Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Running From Alabama

You may want to run to it:

"Prosecutors play 911 call of girl they say was run to death" Associated Press  March 11, 2015

GADSDEN, Ala. — An Alabama woman on trial for murder in her granddaughter’s death called out the child’s name time after time as the girl lay on the ground after collapsing, but didn’t tell medics the girl had run for hours, according to evidence presented Tuesday.

Joyce Hardin Garrard, 49, is heard repeatedly calling the name of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin in the more than 11-minute 911 recording played in the courtroom.

The child’s stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, told the 911 operator the girl had a seizure. Garrard talked in the background.

‘‘Savannah, open your eyes,’’ Garrard is heard saying.

‘‘How is she doing?’’ operator Lori Beth Beggs asks.

‘‘We can’t get her to come to,’’ Hardin responds.

Garrard’s lawyers haven’t denied that the girl ran before her collapse, but the defense said the woman had no intention of harming her granddaughter.

The recording showed that Hardin, who is awaiting trial on a murder charge in the girl’s death, never told Beggs the child had been running or that she had any previous medical problems. Beggs said the information could have been useful to her treatment. Savannah died in a hospital three days later.

That last sentence Beggs some questions, doesn't it?

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UPDATES:

"Word in 911 call could decide trial" Associated  March 16, 2015

GADSDEN, Ala. — One word on a 911 recording could help decide the fate of an Alabama woman accused of making her granddaughter run until she died.

With 9-year-old Savannah Hardin lying unconscious after an afternoon of running and a 911 operator listening over the phone, Joyce Hardin Garrard asked for something — either a cigarette or a blanket. The request, depending on what she said, could be considered callousness or compassion.

Garrard, who is on trial for capital murder, says she is innocent. It is unclear whether she will testify about what happened that day in rural northeast Alabama.

The trial will continue Monday after the judge gave jurors Thursday and Friday off without explanation. Prosecutors have indicated they are near the end of their case.

Garrard was making her granddaughter run as punishment for a lie about eating candy, prosecutors said....

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Related:

Judge won’t acquit grandma in Alabama girl’s running death

Alabama jury to weigh death penalty in girl’s death

"Girl’s mother calls for death in Ala. case" Associated Press  March 24, 2015

GADSDEN, Ala. — The mother of an Alabama girl testified through tears Monday that the child’s grandmother does not deserve to live after being convicted of running the youngster to death.

Heather Walker took the stand in support of prosecutors who want the death penalty for her former mother-in-law, Joyce Hardin Garrard.

Walker said the 49-year-old Garrard ‘‘shouldn’t be spared’’ after being convicted of capital murder in the death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin.

‘‘I personally feel like I see no remorse and she took away my baby’s life,’’ Walker said of Garrard.

Seated just a few feet away at the defense table, Garrard showed no emotion.

Walker, who is divorced from Garrard’s son Robert and has since remarried, said she was not allowed to see Savannah during the last two years of the girl’s life.

Jurors convicted Garrard on Friday and now must decide whether to recommend death or life without parole, the only options under Alabama law. The final decision is up to the judge.

The defense will begin presenting its case for a life sentence on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Garrard — with eight surviving grandchildren and a ninth-grade education — should be put to death for making the child run around her yard and carry wood for hours as punishment for a lie about candy in February 2012.

Savannah collapsed from a seizure and died three days later in a hospital in Birmingham after doctors determined there was no brain activity and removed her from life support. An autopsy blamed her death on seizures cause by low sodium following extreme physical exertion.

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Also seeJury backs life term for Ala. grandmother in girl’s running death