Georgia Supreme Court upholds conviction in Vidalia mother-daughter murders, rejects convicted killers’ appeal

VIDALIA, Ga. (WTOC) - The Georgia Supreme Court has upheld the murder convictions of Joshua Magual Sanders in the shooting deaths of Latorey Harden and her mother, Pamela Harden.

It’s a case that began with a deadly encounter outside the daughter’s Vidalia home and ended with Sanders’ arrest more than 1,700 miles away.

In a March opinion from the GA Supreme Court, the court affirmed Sanders’ convictions for two counts of malice murder and his other convictions.

The court said the trial evidence included surveillance footage of the shooting, eyewitness testimony, and Sanders’ own testimony, and showed that after a brief, tumultuous romantic relationship between Sanders and the daughter, LaTorey-- Sanders shot and killed LaTorey and Pamela outside the daughter’s residence on Jan. 6, 2022.

The gunfire happened near the corner of 5th Street and Winona.

Investigators initially said the suspect left the scene in a blue 2021 Nissan Rogue with a busted window, and that the victims knew the suspected shooter.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation later announced Sanders, 27, of Birmingham, Alabama, had been arrested by the U.S. Marshals in Flagstaff, Arizona.

See release here: gbi.georgia.gov/press-releases/2022-01-12/gbi-investigating-double-shooting-vidalia-update

Authorities said Pamela Harden’s 2021 Nissan Rogue was taken from the scene and later recovered in Birmingham.

In our earlier coverage, Vidalia Police Chief James Jermon said the case frightened residents in part because Sanders was not from the area and was not known in the community, with investigators believing he had connected with one of the victims on social media.

After Sanders was extradited back to Georgia, he made his first court appearance in Toombs County in February 2022.

District Attorney Tripp Fitzner says they presented Sanders’ video confession to GBI agents, security video of the shooting, and eyewitness accounts to convince a jury to convict.

“There were people who saw the altercation, and it was traumatic experience for them as well. He says Sanders had met Latorey on social media and come to Vidalia to see her just days before an argument led to the shooting. He’s thankful the jury convicted Sanders and he now faces life without a chance for parole,” said the DA at the time.

Toombs County Sheriff Jordan Kight called the killings an unusual case for Vidalia and Toombs County.

A jury trial was held in May of 2023, and jurors found Sanders guilty on all 15 counts.

In our previous coverage following the verdict, investigators said Sanders stole one of the victims’ vehicles, drove it to Birmingham and then traveled toward Arizona, where he was eventually captured.

The trial court sentenced Sanders to consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for each malice murder count.

The court also imposed additional prison time for firearm convictions, along with concurrent 20-year sentences for two cruelty-to-children counts and a concurrent sentence for theft by taking.

On appeal, Sanders argued his motion-for-new-trial attorney was ineffective for failing to claim that Sanders’ trial attorney was ineffective in the way he conducted Sanders’ direct examination—specifically, Sanders contended counsel did not “shape” or “guide” his testimony and that his testimony reflected negatively on his character.

The court said Georgia law does not allow defendants to resuscitate an unraised claim of trial counsel ineffectiveness by repackaging it on appeal as a complaint about motion-for-new-trial counsel.

The opinion added that if Sanders wants to pursue a claim that post-conviction counsel was ineffective, he must do so through a habeas corpus petition.

He’s been at Hays State Prison since June of 2023.