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Father who left his child in car, indicted by a grand jury on eight counts

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Ekdrm2d1

Member
Dad indicted on murder charges in son's hot car death

By Eliott C. McLaughlin / Thursday, September 4, 2014 / cnn.com

Marietta, Georgia (CNN) -- The Georgia dad whose toddler son died after being left all day in a hot car was indicted by a grand jury Thursday on eight counts, including malice murder and two counts of felony murder.

The malice murder charge alleges that Justin Ross Harris, who has claimed his son's death was an accident, premeditated the child's killing.

The other five charges are: first-degree cruelty to children, second-degree cruelty to children, criminal attempt to commit a felony (sexual exploitation of a minor) and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.

...

Harris faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison if convicted on any of the murder charges, while a guilty verdict for the malice murder count could make him eligible for the death penalty.

By leaving Cooper in the car, Harris caused the boy "cruel and excessive physical pain," the cruelty to children charges allege.

The criminal attempt to commit a felony and dissemination of harmful materials charges are not related directly to Cooper's death. They involve allegations that Harris requested a nude photo of a minor's genitalia and sent the same minor descriptions of "sexual excitement and sexual conduct," according to the indictment.

A Cobb County detective testified at an earlier probable cause hearing that while Cooper was in the car at his father's workplace, Harris was sexting with numerous women and sent one of them, who was underage, a photo of his erect penis.

...

Authorities have painted Harris as a terrible father who, after admittedly looking up online how hot a car needed to be to kill a child, purposely strapped his son into his sweltering SUV to die.

His motivation? The prosecutor has characterized Harris as an unfaithful husband who wanted a childless life.

Yet his attorney, H. Maddox Kilgore, has argued his client tragically forgot his child in the car. Friends described Harris as a doting dad, not a malicious one, who loved to show off his blond, bright-eyed boy and talked about him incessantly.

It all started simply enough: Harris left home with Cooper in a rear-facing car seat in the back of his 2011 Hyundai Tucson, then headed to his job as a Web developer for Atlanta-based Home Depot after making a quick pit stop at a fast-food restaurant for breakfast.

But he didn't follow through on his routine of stopping to drop the boy off at daycare.

Instead, according to a criminal warrant, Harris drove to work and left Cooper strapped in his car seat. He went back to his SUV during lunch, put something in the car, then returned to work.

All the while, the vehicle got increasingly hotter, with records showing the temperature topped 92 that day -- which can make the heat inside a closed vehicle soar past 100 degrees quickly.

Sometime around 4:15 p.m., seven hours after he'd arrived at work, Harris got back into his Hyundai and left work. Witnesses told police that, soon thereafter, they heard "squealing tires (as) the vehicle came to a stop" in a shopping center.

Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified at the probable cause hearing that Harris got out of the car yelling, "Oh my God, what have I done?"

He then stood with a blank look, going to the other side of his SUV to make a phone call after someone told him that his son needed CPR, a witness told police, according to Stoddard.
...

Yet even after these allegations surfaced, his wife Leanna Harris stood by her man.

She sat calmly through the probable cause hearing, and at Cooper's funeral flatly insisted she was "absolutely not" angry with her husband.

"Ross is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father," Leanna Harris said at the funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a gathering that her husband also addressed via phone from the Cobb County Jail. "Ross is a wonderful daddy and leader for our household. Cooper meant the world to him."
Click to expand...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/04/justice/hot-car-death-ross-harris-grand-jury/
 
B

Beerman462

Member
I've heard of a similar story where a father forgot to drop his child off at daycare and didn't realize until he went to pick the child up after work. So reading this story it says shortly after getting in his car to go home he made an emergency stop in a shopping center. So how after visiting the car at lunch even, did he suddenly realise his son was still in the car. I mean I guess he could have been thinking about picking him up and thought back to the morning and realised he had forgot. To me the most damning evidence besides the internet searches is he stopped for breakfast. I mean he remembers breakfast, but not his kid? If he was late for work, rushing to get to work maybe. The fact that he stopped for breakfast, forgot to drop his kid off, visited the car at lunch, but suddenly realizes as he leaves work makes it unbelievable. The most disturbing thought is he probably checked on his son at lunch and discovered he was still alive, otherwise why not make the scene then.
 
M

Mixolydian

Member
My bad. Knee jerk response from my phone. Could see how that would be misconstrued.

I have no words for a parent who could do that to their child. Piece of shit.
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
Flying Toaster said:
This.

As a parent it horrifies the hell out of me that this happened.
Click to expand...

I mean...I get how your brain can just not do something, but when you're a parent you check and double check stuff. Like making sure that lunch is packed. Like making sure that you wipe their ass properly. Like making sure they're passed along to daycare.

It just seems to me that there's something else here...going to his car at lunch is suspicious as fuck.
 
R

Rokal

Member
Ekdrm2d1 said:
Authorities have painted Harris as a terrible father who, after admittedly looking up online how hot a car needed to be to kill a child, purposely strapped his son into his sweltering SUV to die.
Click to expand...

Evidence that it was intentional is in the OP. What a monster.
 
C

Catdaddy

Member
META said:
I feel as if the malicious murder charge means that there is more evidence against this guy than what the public is aware of.

That's terrifying to think about.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. the going back to the SUV at lunch and not noticing and all the sexting done that day (including to an underage girl???) didn't paint a very good picture of the guy.
 
A

Artanisix

Member
Yeah, normally it's a fucking accident and the tragedy and emotional trauma it inflicts on the parent is more than enough of a "punishment" than jailtime.

In this case, though, looks like the father INTENTIONALLY killed the kid. Holy fuck.
 
E

ElectricBlanketFire

Member
Omegasquash said:
I mean...I get how your brain can just not do something, but when you're a parent you check and double check stuff. Like making sure that lunch is packed. Like making sure that you wipe their ass properly. Like making sure they're passed along to daycare.

It just seems to me that there's something else here...going to his car at lunch is suspicious as fuck.
Click to expand...
There are unfortunately many cases where it was simply a tragic accident.

This isn't one of them obviously, but it happens to good, responsible parents from all walks of life.
 
Y

ymmv

Banned
Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified at the probable cause hearing that Harris got out of the car yelling, "Oh my God, what have I done?"

He then stood with a blank look, going to the other side of his SUV to make a phone call after someone told him that his son needed CPR, a witness told police, according to Stoddard.

Witness Leonard Madden testified that, upon leaving a restaurant, he noticed Harris was distraught and crying.

"He was hollering," Madden testified, recounting the father saying, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God! My son is dead!"

Harris had to be physically restrained once it became clear Cooper wouldn't make it -- at which time it was 88 degrees -- according to police.

Leaving his son alone in the car wasn't the only thing Harris did that day, authorities say.

While at work, he messaged six women besides his wife and exchanged explicit texts with some of them -- including the lewd photo that he sent to an underage female, Stoddard testified.

Yet even after these allegations surfaced, his wife Leanna Harris stood by her man.

She sat calmly through the probable cause hearing, and at Cooper's funeral flatly insisted she was "absolutely not" angry with her husband.

"Ross is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father," Leanna Harris said at the funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a gathering that her husband also addressed via phone from the Cobb County Jail. "Ross is a wonderful daddy and leader for our household. Cooper meant the world to him."
Click to expand...

I think it's rather likely Ross simply forgot about leaving his young child in his car. If he has a history of neglecting his children, not taking care of them, leaving them hungry or locked up while he's out enjoying himself, ok, then theres a history of deliberate neglect and cruelty and punishment is in order. But IMO it's nonsense to send a truly horrified, remorseful father to jail for 20, 30 years, perhaps life, simply for making an honest, tragic mistake.

There have been a couple of similar cases and I feel sorry for the parents who had to live through such an ordeal, when they actually loved their children and are horrified by what happened.

Authorities have painted Harris as a terrible father who, after admittedly looking up online how hot a car needed to be to kill a child, purposely strapped his son into his sweltering SUV to die.
Click to expand...

What? I missed this completely. That changes everything.
 
B

Blader

Member
Ekdrm2d1 said:
"Ross is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father," Leanna Harris said at the funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, a gathering that her husband also addressed via phone from the Cobb County Jail. "Ross is a wonderful daddy and leader for our household. Cooper meant the world to him."
Click to expand...

The bar for parenting must be pretty fucking low if you can still be considered a wonderful father after letting your child die.
 
S

Slayven

Member
META said:
I feel as if the malicious murder charge means that there is more evidence against this guy than what the public is aware of.

That's terrifying to think about.
Click to expand...

Considering what they released so far, it has to be some horrific stuff.
 
C

Coins

Banned
I'm surprised the mother hasn't been indicted yet. All of the info that came out about them after it happened really pointed to her knowing about it.

Anyway, hope they put his ass in a car and park it in Death Valley.
 
Jackben

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
"Ross is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father," Leanna Harris said at the funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Click to expand...

Nooooooooooooooooooooo
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
Blader said:
The bar for parenting must be pretty fucking low if you can still be considered a wonderful father after letting your child die.
Click to expand...

I was taken a bit aback at that statement as well. I'm fairly confident that if I forgot my child in the car and they died my wife would certainly be angry with me, and would not consider me a wonderful father or leader (wat) of the household. Rightfully so, too.
 
A

Alcoremortis

Member
Omegasquash said:
It just seems to me that there's something else here...going to his car at lunch is suspicious as fuck.
Click to expand...

It's not even just suspicious. The kid had soiled his diaper when he died, not to mention the intense heat that day. So there is pretty much no way the father could have gotten in the car and driven anywhere without noticing that smell and investigating.
 
O

ohlawd

Member
wait, just the husband?

what's gonna happen to the wife? I fhought they were planning on charging her as well.
 
M

Marty Chinn

Member
Dapperk said:
No matter how possible (still dont buy it but that's for another argument) it never makes it a good thing.
Click to expand...
Of course it's not a good thing but a shitty accident doesn't automatically negate years of being a great parent. Again, doesn't apply to this guy.
 
K

Kill3r7

Member
As a parent, I hope he rots in jail for the rest of his life. If you don't want the responsibility then do NOT have kids. It is as simple as that.
 
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