AL grandma charged in running death case says 'I'd die first' before hurting granddaughter

ETOWAH COUNTY, AL (WBRC) - Joyce Garrard, the grandmother accused of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death in 2012, has taken the stand and is testifying in her own defense in her

.

Closing arguments will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, March 20. Jurors have been released fro the day but attorneys and judges will address some motions that have been filed.

Joyce Garrard says "I'd die first," before she'd ever hurt Savannah Hardin or any of her other grandchildren.

Garrard took the stand in her own defense on Wednesday, in day six of testimony in the Etowah County capital murder trial against her. She's accused of making Savannah run and carry wood until she collapsed, and later died at a hospital. The defense rested after her testimony.

The defense has maintained Savannah's February 2012 death was caused by overhydration, not dehyradation.

Garrard was on the stand for two hours and ten minutes, interrupted by a break 15 break requested by a juror. She appeared calm and soft-spoken during much of the direct testimony, when she was questioned by one of her attorneys, Richard Rhea.

Garrard said on the afternoon in question, February 17, 2012, she had picked Savannah up from school while Savannah's stepmother, Jessica Hardin, ran some errands. Garrard said she'd been told Savannah was "in trouble for lying."

Garrard testified she often took part in some favorite activity of a grandchild whenever she wanted to teach them a lesson, saying they pay more attention to her when they're involved in an activity.

"I was supposed to spank her," Garrard said on the stand. "I just couldn't."

At issue was an incident in which Savannah obtained some fundraising candy bars from a child on the school bus, ate them and lied about it, even though she supposedly wasn't allowed to have chocolate due to bladder reflux.

When Rhea asked Garrard if she made her pick up sticks in the yard, Garrard answered, "I didn't make her, I told her that's what she had to do."

Garrard made the point multiple times during testimony that Savannah was strong willed and "I couldn't make her do anything."

When asked if she made Savannah run, she said, "You don't have to tell Savannah to run." She said Savannah loved to run and did so a good part of the afternoon just because she wanted to.

Garrard said on the ride home from school Savannah complained about being thirsty and said the meat on a sandwich she took to school tasted bad. Garrard said during the afternoon she and Savannah shared a bottle of water, often going into the house to refill it from the refrigerator.

Garrard denied Savannah ran and carried wood non-stop for three hours, and denied making her run as punishment. She said during that afternoon, the two did a number of things, even lying next to each other on the grass at one point. She said there was supposed to be pizza for supper and a bonfire that night since Savannah had apparently learned her lesson that "her nose would grow" if she kept "telling stories."

Garrard said Savannah vomited twice, the first time, standing next to her stepmother, Jessica Hardin, and throwing up a "clear liquid with some cupcake icing on it." The second time occurred during the 911 call.

That call happened, Garrard said, when the two raced each other up the back steps to the bathroom, then when they reached the top step, before she knew it, the two were on the ground. She described Savannah as "in a full blown seizure," shaking, and yelled for Jessica Hardin to call 911 immediately.

Garrard said Savannah wet herself when she fell, so Garrard removed her clothes and yelled, "Give me a throw or something," so she could cover up Savannah after removing her wet clothes. She denied saying, "Give me a smoke or something," as the 911 operator testified.

Garrard appeared to cry as she recalled the 911 call.

"I was calling to Savannah, Savannah, it will be all right," she said. "But it wasn't," she added as she dried her eyes with tissue.

Under cross examination from prosecutor Marcus Reid, Garrard denied there were differences with Jessica Hardin or Savannah's father, Robert, about how to discipline Savannah. She denied telling Hardin she'd handle punishment for Savannah because she thought Hardin would be too lenient.

Savannah's stepmother, Jessica Hardin, is charged with murder in this same case for failing to intervene. Some of Reid's questions for Garrard may have come from Hardin's statement to the Etowah County Sheriff's investigators. Hardin is not on trial this week and is out on bond.

Under often aggressive questioning from Reid, Garrard often said she didn't recall certain statements she made or accounts given by other witnesses. At one point she even said she couldn't recall her conversation with a school bus driver that was caught on video, even though the video was played in court earlier in the trial.

When asked about two medical experts--one called by her own defense attorneys--who said the running specifically caused Savannah's death, Garrard said, "I didn't pay attention, I let my lawyers do that." She later said she would never have allowed Savannah to do anything that would have harmed her.

She claimed Savannah only cried twice--both times because she didn't get her way. Once it was because she wanted to go to a steakhouse instead of eating pizza a home, another time it was because her grandparents wouldn't take her to look at horses. Garrard denied Savannah ever cried while she was running.

Garrard was also hammered about inconsistencies about what she told investigators, including the amount of water Savannah drank that day and how much she ran--from five minutes to 20 to off and on the whole afternoon. She recalled an investigator swearing at her, and at one point she suggested their interrogation of co-defendant Jessica Hardin caused Hardin to go into labor.

Garrard also denied an allegation from Reid that at one point at Children's of Alabama, she told an upset Jessica Hardin, "Get it together, girl! We have a lot on the line here!"

She also appeared conflicted when shown the bus video again over whether she was suggesting she would make Savannah run specifically as punishment when the bus camera caught her conversation on recorded video. And asked why she didn't tell medics and doctors about the physical exertion, she said it was because they didn't ask her questions about that.

Garrard said she cries every day in private, saying she's lost everything she cares about. At one point she told her own attorney she rarely speaks to her son Robert anymore, and doesn't even know if he has another woman in his life after he parted ways with Jessica Hardin.

After a lunch break, the defense rested its case and the state did not call any rebuttal witnesses.The jurors have been released for the day and closing arguments will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

Attorneys and the judge remain at court to address some motions that have been filed.

FOX6 has a crew in the courtroom and we will update this story as we get new information. You can also follow @FOX6DixonHayes on Twitter for updates.

Copyright 2015 WBRC. All rights reserved.