Alabama judge may toss run-death charges
GADSDEN, Ala. – A judge will consider dismissing charges against an Alabama woman accused of making her 9-year-old granddaughter run until she collapsed and died.
Etowah County Circuit Judge William Ogletree has set a hearing for Jan. 10 for Joyce Hardin Garrard.
Garrard is asking Ogletree to dismiss a charge accusing her of capital murder in the 2012 death of granddaughter Savannah Hardin.
Prosecutors said the 48-year-old Garrard made the girl run for three hours as punishment for a lie about eating a candy bar.
The child collapsed and died three days later.