GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) – An Alabama woman charged with capital murder in the death of her granddaughter forced the girl to run for more than three hours carrying sticks and firewood as a punishment for lying, prosecutors said Monday.
Joyce Garrard is accused of forcing 9-year-old Savannah Hardin to run until she died as punishment for a lie about eating candy on the school bus. She could be sentenced either to death or life without parole if convicted.
Assistant district attorney Marcus Reid said during opening statements in a standing-room-only courtroom that jurors would hear from neighbors who say they heard and saw what happened to Savannah the day she died.
Defense attorneys have not yet given their opening statement for Garrard, who was supported by about 20 relatives in the courtroom. The defense maintains that health problems and treatment decisions following Savannah’s collapse led to her death.
Neighbors said Garrard yelled at the girl as she ran, forcing her to continue “like some kind of drill sergeant.” At one point, one neighbor saw the girl vomiting on her hands and knees, begging to stop, Reid said.
When paramedics arrived, they found Savannah on the ground, “freezing cold to the touch,” her clothes and shoes soaking wet, Reid said. Garrard never told the medics that the girl had been running; she said only that the girl collapsed in the yard.
Savannah wasn’t supposed to eat candy because she was on medication for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and had a bladder problem, but she had eaten candy on the school bus the day before she died.
Garrard was angry that Savannah ate the candy – “but she was more upset about the lie,” Reid said.
Video surveillance showed Garrard talking to the school bus driver. Reid said Garrard told the driver that Savannah was “going to run until I tell her to stop.” When the bus driver asked if the girl was OK, Reid said, Garrard replied: “She might be if I can get four more bottles of water in her.”
Prosecutors have said the girl died of dangerously low sodium levels, which can be brought on by not having enough water in her system.
The girl’s stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the girl’s death. Authorities said she sat by without intervening while the older woman forced the girl to run until she dropped.