A woman who killed her mother by beating her with a frying pan and vodka bottle was finally sentenced to life in prison Friday — after a two-year battle of legal technicalities.
Kajul Harvey, 23, was found guilty of murder in June 2013 for planning the 2011 beating death of her mother in Clayton County. The mother, Alena Marble, died after she was stuffed still breathing into a trunk on a hot June day.
But Superior Court Judge Matthew O. Simmons had to postpone sentencing because her attorney had filed an appeal before trial challenging the constitutionality of the proceedings.
On Friday, Simmons rejected requests for leniency and sentenced a weeping Harvey to life in prison without parole, calling the case the most brutal he had seen, according to Channel 2 Action News.
“If this is not a case for life without parole, I’m not sure what is,” Simmons said.
Clayton County prosecutor Katie Powers told the court that Harvey and her boyfriend, Latoris Grovner, left her child and mentally challenged sister home in the apartment so they could pilfer her mother’s bank account with her stolen debit card.
“Not only is (there) no regard for the life of her own mother, but no regard for lives of two people who could not assist themselves,” Powers said.
Grovner was convicted in 2013 of manslaughter and received a 30-year sentence.
Harvey’s attorney Lloyd Matthews’ actions in a previous attempt to try this case – he disobeyed the judge’s orders not to tell the jury information about his client – led to a mistrial.
Then in 2013, the defense attorney claimed that the judge erroneously declared the mistrial, and claimed that allowing prosecution of the same case and charges a second time would constitute trying his client twice for the same offense, specifically forbidden by the Constitution.
On Friday, Matthews said he is appealing again, but this time it is the actual sentence.
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