Hot Car Death: Father's Mistake or Murder?

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SMYRNA, GA -- It has all the sensational and salacious ingredients of judicial drama: a highly respected judge, a prosecutor trying one of the biggest cases of his career, A-list defense attorneys and a murder defendant unflatteringly portrayed as an adulterer desperate for a child-free lifestyle.

But the case’s central figure is also its most tragic: a 22-month-old boy who died in agony after being left in a car that became an oven-like death trap.

Jury selection began this week in the murder trial of Justin Ross Harris, 35, accused of leaving his son, Cooper, in his SUV to die while Harris went to work on a hot day in June 2014.

“This will be a trial about a tragedy,” says Atlanta defense attorney Jonathon Majeske, who is not involved in the case. “There’s such a strong emotional aspect that jury selection will be extraordinarily difficult.”

Several prospective jurors asked to be excused by Superior Court Judge Mary Staley before jury selection even formally began.

Regardless of the verdict, the case will have a lasting impact on the issue of kids being left — intentionally or unintentionally — in hot cars.

Twenty-four children died when left in hot cars last year, beginning in April 2015 — more than half of these deaths are attributed to being forgotten by a caregiver. This year, two children already have been added to the list at noheatstroke.org.

“If Harris is found guilty, he becomes the poster boy for the type of parent who leaves his child in a hot car, someone who’s sexting with minors and not paying attention to their responsibilities as a parent,” said Janette Fennell, founder and president of KidsandCars.org, a national, non-profit child safety organization.

“If he’s found not guilty, it reinforces our belief that, in a majority of these instances, the parent unknowingly left the child in a vehicle, and that you can’t try these cases in the court of public opinion.”

‘What Have I Done’

The timeline of Cooper’s death, compiled from police, witness and arrest warrants, and media reports, shows a father either forgetfully or maliciously overlooking his child sitting in the back of the car on June 18, 2014.

At 8:30 am, Harris and his son leave the family’s Cobb County condo in a 2011 Hyundai Tucson and drive to a nearby Chick-fil-A, where Harris treats his son to breakfast.

At the restaurant, Harris allegedly texts a woman, who shares her displeasure at being a wife and mother. Police say Harris texts, “'I love my son and all but we both need escapes.” Harris also allegedly told the woman that he missed having time to himself and going out with his friends.

They leave the restaurant at 8:55 am, with Cooper fastened in his rear-facing car seat in the center of the Tucson’s backseat. Instead of taking his son to his daycare at The Home Depot headquarters, Harris goes directly to work at the company’s Treehouse office on Cumberland Parkway. Cooper’s daycare is about 2 miles away.

The time is 9 a.m., and the temperature at that time is 78 degrees and fair, as recorded at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Harris, who has worked as a Home Depot web developer for almost two years, goes into his office, with Cooper still in his carseat. The Hyundai’s windows are rolled up.

Sometime in the middle of the day, with Atlanta’s temperature hovering in the mid to high 80s, Harris goes out to lunch with some coworkers. After lunch, he returns to his vehicle, opens the driver’s side door, and places some light bulbs that he has purchased inside. Police will later say that surveillance video shows Harris has a clear view into SUV’s interior. But an independent investigation by the AJC finds that Harris’ viewline remains at the vehicle’s roof level.

Harris leaves his office 4:16 pm, but not before police say he texts an underage girl shortly before he leaves work. Prosecutors will later say that Harris “sexted” with six different women during the day, while his son was dying in his vehicle. One of those alleged texts included a photo of Harris’ penis, sent to a 16-year-old girl.

At 4:23 p.m., Harris turns into an Uncle Maddio’s pizza parking lot on Akers Mill Road and gets Cooper out of the car. He will tell police that it was then, when he was driving home, that he realized the boy was still in the car.

A minute later, witnesses at the shopping center watch Harris as he tries to revive his son, who doesn’t appear to be breathing. Bystanders start CPR on the boy, while Harris is reportedly frantic and screaming “What have I done?”

Police and medical officials arrive within seconds of a 911 call, believed to have been placed by Harris himself. Cooper’s body is still in a sitting position. At 4:58 pm, a spokesman for Cobb police confirms that Cooper Harris is dead.

A Cobb detective would later testify that Harris became confrontational with police; Harris’ cell phone is also taken away from him at this time, a cell phone with content that will later be used by prosecutors. Though Harris is not a suspect at this point, he is nonetheless handcuffed and placed in the back of a police cruiser.

At 5:45 p.m., another Cobb police spokesman tells the media that Harris told police he forgot to take Cooper to daycare that day. Harris is being questioned by police at the department’s Marietta headquarters. Harris is formally arrested and charged with murder at 10 p.m. that night. He has remained in the Cobb County jail ever since, as the case has built up against him.

Inside a Hot Car

Between 1998 and 2015, according to NoHeatStroke.org, Georgia had the nation’s sixth highest number of child vehicular heatstroke deaths per capita 1 million, with 24. Only Texas, Florida, California, Arizona and North Carolina had more.

Heatstroke is defined as when a person's temperature exceeds 104 degrees F and the thermoregulatory mechanism is overwhelmed. Symptoms include dizziness, disorientation, agitation, confusion, sluggishness, seizure, hot dry skin that is flushed but not sweaty, loss of consciousness, rapid heart beat and hallucinations. Internal organs begin shutting down, followed by death. A child’s body temperature warms at a rate 3 to 5 times faster than an adult’s.

Research conducted by Jan Null at San Jose State University’s department of meteorology and climate science, shows that two-thirds of the heating in a vehicle, with no windows cracked, occurs in the first 20 minutes, when the temperature could rise by 29 degrees. Two hours later, the temperature could rise by as much as 50 degrees.

In 2014, several videos went viral as adults filmed themselves inside of hot cars. "I would never leave my kids in a car like this," said YouTube user Terry Williams of Raleigh, N.C. "We go through this every year."

A Texas police officer turned off his patrol car and sat without air conditioning, recording his experience on video in five minute intervals. Cpl. Jessie Peterson of the Highland Village Police Department only lasted 30 minutes in quickly-rising temperatures of the car before he had to get out and recover. Peterson was sweating after the first five minutes, though the air had been on high right before he turned off the car. When half an hour had passed, he was flushed, sweating and had trouble breathing. At the time of his experiment, he said the high outside was 94 degrees.

Fennell said the trial’s most lasting impact could be the realization that any parent could forget their child was left in a hot car.

“Don’t think you’re not capable, as a parent, of leaving your child alone in your vehicle,” she said. “We’ve been dealing with these kinds of cases for so many years, and people judge others very quickly. We’ve worked with parents who have been through this.

“This is the worst mistake you can make.”

But was it a mistake? Investigators and prosecutors were quick to rule that out in the Harris case.

“When Harris was arrested and charged, a lot of people were angry at the DA,” Majeske said. “You just had a situation where a child died in a hot car, and then it looked like law enforcement was making the situation worse by charging the dad. But the DA had to have had some evidence that perhaps wasn’t being reported.”

Web Searches, Sex Texts — Was It Intentional?

There is no denying the fact that Harris left Cooper in the SUV. Harris’ attorneys are arguing that this was a tragic accident, according to Majeske.

“That seems to be their strategy,” he said. “But a lot of other evidence is going to be presented, and this is a tough case for any attorney to defend.”

Besides eight felony counts related to his son’s death, Harris has also been indicted on eight counts of sexting. He allegedly shared sexually explicit photos and content with several underage girls, including messages sent while sitting in his office as his son died in the SUV outside.

Judge Staley has refused attempts by Harris’ defense team to get the text charges excluded from evidence in the trial.

Hot Car Murder Trial: Courtroom Players

The prosecution has a lot of emotion on their side, Majeske said. “There will be experts coming into court, testifying on the exact manner of death for that little boy,” he said. “That’s going to be damning evidence and testimony.”

Harris’ ex-wife, Leanna, will be a witness in his defense. Now going by her maiden name of Leanna Taylor, she and Harris divorced in February. Prosecutors say that Harris’ unhappy marriage is reflected by his alleged sexting, and that the family was facing financial difficulties.

The official police report says that Harris “stated that he recently researched, through the internet, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur. Justin stated that he was fearful that this could happen.” Police searched the Harris’ residence for evidence including a computer tower, laptop, papers, writings, photographs and any other evidence of child abuse and neglect.

Police say Harris also visited a subreddit about “people who die,” and browsed images and videos of people dying by suicide and other measures. Another site he allegedly visited talked about living a “child-free lifestyle,” as well as sites about how to survive in prison.

When Harris was charged, Taylor visited him in jail, and reportedly asked him, “How much did you say?” The couple had $2,000 and $25,000 life insurance policies on Cooper. Police say Harris’ then-wife had been complaining about his credit-card expenses. No charges have been filed against Taylor, and despite evidence of his alleged infidelity and sexting, she has maintained her ex-husband’s innocence in the case.

Harris’ attorneys may be able to use the sexting and marital trouble to their advantage. “It’s a risky strategy, but you could argue that he was so caught up in these other issues that he just forgot what was going on with his son on that day,” Majeske said.

The sexting charges may stick, but that might be it, according to Fennell, of KidsandCars.org. “From our perspective Harris is a horrible husband, but nothing that we’ve seen so far suggests that he intentionally did this,” she said. “I think he will be found guilty on these sexting charges, but overall, too many aspects of this case have been sensationalized.”

More at Patch:

• Hot Car Death Trial: More Than 500 Juror Summons Sent Out
• Hot Car Death: Evidence of Alleged Infidelity Admissible
• Major Setback to Defendant in Hot Car Death
• Wife of Defendant in Hot Car Death Files for Divorce
• Harris Emotional During Motions Hearing in Hot Car Death
• Dad in Hot Car Death Facing Sexting Charges
• Justin Ross Harris Prosecutors Want Information Blockade
• Hot Car Death: Ross Harris Lawyers Want Phone, Computer Evidence Thrown Out
• Hot Car Death: Ross Harris Evidence Hearing Continues Thursday
• Cobb DA Speaks On Hot Car Death Murder Indictment
• Hot Car Death Trial Begins April 11
• Toddler Hot Car Death Suspect Ross Harris in Court Monday
• One Year Later, No Trial Date Set for Hot Car Death Dad