Alabama woman who ran granddaughter to death gets life in prison

By Wayne Hester BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - An Alabama woman convicted of murder for running her 9-year-old granddaughter until she collapsed and died was spared the death penalty on Monday when a judge sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole, a court official said. Joyce Garrard, 50, was convicted in March in the 2012 death of Savannah Hardin with the jury recommending that she spend the rest of her life in prison. Garrard made Hardin run for almost three hours while carrying wood as punishment for lying about having eaten chocolates. The girl collapsed and went into seizures, prosecutors have said. Savannah, who lived in Etowah County in northeastern Alabama, died days later in hospital from dehydration and low sodium. The girl's stepmother, Jessica Mae Hardin, also has been charged with murder, with authorities saying she witnessed the punishment and failed to intervene. Garrard said in a conversation with Hardin's school bus driver captured on a bus video that "she's going to run 'til I tell her to stop" as punishment. Hardin had a bladder condition and was not allowed to have sweets or caffeine, Garrard told the bus driver. Dani Bone, an attorney for Garrard, said his client plans to appeal her conviction, the Alabama Media Group reported. After the guilty verdict, Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said he was pleased with the outcome and would ask Judge William Ogletree to accept the jury's recommended sentence of life in prison. Before the sentence was handed down, Garrard told Ogletree that she appreciated how the trial was handled. "The only thing I would change is that my granddaughter would be with me," she said, according to the Alabama Media Group. "What you give me is what I'll have to do." (Writing by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Lisa Lambert and Bill Trott)