Judge denies motion to recuse him from Murder case

Etowah County Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree denied a motion Friday to recuse himself from the Savannah Hardin murder case and set a hearing date to decide to reveal the execution method should Joyce Garrard be convicted.  Garrard is charged with capital murder for Savannah’s 2012 death. She is accused of making Savannah, her 9-year-old granddaughter, run until she collapsed as punishment for a lie. After Savannah collapsed, she was taken to Gadsden Regional Medical Center and then airlifted to Children’s of Alabama, where she died three days later. Garrard’s attorneys, Dani Bone and Richard Rhea, filed the motion March 11 for Ogletree to step aside. The motion said Ogletree should not rule on the case because he was the judge in Savannah’s custody case and eventually awarded custody to Robert Hardin, Savannah’s father, and his wife, Jessica, who is charged with murder in connection with the child’s death.  The motion said a reasonable person would perceive bias on Ogletree’s part because Garrard has reason to believe Ogletree is feeling some unwarranted responsibility for Savannah’s death because he awarded custody to Robert and Jessica Hardin.  It also said Ogletree’s previous ties to the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office, where he worked as a deputy district attorney under current District Attorney Jimmie Harp before his appointment in 2010, also could cause a reasonable person to perceive bias or impartiality on Ogletree’s part.  The motion was denied.