- Justin Ross Harris is charged with first degree murder for the hot car death of his son Cooper. Harris says he forgot his son was in the car
- Jurors on Friday were shown 3-D images of the car to see how easily Harris would have been able to see his son was in the back seat while driving
- Cooper died inside of hyperthermia in Marietta, Georgia in June 2014
- The defense begins its case Friday afternoon, revealing that Harris was looking for a house for his family in the months before Cooper died
- The defense attempted to get the judge to declare a mistrial, alleging a detective made false statements which enabled police to get a search warrant for Harris' home and computers
After a dramatic finale with compelling 3-D animation of Ross Harris' car - including a child-sized model in the infant seat - the prosecution in this murder trial rested its case Friday.
David Dustin, an expert in 3-D laser scanning and crime scene mapping, was the state's final witness in the first-degree murder trial of Harris, accused of deliberately leaving his young son Cooper to die in his hot car in June, 2014.
Harris and his defense team insist Cooper's death was an accident and he forgot that his son was in the back seat as he drove to work.
Prosecutors showed computer-generated animation from scans, as well as interior panoramic photographs, to allow jurors to see how close Harris would have been to the top of Cooper's head while in his car.
Ross Harris in trial today as the state rested its murder case against him for leaving his son Cooper to die in an overheated car in June 2014
David Dustin, a 3-D laser scan expert, presented animated images and photographic views of Harris' Hyundai Tuscon, with a life-size model of a toddler strapped into the child safety seat
The jury had a 9-minute look at the actual Hyundai Tucson in a supervised and controlled viewing outside the Glynn County Courthouse on Thursday. That viewing included Cooper's child seat in its position when Cooper died.
It did not include the life-size male figure as did the images presented Friday morning.
The model was created to simulate 22-month-old Cooper in height, weight and coloring for the demonstration.
This image - one of the last taken of Cooper before his death - was shown to the jury last week
In Friday's 3-D animation, the court could see that Cooper's seat was just a few inches from where Harris sat in the driver's seat.
The top of Cooper's head, a bit behind and to the right of Harris, was visible in the animation as well as the panoramic views.
The 3D laser-scan animated illustrations were admitted into evidence over the defense team's objections. Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore argued the photos and video did not present an accurate depiction of the scene.
Judge Mary Staley Clark allowed the demonstration to proceed.
Dustin explained that because laser-scanning technology cannot accurately capture glass, he decided to remove glass images from scans being shown to the jury. Images presented Friday didn't show front or rear windshields or window glass, or any glare that might have been present on the day Cooper died.
The jury also viewed a 'fly-over' aerial view of the car ass police arrived in the Akers Mill shopping center, where Harris stopped after discovering his son was still in the car after seven hours.
That view, shown without the SUV's roof, allowed jurors to see an interior view of the car with the model of Cooper in the child seat.
Dustin, an expert in 3-D laser scanning and crime scene mapping, was the state's final witness
The jury also viewed a 'fly-over' aerial view of the car ass police arrived in the Akers Mill shopping center, where Harris stopped after discovering his son was still in the car after seven hours
The images demonstrated the relative ease with which Harris likely would have been able to see the top of Cooper's head - if he had looked to his right while he was in the vehicle
Images from inside the SUV and from the same perspective as Harris would have had demonstrated the relative ease with which he likely would have been able to see the top of Cooper's head - if he had looked to his right while he was in the vehicle.
Defense attorneys are expected to begin their case Friday afternoon, hoping to prove Harris simply forgot his son was in the car while he worked at his web development job for the Home Depot Corporation.
Prosecutors say Harris wanted his son out of his life.
Defense attorneys began their case on Friday afternoon, revealing that Ross Harris was looking for a house for his family in the months before Cooper died.
Roger Webb, a realtor in the Atlanta area, told the court he met twice with Ross and wife Leanna in February 2014 to review areas in Cobb County that interested the couple.
He told the jury Harris was looking for neighborhoods with good schools for his son.
Prosecutor Chuck Boring asked Webb if he was aware of his client's double life of sexting with multiple women.
Webb said he wasn't.
'He seemed very typical of any buyer who would come into the office,' the realtor said.
The mood at the defense table took a turn as attorney Bryan Lumpkin recalled Cobb Det. Shawn Murphy to ask about the search warrants he obtained for Harris' home and computers.
Murphy served as second investigator on the death case under lead detective Phil Stoddard, he clarified.
Leading up to a motion for a mistrial and possibly hoping to impeach the detective's previous testimony, Lumpkin cited occasions when he said the detective made false statements on multiple warrant applications.
Lumpkin cited several occasions when Murphy's warrant applications contained information that Harris admitted to searching the web for 'child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature was needed for that to occur,' he said.
He argued that Murphy's statements proved to be untrue - but were used as grounds for obtaining the search warrant.
'These are personal statements made by this witness under oath, to the magistrate,' Lumpkin stressed to Judge Clark. He wanted to question the detective more about those statements, but the court ruled against it.
'The state totally disregarded actual evidence right in front of them. They created a narrative that landed us here today,' Lumpkin said.
'We respectfully disagree with the ruling on legal grounds,' he said. 'This defendant has constitutional rights and this court is in place to uphold those.'
Lumpkin said the investigation was ' fraught with misleading information and lies. Unfortunately this jury has not been privy to knowing just how damaging this has been.'
'Frankly, I fear the State is putting the Court in a very difficult position,' he said.
Lumpkin asked the judge to declare a mistrial, which she denied before adjourning for the weekend.
Jurors were allowed to view the actual car on Thursday
The car was parked outside Glynn County Courthouse in Brunswick, Georgia
The red Chicco car seat that held infant Cooper Harris as he died - now evidence in the murder trial of his father. Jurors viewed the car with the seat placed in its exact original position on Thursday
Jurors heard Thursday that on the day before his son died, Harris began to make reservations for a vacation in July and August at a resort - for two adults and no children.
That evidence emerged Thursday afternoon from Jim Persinger, a specialist in forensic evaluation of digital devices who testified for the state about data he recovered from Harris' computers and cell phone.
He said the data recovered revealed reservation inquiries at a Sandals resort for July 22 and another for August 22. The queries indicated reservations for two adults but no children, he said.
Persinger also told jurors that Harris had visited an internal Home Depot webpage for employees in May titled, 'Divorce/ Legal Separation Checklist.'
Harris had searched 'name change' to access the page, he said.
Persinger said Harris researched Georgia law on the age of consent on his phone but found no evidence that Harris had searched for 'murder,' 'homicide' or 'divorce attorney.' He also said Harris used Chrome and Firefox as browsers.
The search history on Chrome had been deleted and was not recoverable. Harris was 'crafty' for intentionally hiding items on his computer, he said.
Also on Thursday, Angela Cornett testified she texted with Harris on June 18, the day Cooper died.
She had met Harris several months earlier on the Skout app.
Cornett said Harris indicated he was interested in sex and wanted to meet, but she found him 'creepy and sketchy'. Harris told her he wanted to sleep with as many people as possible, she told the jury.
The jury has already heard from a series of young women on the witness stands, including a teen and a prostitute, who testified to conducting relationships with the married father-of-one and sexting with him on the day that Cooper died.
Carlos Rodriguez, defense attorney, discusses enhanced and enlarged images at Home Depot Tree house car park that show Harris at his SUV on day Cooper died
In testimony on Wednesday lead Detective Phil Stoddard told the court that Harris could have spotted Cooper earlier in the day.
Stoddard said he believes Harris had a clear view of Cooper in the car when he went to the vehicle after lunch to drop of a bag of light bulbs he'd purchased.
But Harris might not have seen his son when he opened the door to toss the light bulbs inside, because his head was above the frame of the car, he conceded.
The jury was also shown enhanced still photographs made from security video at the Home Depot Tree House car park. The images were fuzzy and grainy due to the amount of enlargement, but did show Harris' head at the frame of his car door, court observers said.
What remained unclear is how far his head may have entered or what Harris was able to see when he placed his purchase in the front seat.
Also on Wednesday another Cobb County investigator, Det. David Raissi, said he thought Ross Harris' use of legal language while in questioning was strange.
Harris calmly argued there was 'no malicious intent,' Raissi explained.
'I thought it was strange. It triggered in my mind how he knew that language,' Raissi continued. The wording wasn't something someone who wasn't a police officer would use, he said.
Raissi told the court he was reviewing his notes this morning before testifying and discovered that the phrase 'malicious intent' is not used in Alabama's legal code.
It is used in Georgia's legal code, he said.
Harris moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to Georgia in 2012.
Police also questioned the behavior of Ross Harris' wife Leanna. Det. Stoddard said she didn't show emotion or react in the way he thought she should when police allowed her to see her husband in the interrogation room.
Leanna did not even ask to see her dead son's body, Stoddard said.
But while that raised eyebrows and led police to suspect she played a part in young Cooper's death, Leanna was never arrested. She is expected in court next week as a defense witness.
Harris with his wife Leanna. She is expected in court next week as a defense witness
His double life was detailed by Stoddard on Tuesday, as he gave testimony on the graphic sexual text messages he discovered as he examined Harris' iPhone after his arrest.
'I keep my two lives separate,' Harris wrote in one.
'I'm addicted to using sex with strangers to keep me sane,' another message read.
It is the last week of the prosecution case in the trial, which has attracted national media coverage.
Harris's defense attorneys are preparing to lay into the state's case against him, as they try to convince the jury that the hot car death was an accident.
Harris's defense rests on convincing the jury that he forgot his son was in the family vehicle. They are expected to attack Stoddard - whose shocking testimony two years ago helped turn public opinion against Harris - as well as the Cobb County police department.
A jury even had to be found 300 miles away in Brunswick because a judge ruled that no impartial one could be found in Harris's hometown.
The jury has had to see crime scene photos of Cooper's body and sat through a medical examiner's testimony of his agonizing death during the seven long hours he was in the car outside his father's office in Marietta, Georgia in 2014.
References
- ^ Robin Rayne Nelson In Brunswick, Georgia For Dailymail.com (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ e-mail (www.dailymail.co.uk)
- ^ 76 View comments (www.dailymail.co.uk)
