CHAMBERS COUNTY, Texas – As the high-profile murder trial of Sarah Hartsfield begins in Chambers County, Sheriff Brian Hawthorne shared some new insight into how the case unfolded and what to expect in the weeks ahead.
“This is probably one of the more interesting cases,” Hawthorne said Monday during an interview with KPRC 2 News while jurors were on a lunch break. “It has a lot of medical aspects to it. So it’s a very technical case. It has taken a lot of creativity and ingenuity on the detectives and the deputies’ part to put this murder together.”
Hartsfield is charged with murder in the 2023 death of her husband, Joseph Hartsfield, who died from complications of toxic insulin exposure. Prosecutors allege she delayed calling for help and ignored critical medical alerts. Up to 10 insulin pens were found on his side of the bed, according to investigators.
Sheriff Hawthorne credited both the hospital staff and his deputies for quickly recognizing something was wrong.
“Kudos to the family and kudos to the medical staff at Houston Methodist Hospital in Baytown,” he said. “They were really the ones that put the thought process and information together... and that puzzle started putting itself together pretty quickly.”
He highlighted the quick work of Detective Skyler Rocks, saying she “got in the car and [drove] to the hospital, where she could immediately start interviewing family and doctors and nurses.”
While Hawthorne declined to share key evidence due to the ongoing trial, he said, “The sequence and the timing of the crime have a lot to do with situations of how normal families handle when one of their loved ones starts having diabetic issues. You know, most family members know how to handle those things. And so when you just look at the timeline and what should have been done and what wasn’t done, and then the things that were done, that puzzle comes together pretty fast.”
On Her Time in Jail
Hartsfield has been in the Chambers County Jail for more than two and a half years. Despite a documented inmate assault earlier this year, Hawthorne said, “She’s been a model inmate. She’s not been a major problem to us.”
He explained that during the trial, “We allow her to change her dress every day… We don’t have them wearing the jail stripes.”
Regarding transport to and from the courthouse, Hawthorne said she is being treated “just like any other person charged with murder.” She’s currently housed in “the maximum security female detention area” and is “probably by herself the majority of the time, but not always.”
Though her past is under scrutiny, including a reopened investigation into the deadly 2018 shooting in which Hartsfield fatally shot her fiancé, David Bragg, Hartsfield has not been convicted of any crime. However, the state plans to call more than 80 witnesses and has asked the judge to allow them to bring up multiple past incidents, ranging from child abuse to arson and attempted capital murder.
“There’s a Very Evil Side to Her”
The sheriff also addressed the national attention surrounding the case.
“When we started looking at her history and then finding out some of the other scenarios in situations that she has been involved with in other states, and now that we have other cases that have been reopened in other states... and I’m glad they have reopened those cases, because I feel like they’re probably going to find a very same similar scenario as to what we have,” Hawthorne said.
“She’s not that kind, sleepy little person that she makes herself out to be,” he added. “You can just look at her overall history, and you can tell that there’s a very evil side to her.”
The trial began Monday, with Judge Chap Cain expected to rule on the admissibility of the alleged past offenses as the proceedings unfold.
Prosecutors say Hartsfield’s complex history is key to understanding the current charge.