Jurors consider death penalty for grandma in girl's running death
GADSDEN, AL -- A jury is considering whether to recommend life or death for the Alabama grandmother they convicted of running her granddaughter to death.
A judge told jurors to report back to court Monday for the sentencing of 49-year-old Joyce Hardin Garrard.
The panel will hear additional evidence as it decides whether to recommend execution or life without parole for the murder of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin. The judge has the final say.
Prosecutors want death. They say Garrard brutally made the girl run for hours as punishment for a lie until she collapsed into seizures.
The defense is asking jurors to spare the woman. She's married and has eight surviving grandchildren, and her lawyer says there's no way she realized the consequences of her actions with only a ninth grade education.
