A prosecutor calls Joyce Hardin Garrard the “drill sergeant from hell,” a woman so mean she made her 9-year-old granddaughter run until the girl collapsed and died, all as punishment for lying about candy.
In court, the 59-year-old year old woman, plump and with a ponytail, looks like a typical grandmother aside from a jail uniform and shackles. And her attorneys argue Garrard’s beloved granddaughter died because of other medical problems, not anything Garrard did.
Jurors will begin sorting out the differing images and medical conclusions this week as Garrard goes on trial in the death three years ago of Savannah Hardin, a blond-haired girl known for her big smile and love of reading.
If convicted of capital murder, Garrard could join only a handful of other women on Alabama’s death row.
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Days after Savannah’s death, neighbor Roger Simpson told The Associated Press he saw a little girl running outside Garrard’s house but didn’t see anyone chasing or coercing her.
“I saw her running down there, that’s what I told the detectives,” Simpson said. “But I don’t see how that would kill her.”
While Simpson’s account could have helped Garrard, her attorneys filed a document last week saying the man died Dec. 7.
