Crime & Safety
News Nearby: Murder Conviction Upheld in Target Murder Case
The case involves Joanna Hayes, who is accused of murdering her daughter-in-law in the Snellville Target parking lot in 2009.
In May 2011, Gwinnett County jurors found a Joanna Hayes guilty in the killing of her daughter-in-law.
That verdict was upheld in Georgia Supreme Court on Monday, March 4, after Hayes appealed the decision, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.
The Gwinnett Daily Post reported that Hayes claimed "witnesses for the state were influenced by news coverage; that the images captured by surveillance cameras were unclear; that the fellow prisoners who testified against her were unreliable; and that the state only presented circumstantial evidence against her, which did not exclude all reasonable hypotheses except that of her guilt."
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Joanna Hayes was found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the commission of a felony, according to a report by the Associated Press. Hayes was given life in prison for murdering Heather Strube in the Snellville Target parking lot in 2009.
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