Georgia Supreme Court Upholds Conviction in Snellville Target Murder Case

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.

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.

Prosecutors said that Hayes wore a mustache and a wig in an attempt to disguise herself during the shooting.

The newspaper 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."

Her appeal was denied unanimously, according to the Gwinnett Daily Post.

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