandchildren as the sentence was read.

Prosecutors said Garrard forced 9-year-old Savannah Hardin to run for hours after school when Garrard became enraged over the child’s lie. A jury convicted Garrard of capital murder in March and recommended the life sentence over death by a 7-5 vote.

“We accept the recommendation that the jury made,” Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp told Ogletree.

Outside the courtroom after the sentencing, Johnny Garrard said he was outraged by the verdict because his wife wasn’t guilty.

“It’s wrong. It’s plain wrong. I know what happened that day. And what they say happened, is not what happened. It’s all just wrong,” Garrard said.

Garrard denied that she meant to harm the child. She told investigators the girl wanted to run and get faster after finishing second in a race at school, according to police testimony.

Testimony at trial showed that Savannah Hardin collapsed and vomited in 2012 outside her rural home following an afternoon of running and carrying sticks. She died several days later in a hospital after doctors removed her from life support.