A Maryland woman will be released from prison despite helping her mother dismember her grandmother’s body with a chainsaw and roasting the remains, after lawyers argued she was simply following her mother’s orders.
Salia Margaret Hardy, 21, has learning disabilities that make her more susceptible to coercion, her attorneys had argued in Prince George’s County Circuit Court, to which Judge Karen Mason ultimately agreed. according to the Washington Post.
On Wednesday, he decided to release Hardy after he pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact and provided damning testimony against his own mother, 46-year-old Candace Craig.
The judge declared that the 550 days Hardy already spent behind bars for the death of his grandmother, Margaret Craig, 71, was sufficient time served for his role in his grandmother’s murder and issued parole requirements intended to help the young woman to put her life back together.
These include psychiatric and psychological evaluations, as well as drug and alcohol testing.
Hardy must also have employment and vocational training along with the services of a mentor or life coach, and will be under supervision for five years.
Prosecutors also appeared to have no problem letting Hardy go free, with Assistant State’s Attorney Shauna Coleman pointing to his testimony at his mother’s trial in October.
“I’ve never seen such bravery from a cooperator,” Coleman said, noting that Hardy “really got justice for his grandmother.”
Salia Margaret Hardy, 21, will be free after lawyers argued she was simply following her mother’s orders when she helped her dismember her grandmother’s body with a chainsaw and roast the remains.
Margaret Craig, 71, was murdered inside her daughter’s home on May 23, 2023.
Hardy had told jurors at his mother’s trial in October that he heard his grandmother screaming on May 23, 2023, inside her home, and his mother told him not to go into his grandmother’s room afterward. Fox 5 DC reports.
The next day, Hardy said he noticed his mother had scratches on her chest and arms, and then decided to disobey his mother and look inside his grandmother’s room.
Inside, Hardy said he found his grandmother’s body in a dumpster with a trash bag over her face and blood on the carpet.
When her mother returned home, Hardy said she was angry with her for coming into the room, but did not tell her what happened.
Several days later, Hardy said she and her mother went to a store to buy items such as a lighter, some charcoal and gasoline.
He claimed that it was his mother’s idea to burn Margaret’s body in the backyard, but he had to change his plan when neighbors noticed the fire spreading and called the fire department to their house.
At that point, Hardy said, his mother ordered a chainsaw online and began cutting the body into pieces the next day.
Police found bags containing Margaret’s body parts in the basement a week later, after other concerned relatives asked for a welfare check on the 71-year-old woman for whom Candace was supposed to be the caregiver.
Margaret’s death was later ruled a homicide by undetermined means.
A jury convicted Hardy’s mother, Candace Craig, 46, of first- and second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and improper disposal of his body in October.
At Candace’s trial in October, prosecutors presented graphic images of Margaret’s body parts being grilled, WTO reports.
They argued that her murder was fueled by financial misconduct and fraud after Margaret confronted her daughter about fraudulent use of her credit cards.
A jury deliberated for just over an hour before returning a guilty verdict for first- and second-degree murder, tampering with evidence and improper disposal of his body.
“There are no words to express how devastated I was when I learned about this case, how angry I was and how committed my office was to getting justice,” State Attorney Aisha Braveboy said after the verdict.
‘And as in any case, it is not easy. There was an enormous amount of evidence in this case. “It took me a lot to put it all together.”
He went on to say that his main concern was for Candace’s children and the family members who witnessed the violence.
‘You have to live with this. “You have three girls who knew, who now know, that their mother killed their grandmother, dismembered her body, tried to set her on fire and then tried to blame them,” Braveboy said.
‘I can’t even imagine the therapy, the support, everything they are going to need to become strong young women. This… it’s almost unbelievable, but it happened. Happened.’
But Judge Mason has now urged Hardy to make her life her grandmother’s legacy, “something she can be proud of.”