Mar 26, 2015 4 min read

GADSDEN, Ala. – A jury Thursday recommended life without parole for an Alabama woman convicted of capital murder in her granddaughter’s running death.

Jurors rejected prosecutors’ pleas for a death sentence for Joyce Hardin Garrard in the February 2012 death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin. The decision came on a split vote: seven for life, five for death. It also came on Garrard’s 50th birthday. Members of her family cried in the courtroom after the sentence recommendation was announced.

Under Alabama law, a vote of at least 10 of 12 jurors was required for the panel to recommend death. A simple majority could recommend life.

The verdict is only a suggestion under Alabama law. Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree will make the final sentencing decision at a hearing May 11.

The same jury convicted Garrard of capital murder last week.

Defense attorney Dani Bone said he plans to appeal, saying, “Joyce Garrard did not receive a fair trial.” He noted the judge excluded medical evidence the defense wanted to present. He also repeated his assertion the defense has evidence at least four jurors were on Facebook during the trial, despite the judge’s admonitions to avoid social media.

Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said he was “very pleased” both with Garrard’s conviction and the jury’s recommendation.

“We believe Savannah Hardin received justice today,” Harp said.

Deputy prosecutor Marcus Reid said Savannah’s death might have gone unsolved if neighbors hadn’t contacted investigated after learning her condition in hospital.

“They are heroes in this case,” Reid said.

Reid asked jurors to recommend the death penalty, adding he’s never prosecuted a case like this one.

“This case is the only case I know of where the perpetrator forced the victim to participate in her own death,” he told jurors. “Joyce Garrard forced Savannah Hardin to help kill herself.”

Prosecutors contended Garrard made the girl run as punishment for telling a lie about candy, and refused to let Savannah stop running even after the girl was vomiting and begging for an end to the exercise. In court, they cited a school bus surveillance video that captured Garrard saying she would run the girl and teach her a lesson.

Bone, the defense attorney, stood beside the jury box holding a small, dark rock and reminded jurors that in old times, the jury would participate in the execution by throwing rocks at the condemned.

He said they have a right to say, “I ain’t throwing that stone.”

“If you can’t throw that stone, be the first one, then don’t,” he added.

Garrard’s family and friends pleaded Wednesday for jurors to spare her life after, calling her a loving grandmother who endured an abusive childhood that included being beaten by her own grandmother.

Garrard, of Boaz, testified last week she had no intention of harming the girl and denied she forced her to run. Garrard said during cross examination Savannah wanted Garrard to help her get faster for races at school, and they both ran “a bunch” before Savannah collapsed.

Because Thursday was Garrard’s birthday, deputies allowed her to hug relatives across the short wall that separates the front of the courtroom from the spectators before court opened in the morning.

Joyce embraced her husband Johnny Garrard for several minutes, rubbing his back and the back of his head as she and her relatives wept.

Afterward, she sat down at the defense table and stared at her son and Savannah’s father, Robert, who was in the courtroom for the first time. He sat directly behind the prosecution table and did not appear to return the eye contact.