Sarah Hartsfield left the Chambers County Courthouse as a convicted killer three months ago.
Now, the retired military combat veteran and mother of four is serving a life sentence at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s Hobby Unit in Marlin, TX.
Testimony in her trial lasted seven days last fall in Anahuac, TX, where she had been held on a multi-million-dollar bond for two years after her husband Joseph Hartsfield died.
“I’d never heard of Sarah Hartsfield,” said Tom Strandlie, one of the jurors who decided her fate.
He’s speaking publicly for the first time and only to KPRC 2 News about how the jury reached a decision.
“She probably would have killed somebody else,” Strandlie said.
“You worried about that?” KPRC 2’s Bryce Newberry asked.
“I would have worried about that had we even remotely considered setting her free.”
READ MORE: Sarah Hartsfield sentenced to life after being found guilty in insulin murder trial
The Backstory
Joseph Hartsfield died in Jan. 2023 from complications of toxic effects of insulin, according to the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences.
He had been rushed to Houston Methodist Hospital in Baytown unresponsive and doctors found his blood sugar level was dangerously low. Normal treatments did nothing to help.
Investigators found several insulin pens on his side of the bed, which Sarah Hartsfield had admitted to touching and handled in front of law enforcement at the home.
While he spent hours at the critically low blood sugar level, Sarah Hartsfield claimed to be asleep and recovering from a recent surgery on narcotics.
But phone records revealed during that time, she was up and moving around, sending Facebook messages, using a grocery and banking app, and even setting herself up as his Apple Legacy Contact, which would transfer all of his phone data to her once he died.
Reaching A Verdict
The information about the Apple Legacy contact came late in the days of testimony during the trial while lead detective Skyler Rocz was on the stand.
“I didn’t even know that existed,” Strandlie said. “Obviously making herself the legacy contact for his Apple information, all that while he’s unconscious, that was the solidifying factor for me.”
Publicly, the jury appeared to take about an hour to return a guilty verdict.
But behind closed doors, Strandlie said it only took them a few minutes.
“We took an initial vote just to see where we are and it was by hand. And initially, who says guilty? Everybody raised their hand. We were all shocked. I mean, I was counting with my head. One, two, is that 12? And then it felt like, it felt awful sudden,” Strandlie said.
The jurors discussed a couple pieces of testimony at that point, he said.
“There was nothing substantive that was going to change anybody’s mind,” he said, “so at that point we just hit the button on the wall."
During deliberations on the length of sentence, Strandlie said they considered giving her a 50-year sentence so she could possibly have a relationship with her children someday, but said he was happy with the decision.
What Juror Noticed During Trial
During the trial, jurors heard testimony from Joseph Hartsfield’s doctors, but they also heard from Sarah Hartsfield’s exes about explosive fights, family members about disputes and house fires, and her four children about years of alleged abuse.
“I was intentionally watching something come out of the jury box and I’d look over at her to see what her reaction was. I saw a lot of eye rolling,” Strandlie said. “She just looked surprised, bewildered confusion sometimes. As if these people were lying about her."
Strandlie paid close attention during long days of testimony that went deep on medical history.
“When 18 people from your life get up there and say these terrible things about you, you’d think you’d start to take it seriously at some point and not say 18 people are lying,” he said.
This was Strandlie’s first time serving on a jury, and he said without their verdict, the stories about Sarah Hartsfield may not have been over.
“This was the first time in real life that I saw bad people doing bad things,” he said. “I am glad that Chambers County put their foot down and said, this is as far as this woman’s going and we’re stopping her now.”
Case Status
Sarah Hartsfield has appealed her murder conviction in Texas. The records from her case in the district court are due to the appeals court next month.
After her arrest in Texas, Douglas County, Minn., prosecutor Chad Larson announced that a 2018 investigation involving the shooting death of Sarah Hartsfield’s ex-fiancé David Bragg had been reopened in light of new information, but his office has not provided an update since.
That shooting was initially ruled self-defense.