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Fireworks in grandmother's trial over girl's running death

GADSDEN, Ala. - Emotions boiled over Wednesday in the capital murder trial of an Alabama woman accused of running her 9-year-old granddaughter to death, with the defense accusing the state of withholding key evidence and a prosecutor cursing angrily in front of jurors.

Etowah County Circuit Judge Billy Ogletree refused a defense request to end the case of Joyce Hardin Garrard in a mistrial, but prosecutors withdrew a medical witness who was on the stand when the flare-up occurred.

The judge then immediately gave jurors a two-hour lunch break.

The fireworks came on the third day of prosecution testimony against Garrard, who allegedly killed 9-year-old Savannah Hardin by making her run and carry wood for hours as punishment for a lie about candy.

The defense hasn't denied that the girl ran outside of her home in rural northeast Alabama on Feb. 17, 2012. But Garrard's lawyers do deny that the woman had any intention of harming her granddaughter.

The woman told investigators the girl wanted to run and get faster after finishing second in a race at school, according to police testimony.

The trial had been mostly orderly, with the judge holding multiple talks with attorneys at his bench in hushed voices. That changed when medical scribe Renee Jones took the stand for the state as jurors watched.

Parts of the attorneys' discussion were audible to spectators. As the lawyers talked with judge Ogletree, defense attorney Dani Bone complained that prosecutors were now claiming that hospital records showing the child was "alert and oriented" after an ambulance ride were incorrect.

"We were not provided this 'mistake,'" Bone said loudly, the back of his neck reddened.

It was a potentially big point for Garrard: Evidence that showed the girl recovered for a time before slipping back into unconsciousness and dying could help her defense, which previously argued that medical problems aside from exertion might have contributed to her death.

Bone asked for a mistrial, but the judge refused. The attorneys' conference over, Jones testified that Savannah was still and quiet when she saw her.

"She wasn't talking to anybody or sitting up on a cot. She was just lying there," Jones said.

Referring to a medical record, Jones read a note that apparently described the child as being "alert and oriented to person, place and time" without visible neurological damage after arriving at the hospital. She didn't explain the significance of the observation.

The judge called attorneys back to his desk. After a few minutes, a member of the prosecution team told Bone to "shut the hell up," which was audible to jurors.

Stepping away from the desk, District Attorney Jimmie Harp said the prosecution was withdrawing Jones as a witness but might call her again. Some jurors appeared perplexed by the drama.

The exchange followed testimony by sheriff's investigator Mike Jones, who told jurors about a statement that Garrard made to him and another officer in which she said the girl wanted to be outside running.

Earlier testimony showed the woman claimed the girl wanted to get faster after finishing second in a race at school.

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