The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously denied an appeal Tuesday for a new trial by a man who was found guilty of murdering a Vidalia mother and her daughter on January 6, 2022.

In May 2023 Joshua Sanders had been found guilty on 15 felony counts by a Toombs County jury and had been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in the deaths of Latory Harden and Pamela Harden of Vidalia.

Based on documentation presented in the Superior Court of Toombs County, Sanders met Latory Harden on social media and a romance began. Testimony in his trial in Toombs County showed that Sanders shot Latory in the head as she was holding her infant. The young woman’s mother, Pamela, arrived at the scene to intervene for her daughter, and Sanders also shot and killed her.

After the murders, Sanders stole Pamela’s SUV and fled to Alabama and was eventually captured in Arizona and extradited back to Toombs County to face the charges.

During his trial, Sanders admitted to killing the women, but contended that he did so in self-defense. However, it took a Toombs County jury less that 30 minutes after hearing the case to return all guilty verdicts on Sanders including multiple charges of malice murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime, felony murder, aggravated assault, and cruelty to children in the first degree.

In his appeal to the highest court in the State for a new trial, Sanders claimed that he had been ineffectively represented by the public defender assigned to him in the lower court, but the Supreme Court justices concurred that his attempt for a new trial based on technical issues should have been raised before the matter reached their level.

Sanders is currently housed at Hays State Prison, a close security facility, in Trion, Georgia.