AUGUSTA, GA – Adrian Hargrove has been taken off the death row and sentenced to life in prison after he was re-sentenced, according to a recent report by the Augusta Press.
The Augusta Press article states that, in 2008, Hargrove allegedly killed 18-year old Allyson Pederson, who was pregnant with her daughter, and her parents, Sharon and Andrew Hartley.
Hargrove was convicted of triple homicide and a feticide in 2014, and he was sentenced to death, a decision the jury made in less than an hour.
However, the article notes that, in 2018, Hargrove’s attorneys argued his trial was flawed due to prosecutorial misconduct, specifically the use of peremptory strikes to exclude 13 prospective Black jurors, resulting in a jury without a Black male.
The Augusta Press article also notes “the American Civil Liberties Union cited a community history of racism in support of the brief.”
The case was reassigned to another judge after the previous judge retired—the new judge resentenced Hargrove to “three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, plus another life sentence, plus 55 years,” the article reads.
In the August Press, Augusta District Attorney Jared Williams described this to be “the best possible outcome” after speaking to the family.
