Garrard attorneys file notice of appeal

Joyce Hardin Garrard

The day after Joyce Hardin Garrard was sentenced to life in prison without parole, the attorneys who represented her at trial gave notice her conviction will be appealed.

An Etowah County Jury found Garrard  guilty of capital murder in March, and the same jury that believed she forced her 9-year-old granddaughter to run until the girl collapsed and later died recommended a sentence of life in prison without parole rather than the death penalty.

Prosecutors asked that the judge respect the jury’s recommendation, Etowah County Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree sentenced Garrard to life in prison without possibility of parole for the death of Savannah Hardin.

Ogletree also ordered Garrard to pay a $50 Victim Compensation Assessment, and ordered that attorneys Paul Roberts and Scott Stewart would be Garrard’s appointed counsel for her appeal.

The attorneys who argued on Garrard’s behalf at trial — Dani Bone, Richard Rhea and Sam Bone — filed the notice of appeal Tuesday.

At the end of the trial in March, Dani Bone said he expected the case to be reversed on appeal. During the trial, he asked for a mistrial, saying jurors had defied the judge’s admonishments about using social media and talking about the case.

Bone also noted the ruling that excluded testimony about the standard of care Savannah received after she was taken to the hospital following the seizure she suffered Feb. 17, 2012. She died days later at Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.