A 50-year-old Alabama grandmother and convicted murderer, who authorities said ran her granddaughter to death in 2012, died Friday after apparently suffering a heart attack, the Associated Press reports.
Joyce Garrard first collapsed Sunday in prison, following a visit from her family, her son's attorney, Alan Jackson, told AL.com. She was placed on life support at a Montgomery hospital earlier this week, her attorney, Dani Bone, told WIAT.
Neither Alabama state prison officials nor Garrard's attorney immediately responded to PEOPLE's request for comment. Garrard was convicted in March 2015 of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, in the death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin.
Authorities said Garrard forced Hardin to run for more than three hours, while carrying firewood, as punishment for lying about eating candy. Garrard, and her family, have maintained that she would never have intentionally injured Hardin.
"It's all wrong," Garrard's husband, Johnny, told reporters outside the courtroom following her sentencing, according to The Huntsville Times. "It's all wrong. She's innocent of this."
But prosecutors disputed that defense, citing a surveillance tape from the school bus in which Garrard can be overheard saying of Hardin, "She's going to run until I tell her to stop ... I don't play with her."
Hardin's stepmother, Jessica, has been accused of murder in the girl's death, for allegedly failing to intervene, and is currently awaiting trial.
Joyce Garrard first collapsed Sunday in prison, following a visit from her family, her son's attorney, Alan Jackson, told AL.com. She was placed on life support at a Montgomery hospital earlier this week, her attorney, Dani Bone, told WIAT.
Neither Alabama state prison officials nor Garrard's attorney immediately responded to PEOPLE's request for comment. Garrard was convicted in March 2015 of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, in the death of 9-year-old Savannah Hardin.
Authorities said Garrard forced Hardin to run for more than three hours, while carrying firewood, as punishment for lying about eating candy. Garrard, and her family, have maintained that she would never have intentionally injured Hardin.
"It's all wrong," Garrard's husband, Johnny, told reporters outside the courtroom following her sentencing, according to The Huntsville Times. "It's all wrong. She's innocent of this."
But prosecutors disputed that defense, citing a surveillance tape from the school bus in which Garrard can be overheard saying of Hardin, "She's going to run until I tell her to stop ... I don't play with her."
Hardin's stepmother, Jessica, has been accused of murder in the girl's death, for allegedly failing to intervene, and is currently awaiting trial.
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