Sarah Hartsfield, the 48-year-old woman accused of killing her husband in January, made her first in-person appearance in a Chambers County courtroom Monday morning.
Judge Chap Cain reduced her bond to $4 million. It was initially set at $5 million when she was arrested after being indicted for murder at the beginning of February.
After the court hearing, on Monday evening, she sent new messages to KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry using the pandemic-inspired kiosk inside her all-women jail cell that allows inmates to stay connected with others.
Previously, she had blocked Newberry on the jail messaging app for several weeks, after being unhappy with coverage of her case, and requesting KPRC 2 “show things in a positive light for me, verses reminding everyone of my faults and mistakes that span 28 years!”
But in the new messages Monday night, Hartsfield wrote that a jail official told her about KPRC 2′s reports following her bond reduction hearing.
“He said it wasn’t bad and was a major improvement from things you’ve been doing up till now. As more and more truth comes out, I hope you’ll realize I was never dishonest as accused and I absolutely didn’t kill Joe or do anything to facilitate his death. No matter how much elected officials use me and this case to further thier own political aspirations, the real truth can’t be hidden forever. Btw, there aren’t 2 sides to me and never have been,” Hartsfield wrote.
The ‘2 sides’ is referring to the title of KPRC 2′s new investigative documentary, The Two Sides of Sarah. Hartsfield wrote that people who say there are two sides to her know “nothing about my life.”
Watch ‘The Two Sides of Sarah’ Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the KPRC 2+ livestream player below:
She wrote several more messages, sharing more about her family history and childhood, including detailed abuse allegations involving her biological father and stepfather, as well as how she entered the foster care system.
Hartsfield, who has been married five times, is accused of killing her fifth husband, Joseph Hartsfield, in January. He died due to “complications of toxic effects of insulin,” but the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences listed his manner of death as undetermined.
At trial, prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the manner of death was a homicide and that Hartsfield was the person responsible.
“The state has not shown me anything at this point that she’s done anything. In all honesty, I think she’s innocent,” Hartsfield’s defense attorney Keaton Kirkwood said after court on Monday.
Watch KPRC 2′s investigative documentary The Two Sides of Sarah, which digs deeper into Sarah Hartsfield’s past, revealing new details about her background and the string of exes she’s left behind.