Jury Selection in Garrard trial delayed by weather

Etowah County Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree ruled Tuesday that defense attorneys for Joyce Hardin Garrard can ask questions about the reasons why a state pathologist who performed the autopsy on Savannah Hardin was fired from her job.

Joyce Hardin Garrard

Ogletree also pushed back the beginning of jury selection to Thursday due to the threat of snow today, meaning opening arguments in the trial of the woman accused of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death in 2012 won't begin until next week.

Ogletree made several rulings in a hearing that lasted about 90 minutes.

The state had sought in a motion to block questions about Dr. Emily Ward, who performed an autopsy on the child for the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences. The defense had filed a copy of a May 2013 letter to Ward saying she was being fired for falsifying time sheets and dereliction of duty.

But District Attorney Jimmie Harp said the state stands by her work on the case.

Garrard is accused of forcing her granddaughter Savannah to run for three hours carrying firewood until she collapsed from exhaustion in February 2012. The punishment came, prosecutors contend, because the grandmother caught Hardin in a lie on a Friday afternoon about eating a candy bar.

The child was taken to a Gadsden hospital and then transferred to Children's of Alabama, where she died the following Monday. A preliminary autopsy showed she was extremely dehydrated and had a very low sodium level.

Deputy District Attorney Marcus Reid argued that Ogletree should not allow the defense to argue that medical treatment contributed to Savannah's death. He said the state had interviewed all expert witnesses the defense is expected to call during the trial and none of them were prepared to testify the child's medical care caused her death.

Defense attorney Dani Bone said the defense had not made any statement in court that they would argue medical care caused her death. Last year, the child's father, Robert Hardin, filed a medical malpractice suit against the Gadsden hospital where Savannah was treated.

Bone asked Ogletree to allow a witness to testify at the hearing on this issue, but Ogletree would not agree. When Bone persisted, Ogletree gaveled the hearing into a brief recess for a conference in chambers on the matter.

In the end, Ogletree ruled that any attempt to admit evidence about standard of care could first be made outside the jury's presence. He also ruled that only qualified expert witnesses could give expert testimony and opinions, which would not allow questions of anyone but Garrard about her intentions.