'It's a beautiful day': Shelby woman accused of killing grandmother walks free

SHELBY, N.C. — A woman accused of killing her 95-year-old grandmother walked free Tuesday minutes after jury selection.

"It's a beautiful day," Ashley Sanders said.

The case hinged on the testimony of her co-defendant in the case -- a man who considered Sanders his mother and a man who deputies said punched a jail guard in the face Monday night.

Prosecutors said Sanders got Chris Sizemore, a homeless man that she befriended, to commit murder.

(Chris Sizemore)

They said Facebook messages reveal the pair talked about the incident for months, before and after the murder.

Sizemore is serving a life sentence after confessing to putting a pillow over Mildred Blanton's head and punching her repeatedly, killing her.

After the jury was selected for Sanders' trial, the judge wanted to hear Sizemore's testimony outside the presence of the jury.

He told the judge that Sanders gave him a place to stay and pointed her out in the court and said, "That's my momma."

When prosecutors began questioning him about Facebook messages between him and Sanders, he started to get angry and told the judge he lied.

"I lied about everything. Ashley has no involvement in this," Sizemore said. "I ain't trying to testify so whatever y'all going to do to me, do to me. Send me back to prison."

(Mildred Blanton)

He claimed his Facebook page was hacked and turned to Sanders and said, "I love momma" as deputies led him out of court.

Prosecutors decided they couldn't prove their case if they couldn't show the messages came from Sizemore.

"She is done, she is free. She is innocent. She is going home. That's what counts," Talbert said.

Prosecutors told Channel 9 after court Tuesday while they dropped the charges, they still plan to enter the texts, Facebook messages, and police interviews when they file their written dismissal, even though Sanders cannot be tried again on the same charges.

Much of that information was released on six DVDs on Friday, May 3.

Hundreds of files and hours of recorded interrogations are part of the information jurors never got to see, because the state’s key witness refused to testify.

Sizemore told police Mildred Blanton was dying of old age, but not fast enough for Ashley Sanders.

He told investigators he and Sanders hatched a plan to make the death look like an accident.

They say two days after Sizemore and Sanders discussed the plan, Blanton was dead.

“He may think that I wanted him to but I never asked him to,” Sanders told investigators. “I never told him to. I never even dreamed than he was (inaudible) enough to do that.”

Cox Media Group