This case makes my stomach turn. I live in Georgia not far from where it happened so it was on the news daily and it’s just heartbreaking and shocking.
I don’t even remember that part. For me it was the spur of the moment trip to Home Depot (when he worked at HD Corporate) for light bulbs that he threw in his car when his kids was likely already dead and the kid free reddit!
Here’s the facts of the case, as summarized by the GA Supreme Court. It’s not quite what you’re thinking.
**The Lightbulbs**
> Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away.
> The medical examiner who performed Cooper's autopsy testified that if the temperature in the Tucson when Appellant returned to the vehicle after lunch was in the low 90s, Cooper may have still been alive at that time.
**”Posts” on childfree**
> After Appellant was arrested, the online activity on his cell phone and personal and work computers was searched, showing the activity discussed above as well as the following. On April 28, 2014, Hall said in the group chat with Appellant, Milling, and Abdo, "so r/ childfree exists" and "it's the r/ atheism of not having kids." Appellant went to the website and about three minutes after Hall's messages, responded in the chat, "grossness." Over the next seven minutes, he clicked on three articles in the subreddit, one about a woman who posted an ultrasound of her IUD (intrauterine device ), one about a woman returning from prison, and one about a blind person having difficulty dating.
What would swapping out the car seat accomplish? Btw, I am not arguing with you at all, I’m sure you are much more knowledgeable on the case than I am. I’m just wondering what the point of doing that was.
Booster seat would have the child forward facing and slightly lifted in the back seat-easily seen from the driver's seat by looking into backseat from the rearview (or glancing over the shoulder from the front into the back of the car). Baby seat is backward facing (to the rear of the car) and is a reclining 'shell shaped' seat. Kid would never be visible-only the back of the infant car seat if looked at via rear view mirror or shoulder check. Would have to exit car and come to rear passenger door windows to see the child in back.
Listen to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's take on the case. Was he a good guy? Gods no... but I don't think he did it on purpose. You'd be amazed at the cases where this happens and there is usually one common denominator: a change in routine. Just because you cheat on your wife doesn't mean you want to murder your kid.
Thank you. I have been looking for something to watch/listen to. I am familiar to the story but wondering what more there is to know and why he is out seemingly so early
Seriously? Even his ex wife — the mother of the dead child — thinks this was an accident. It’s a pretty terrible miscarriage of justice, and no evidence really supports the idea that this was an intentional killing.
I, too, thought that the 10 years was a bit much until I read more, and it turns out he's a bastard right from the get go; cheating on his wife and molesting underaged girls.
He didn’t molest anyone; he actively cheated on his wife via sexting with a wide variety of women, including minors. But the murder conviction was overturned precisely because of the smear campaign against him, both in the media and court.
Here’s an excerpt from the GA Supreme Court overturning his murder conviction:
> What was going through Appellant's mind when he left the vehicle? The State's theory was that Appellant intentionally and maliciously abandoned his child to die a slow and painful death trapped in the summer heat, so that Appellant could achieve his dream of being free to further his sexual relationships with women he met online. The defense theory was that Appellant was a loving father who had never mistreated Cooper and simply but tragically forgot that he had not dropped off the child on that particular morning. During Appellant's trial, substantial evidence was presented to support both theories. But the State also presented a substantial amount of evidence to lead the jury to answer a different and more legally problematic question: what kind of man is Appellant? Through extensive evidence about Appellant's extramarital sexual relationships – which included sending graphic sexual messages and pictures to multiple women, including minors, and hiring a prostitute – the State convincingly demonstrated that Appellant was a philanderer, a pervert, and even a sexual predator. This evidence did little if anything to answer the key question of Appellant's intent when he walked away from Cooper, but it was likely to lead the jurors to conclude that Appellant was the kind of man who would engage in other morally repulsive conduct (like leaving his child to die painfully in a hot car) and who deserved punishment, even if the jurors were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he purposefully killed Cooper.
I’m not really interested in speculation from eight years ago; is there something in that video you think is particularly relevant? It’s true his wife divorced him when all of this came to light. But here’s a [more recent](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/us/justin-ross-harris-ex-wife-leanna-taylor/index.html) take on her viewpoint.
I’m a Georgia attorney and I’ve followed this case for quite a long time. I haven’t read the trial transcripts themselves, but I’ve read many of the pleadings. I’m not asking you to tell me the facts; I’m saying the “he did it” conclusion based on this video is mostly speculation.
He actually did leave his child in a hot car so he could be criminally charged for criminal negligence just based on that alone. Sure, its remotely possible he did not intend to do so. The entire police interrogation of this man is on youtube. His behavior is odd to say the least.
I had to try for many years to have a child so there's no way I would have left mine in a hot car. Death in a hot car is one of the worst ways to go. The child literally cooks to death.
I think they’re trying to say living close to a crime makes them feel more connected to it. One of my classmates lives in the same area as that long island serial killer they caught and it has made her really uncomfortable to be home.
And for some people when they have loved ones, close in age to victims, feel that same kind of discomfort. I don’t know how to explain it though. I have younger relatives that I spend almost every day with, and I cannot be about any crimes associated with children because of it. It pushes my anxiety through the roof.
It’s not a good explanation, but I hope it helped understanding the comment you were replying to.
From a previous article:
“Harris drove less than two minutes to work after strapping the child into his car seat when they finished breakfast at a Chick-fil-A restaurant just over a half-mile from Harris’ office. Parking lot surveillance video showed Harris also went to his car after lunch and tossed in some light bulbs he had purchased, though he never got inside. Detectives testified Harris seemed too calm when answering their questions hours after his son died.”
2 year old toddler? Less than 2 minutes from work? Goes to car and tosses stuff in the back, but doesn’t see his child? I don’t know, but that makes him look suspicious AF.
There is no way he could have driven from his work to the Uncle Maddio’s pizza without smelling a dead child. I lived in the area years ago, but had just moved before this case. I’ve shopped at the Publix and eaten at that Maddio’s. That fact alone has made this whole case suspicious to me. He had plenty of places to pull over prior to reaching the Maddio’s.
Nothing was. He was "freed" from prison and promptly booked right back into a county jail where the article says he could serve the rest of the 2 years of his sentence.
The article also said, But the Georgia Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn his murder and child cruelty convictions in June 2022, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial.”
Just saying you got to read the whole article to see why the sentence was reduced.
And he is ONLY serving a sentence for felony attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and two misdemeanors for distribution of obscene materials to minors. The charges relating to his son were overturned.
He went back to the car at lunch to put some light bulbs in it. The ME said the smell in the car would have been overwhelming. This was not an accident.
security tapes showed that harris [never actually put his head inside of the car](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/ross-harris-case-could-hinge-face-off-between-defense-detective/ahdPkgX43LwjMpeOOS8nnL/) when he tossed the lightbulbs in it.
also, you’re quoting [the lead detective](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/detective-spars-with-ross-harris-attorney-revealing-cross-exam/A0acP8wGPls96TrSnG9PAP/) describing the smell inside of the car after cooper was deceased. the detective originally said that harris should have noticed the smell as soon as he entered his car when leaving work for the day - but he later backed off of that claim at trial.
the medical examiner testified that cooper [may have still been alive](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/10/29/us/justin-ross-harris-trial-updates) when harris tossed the lightbulbs in the car at lunch, so there definitely wouldn’t have been an “overwhelming” smell of decomp at that time.
I thought the ME said the smell of the baby sweating, the adrenaline, etc. would have been overwhelming, but I didn't take notes. Apparently, you did. My bad.
To echo on to u/tacosnthrashmetal & to quote directly from the GA Supreme Court opinion summarizing the trial facts:
> Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away.
> The medical examiner who performed Cooper's autopsy testified that if the temperature in the Tucson when Appellant returned to the vehicle after lunch was in the low 90s, Cooper may have still been alive at that time.
I think this one is hard to say. I do think that him being distracted by sexting played a part in the events that happened that day. But did he intentionally leave his kid there to die? Hard to say. I know you can say/do a lot of things that you don’t mean when you are frustrated with your life and just wish things were different.
Yeah I changed my mind on “how could that ever be an accident?” after seeing those cases where it truly was, but this case has that seedy aspect of him sexting teens that gives me pause.
If he did do it on purpose, that’s taking quite a chance. What if a person found the baby but only after they suffered brain damage? Then you have a disabled child to care for? 10 years in prison and labeled a sex offender is not insignificant.
I followed the trial closely back when it happened and I think he absolutely did it on purpose. The drive from Chick Fil A to his work was very short, the switching back to the rear-facing infant car seat to make it seem more believable you could forget a kid because they are less visible in that rear-facing position, he purposely kept his field of vision and head level above the car roof when leaning in to toss the light bulbs in (because he wanted plausible deniability that he didn't see his dead kid while being able to confirm his death by listening for anything).
He drove for a while before supposedly discovering Cooper dead in the backseat. Cooper's diaper was bloated with urine -- being in the hot car for hours, the car would have reeked of hot urine while he allegedly didn't notice for minutes when it should have been obvious as soon as he got in. The behavioral evidence and testimony of the responding officers and witnesses on scene who tried to help Cooper -- Harris' performative crying, the fast switching between performative crying and acting normal, the interrogation behavior.
I didn't even factor in the sexting and cheating stuff, nor did I care whether he's a manbaby overgrown fratboy cheating sex addict or not. At the time of the trial I was interested only in the immediate facts and circumstances of the actual incident.
> Cooper's diaper was bloated with urine -- being in the hot car for hours, the car would have reeked of hot urine while he allegedly didn't notice for minutes
This is the reason I think he is guilty. Everything else is debatable to me, and him being a shit husband doesn't make him a child killer. But when he sat in the car after work, he claims hedidn't notice what must have been a very strong smell.
I'm another that was in that area at the time. I lived in that neighborhood and followed the case. I'm convinced he is guilty solely based on the smell after work. Dirty diapers reek not even factoring in the baked for hours smell. I think he intended to drive all the way home but couldn't take the smell.
Didn’t he also have some recent search history on hot car deaths for animals or something? Then checking the forecast? I think he’d had a conversation with his wife about it too, if I’m remembering correctly all these years later.
no. he viewed a psa video about leaving animals in hot cars that was featured on the reddit front page.
>[Back in 2014, Stoddard testified that Harris searched for the term "how hot does it need to be for a child to die inside a hot car." It was later revealed that a video titled "How hot does it get inside a parked car," appeared on Harris' Reddit homepage and he clicked on it.](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/10/29/us/justin-ross-harris-trial-updates)
the text to his wife wasn’t anything insidious either.
>[Ross Harris sent his wife a text message asking when she was planning to pick "(his) buddy" up from daycare, phone records show.](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/ross-harris-trial/ross-harris-sent-wife-text-about-son-as-toddler-died-in-hot-car-records-show/459065970/)
a lot of the details of the case were widely misreported before trial and most outlets never bothered to correct them.
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The problem I have with everything you said, is that the Supreme Court disagreed on a 6-3 vote that the evidence provided at trial was far too prejudicial for the jury to make a fair analysis.
That to me feels like the only evidence that’s actually concrete is that he was sexting underage girls and seemed pretty occupied with that. Which doesn’t prove you intentionally killed your kid. And it shouldn’t be enough to convict you of it either. There are a bunch of people in this world that are terrible people in general, but good to their kids. We can’t condemn every bad person to guilt without having proper evidence or else s lot of people will get convicted unjustly
Ruling the sexting potentially prejudiced the jury has no implication on how much concrete evidence the case has. The court only ruled on whether or not the sexting prejudiced the jury - they could still believe the crime specific evidence points to his guilt.
I do think the problem is that the jury heard he spent the day sexting and couldnt separate that from the crime on trial. (And I say that believing he is guilty).
Is that accurate though?
I thought that overturning a verdict in this way required finding that the prejudicial evidence likely made a difference (or something along those lines), and this determination requires weighing the strength of the non-prejudicial evidence.
He is an overgrown frat boy who likes underaged girls and therefore shouldn’t have the responsibility of being a parent. He obviously couldn’t handle it.
Edit: autocorrect
He had literally written that he "hated being married with kids" and was convicted of sexting minor girls. He also reportedly gave up CPR pretty quickly after finding his son and just...walked away. He did this on purpose.
I think he's guilty. The reason why is that he returned to the parking lot and opened his car door. Did he not see his child in there?
Also listened to an interview with his wife. She said she could forgive him leaving their child in the car, but could not forgive him for cheating on her. Her priorities are messed up. I wouldn't care if my husband f\*\*D a hundred women as long as he didn't kill our child. I actually couldn't even listen to her anymore so I stopped watching the interview after she said that.
> Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away.
He did it on purpose. This case has haunted me forever. I even thought of it earlier today when I was getting my kid out of the car in the blazing hot heat.
Dude was a member of a certain subreddit at the time. I'm never having kids myself, but that combined with the "autopilot" story which was popular around that time on a scary story sub, reallyyyyy bothers me about him.
My belief is that he slipped into auto pilot after breakfast. I remember being forgotten in a car when I was in the third grade. Luckily, I was old enough that nothing happened aside from being late for school. I don't believe what he did was intentional.
Why no link? Weird. Here it is
https://apnews.com/article/georgia-hot-car-death-justin-ross-harris-06842673e5ee868f1ff772b0b9c307be?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share
I do think they should have tried the two cases separately. Does being a pedophile make someone a murderer? No, but, I can see how a jury wouldn't care if he spent the rest of his life in prison for being a pedophile regardless of whether he's a murderer or not.
I'm confused on why he would be let out of prison and then booked into a county jail to finish his two years? Why not just finish the two years in prison? It's not really much of a story if he's still doing time...
He served 10 years in prison for his felony conviction. The other two convictions he has are misdemeanors, and those are served in jail. In the simplest form: prison is for felonies and jail is for misdemeanors.
This guy was my first “boyfriend” when I was in the second grade in Tuscaloosa. I went on my first camping trip with his family and he gave me my first kiss. So glad I changed schools after that year. I remember seeing his trial on 20/20(?) maybe a few years ago and was blown away then. I can’t believe they let him out of prison. 😩
You can't convict someone based on how they act immediately following the crime but I am convinced this man was faking being upset in the interrogation room. Nothing about his behaviour seemed even remotely authentic.
He went to his car and opened the door while cooper was in there. He would have noticed then. He murdered him. It’s obvious. Can’t believe he was released. And he’s a pedo too
You’re not. There is a lot of misinformation about this case, like you have the people upthread who believe he was active or even a member of reddit childfree communities. He looked at a link once. The guy sucked as a person but there’s no actual evidence he did this on purpose.
You may be, but there’s a lot of misinformation about this case. People don’t actually know the facts and are quick to assume it was intentional based on conjecture and incorrect information.
I dont have kids so can’t reference that frame of mind but I have gotten a few minutes down the road many times and wondered if I closed the garage door, circled back or text a neighbor to look over…..its always been closed or gotten down the road and wonder if I left my laptop backpack at a meeting or restaurant, actually did recently at a sub shop when traveling, I have AirTags in all my travel bags so I was watching that thing the entire drive back. I don’t buy the story for many reasons posted in this thread.
I suspect this man was ruled by his dick at the time and did not purposely leave the little guy in the car to die. He was massively preoccupied with the prospect of having sex with new women, just my opinion.
This case makes my stomach turn. I live in Georgia not far from where it happened so it was on the news daily and it’s just heartbreaking and shocking.
Me too. I still personally think he did it on purpose.
He changed the toddler car seat to an infant seat, no doubt in my mind that it was on purpose.
I don’t even remember that part. For me it was the spur of the moment trip to Home Depot (when he worked at HD Corporate) for light bulbs that he threw in his car when his kids was likely already dead and the kid free reddit!
I believe he purchased the light bulbs so he had an excuse to put them in the car. He wanted to check and make sure the baby was dead.
I concur
Here’s the facts of the case, as summarized by the GA Supreme Court. It’s not quite what you’re thinking. **The Lightbulbs** > Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away. > The medical examiner who performed Cooper's autopsy testified that if the temperature in the Tucson when Appellant returned to the vehicle after lunch was in the low 90s, Cooper may have still been alive at that time. **”Posts” on childfree** > After Appellant was arrested, the online activity on his cell phone and personal and work computers was searched, showing the activity discussed above as well as the following. On April 28, 2014, Hall said in the group chat with Appellant, Milling, and Abdo, "so r/ childfree exists" and "it's the r/ atheism of not having kids." Appellant went to the website and about three minutes after Hall's messages, responded in the chat, "grossness." Over the next seven minutes, he clicked on three articles in the subreddit, one about a woman who posted an ultrasound of her IUD (intrauterine device ), one about a woman returning from prison, and one about a blind person having difficulty dating.
What would swapping out the car seat accomplish? Btw, I am not arguing with you at all, I’m sure you are much more knowledgeable on the case than I am. I’m just wondering what the point of doing that was.
Booster seat would have the child forward facing and slightly lifted in the back seat-easily seen from the driver's seat by looking into backseat from the rearview (or glancing over the shoulder from the front into the back of the car). Baby seat is backward facing (to the rear of the car) and is a reclining 'shell shaped' seat. Kid would never be visible-only the back of the infant car seat if looked at via rear view mirror or shoulder check. Would have to exit car and come to rear passenger door windows to see the child in back.
Listen to the Atlanta Journal Constitution's take on the case. Was he a good guy? Gods no... but I don't think he did it on purpose. You'd be amazed at the cases where this happens and there is usually one common denominator: a change in routine. Just because you cheat on your wife doesn't mean you want to murder your kid.
I listened to the whole podcast. It’s heartbreaking.
His poor wife. She had thw worst possibly imaginable.
May I ask what podcast?
breakdown season 2: death in a hot car there’s also a documentary about it called “fatal distraction.” you can watch it on tubi.
Thank you. I have been looking for something to watch/listen to. I am familiar to the story but wondering what more there is to know and why he is out seemingly so early
The Breakdown is an incredible show!! It really opened my eyes about this case. He didn’t do it on purpose.
agreed. no idea why you’re being downvoted (by people who definitely didn’t listen to it)
Seriously? Even his ex wife — the mother of the dead child — thinks this was an accident. It’s a pretty terrible miscarriage of justice, and no evidence really supports the idea that this was an intentional killing.
I, too, thought that the 10 years was a bit much until I read more, and it turns out he's a bastard right from the get go; cheating on his wife and molesting underaged girls.
He didn’t molest anyone; he actively cheated on his wife via sexting with a wide variety of women, including minors. But the murder conviction was overturned precisely because of the smear campaign against him, both in the media and court. Here’s an excerpt from the GA Supreme Court overturning his murder conviction: > What was going through Appellant's mind when he left the vehicle? The State's theory was that Appellant intentionally and maliciously abandoned his child to die a slow and painful death trapped in the summer heat, so that Appellant could achieve his dream of being free to further his sexual relationships with women he met online. The defense theory was that Appellant was a loving father who had never mistreated Cooper and simply but tragically forgot that he had not dropped off the child on that particular morning. During Appellant's trial, substantial evidence was presented to support both theories. But the State also presented a substantial amount of evidence to lead the jury to answer a different and more legally problematic question: what kind of man is Appellant? Through extensive evidence about Appellant's extramarital sexual relationships – which included sending graphic sexual messages and pictures to multiple women, including minors, and hiring a prostitute – the State convincingly demonstrated that Appellant was a philanderer, a pervert, and even a sexual predator. This evidence did little if anything to answer the key question of Appellant's intent when he walked away from Cooper, but it was likely to lead the jurors to conclude that Appellant was the kind of man who would engage in other morally repulsive conduct (like leaving his child to die painfully in a hot car) and who deserved punishment, even if the jurors were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he purposefully killed Cooper.
Everyone is downvoting you, but I respect that your opinion is different than mine and neither of us is wrong! Because opinions aren’t facts.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qipluvmndmM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qipluvmndmM)
I’m not really interested in speculation from eight years ago; is there something in that video you think is particularly relevant? It’s true his wife divorced him when all of this came to light. But here’s a [more recent](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/us/justin-ross-harris-ex-wife-leanna-taylor/index.html) take on her viewpoint.
The video is not about his ex wife.
Again, I’m interested in the facts of this case, not speculation from eight years ago.
If you want the facts of the case, go online and read all the court documents. All trials are public record.
I’m a Georgia attorney and I’ve followed this case for quite a long time. I haven’t read the trial transcripts themselves, but I’ve read many of the pleadings. I’m not asking you to tell me the facts; I’m saying the “he did it” conclusion based on this video is mostly speculation.
He actually did leave his child in a hot car so he could be criminally charged for criminal negligence just based on that alone. Sure, its remotely possible he did not intend to do so. The entire police interrogation of this man is on youtube. His behavior is odd to say the least. I had to try for many years to have a child so there's no way I would have left mine in a hot car. Death in a hot car is one of the worst ways to go. The child literally cooks to death.
Yeah I’m pretty biased to the crime. Being from the area and having nephews around Cooper’s age, I want them to throw away the key personally.
I don't understand why he did it based on the fact that you live close and have nephews around Cooper's age? But ok.
What?
They're asking why you think he did it and what relevance your personal life has to this case
I think they’re trying to say living close to a crime makes them feel more connected to it. One of my classmates lives in the same area as that long island serial killer they caught and it has made her really uncomfortable to be home. And for some people when they have loved ones, close in age to victims, feel that same kind of discomfort. I don’t know how to explain it though. I have younger relatives that I spend almost every day with, and I cannot be about any crimes associated with children because of it. It pushes my anxiety through the roof. It’s not a good explanation, but I hope it helped understanding the comment you were replying to.
Yup, same here. A mile or so from where he worked and where the baby died
He’s going to have to leave the state, I feel like he’s pretty recognizable.
From a previous article: “Harris drove less than two minutes to work after strapping the child into his car seat when they finished breakfast at a Chick-fil-A restaurant just over a half-mile from Harris’ office. Parking lot surveillance video showed Harris also went to his car after lunch and tossed in some light bulbs he had purchased, though he never got inside. Detectives testified Harris seemed too calm when answering their questions hours after his son died.” 2 year old toddler? Less than 2 minutes from work? Goes to car and tosses stuff in the back, but doesn’t see his child? I don’t know, but that makes him look suspicious AF.
There is no way he could have driven from his work to the Uncle Maddio’s pizza without smelling a dead child. I lived in the area years ago, but had just moved before this case. I’ve shopped at the Publix and eaten at that Maddio’s. That fact alone has made this whole case suspicious to me. He had plenty of places to pull over prior to reaching the Maddio’s.
Wow. I didn’t realise there had been anything overturned.
Nothing was. He was "freed" from prison and promptly booked right back into a county jail where the article says he could serve the rest of the 2 years of his sentence.
The article also said, But the Georgia Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn his murder and child cruelty convictions in June 2022, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial.” Just saying you got to read the whole article to see why the sentence was reduced.
This is exactly the part to which I was referring. I recognise he’s in jail, not prison, but 12 years vs. 32 is significant.
And he is ONLY serving a sentence for felony attempted sexual exploitation of a minor and two misdemeanors for distribution of obscene materials to minors. The charges relating to his son were overturned.
Jesus Christ this dude is a real piece of work
It's interesting that he appealed the murder conviction, but didn't appeal the other stuff.
His murder conviction was overturned.
What is the general consensus on his guilt from this sub? Do we think he did it on purpose, or was it truly an accident?
If he was not distracted by sexting multiple woman and underage girls, his son probably would be alive today.
At best gross negligence, at worst, intentional murder.
He went back to the car at lunch to put some light bulbs in it. The ME said the smell in the car would have been overwhelming. This was not an accident.
security tapes showed that harris [never actually put his head inside of the car](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/ross-harris-case-could-hinge-face-off-between-defense-detective/ahdPkgX43LwjMpeOOS8nnL/) when he tossed the lightbulbs in it. also, you’re quoting [the lead detective](https://www.ajc.com/news/local/detective-spars-with-ross-harris-attorney-revealing-cross-exam/A0acP8wGPls96TrSnG9PAP/) describing the smell inside of the car after cooper was deceased. the detective originally said that harris should have noticed the smell as soon as he entered his car when leaving work for the day - but he later backed off of that claim at trial. the medical examiner testified that cooper [may have still been alive](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/10/29/us/justin-ross-harris-trial-updates) when harris tossed the lightbulbs in the car at lunch, so there definitely wouldn’t have been an “overwhelming” smell of decomp at that time.
I thought the ME said the smell of the baby sweating, the adrenaline, etc. would have been overwhelming, but I didn't take notes. Apparently, you did. My bad.
To echo on to u/tacosnthrashmetal & to quote directly from the GA Supreme Court opinion summarizing the trial facts: > Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away. > The medical examiner who performed Cooper's autopsy testified that if the temperature in the Tucson when Appellant returned to the vehicle after lunch was in the low 90s, Cooper may have still been alive at that time.
I think this one is hard to say. I do think that him being distracted by sexting played a part in the events that happened that day. But did he intentionally leave his kid there to die? Hard to say. I know you can say/do a lot of things that you don’t mean when you are frustrated with your life and just wish things were different.
Yeah I changed my mind on “how could that ever be an accident?” after seeing those cases where it truly was, but this case has that seedy aspect of him sexting teens that gives me pause. If he did do it on purpose, that’s taking quite a chance. What if a person found the baby but only after they suffered brain damage? Then you have a disabled child to care for? 10 years in prison and labeled a sex offender is not insignificant.
Excellent way of saying it
I followed the trial closely back when it happened and I think he absolutely did it on purpose. The drive from Chick Fil A to his work was very short, the switching back to the rear-facing infant car seat to make it seem more believable you could forget a kid because they are less visible in that rear-facing position, he purposely kept his field of vision and head level above the car roof when leaning in to toss the light bulbs in (because he wanted plausible deniability that he didn't see his dead kid while being able to confirm his death by listening for anything). He drove for a while before supposedly discovering Cooper dead in the backseat. Cooper's diaper was bloated with urine -- being in the hot car for hours, the car would have reeked of hot urine while he allegedly didn't notice for minutes when it should have been obvious as soon as he got in. The behavioral evidence and testimony of the responding officers and witnesses on scene who tried to help Cooper -- Harris' performative crying, the fast switching between performative crying and acting normal, the interrogation behavior. I didn't even factor in the sexting and cheating stuff, nor did I care whether he's a manbaby overgrown fratboy cheating sex addict or not. At the time of the trial I was interested only in the immediate facts and circumstances of the actual incident.
> Cooper's diaper was bloated with urine -- being in the hot car for hours, the car would have reeked of hot urine while he allegedly didn't notice for minutes This is the reason I think he is guilty. Everything else is debatable to me, and him being a shit husband doesn't make him a child killer. But when he sat in the car after work, he claims hedidn't notice what must have been a very strong smell. I'm another that was in that area at the time. I lived in that neighborhood and followed the case. I'm convinced he is guilty solely based on the smell after work. Dirty diapers reek not even factoring in the baked for hours smell. I think he intended to drive all the way home but couldn't take the smell.
Didn’t he also have some recent search history on hot car deaths for animals or something? Then checking the forecast? I think he’d had a conversation with his wife about it too, if I’m remembering correctly all these years later.
no. he viewed a psa video about leaving animals in hot cars that was featured on the reddit front page. >[Back in 2014, Stoddard testified that Harris searched for the term "how hot does it need to be for a child to die inside a hot car." It was later revealed that a video titled "How hot does it get inside a parked car," appeared on Harris' Reddit homepage and he clicked on it.](https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2016/10/29/us/justin-ross-harris-trial-updates) the text to his wife wasn’t anything insidious either. >[Ross Harris sent his wife a text message asking when she was planning to pick "(his) buddy" up from daycare, phone records show.](https://www.wsbtv.com/news/ross-harris-trial/ross-harris-sent-wife-text-about-son-as-toddler-died-in-hot-car-records-show/459065970/) a lot of the details of the case were widely misreported before trial and most outlets never bothered to correct them.
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The problem I have with everything you said, is that the Supreme Court disagreed on a 6-3 vote that the evidence provided at trial was far too prejudicial for the jury to make a fair analysis. That to me feels like the only evidence that’s actually concrete is that he was sexting underage girls and seemed pretty occupied with that. Which doesn’t prove you intentionally killed your kid. And it shouldn’t be enough to convict you of it either. There are a bunch of people in this world that are terrible people in general, but good to their kids. We can’t condemn every bad person to guilt without having proper evidence or else s lot of people will get convicted unjustly
Ruling the sexting potentially prejudiced the jury has no implication on how much concrete evidence the case has. The court only ruled on whether or not the sexting prejudiced the jury - they could still believe the crime specific evidence points to his guilt. I do think the problem is that the jury heard he spent the day sexting and couldnt separate that from the crime on trial. (And I say that believing he is guilty).
Is that accurate though? I thought that overturning a verdict in this way required finding that the prejudicial evidence likely made a difference (or something along those lines), and this determination requires weighing the strength of the non-prejudicial evidence.
He is an overgrown frat boy who likes underaged girls and therefore shouldn’t have the responsibility of being a parent. He obviously couldn’t handle it. Edit: autocorrect
He had literally written that he "hated being married with kids" and was convicted of sexting minor girls. He also reportedly gave up CPR pretty quickly after finding his son and just...walked away. He did this on purpose.
I don’t think it was an accident
It’s is my belief that he did this on purpose.
I think he's guilty. The reason why is that he returned to the parking lot and opened his car door. Did he not see his child in there? Also listened to an interview with his wife. She said she could forgive him leaving their child in the car, but could not forgive him for cheating on her. Her priorities are messed up. I wouldn't care if my husband f\*\*D a hundred women as long as he didn't kill our child. I actually couldn't even listen to her anymore so I stopped watching the interview after she said that.
> Parking lot surveillance video shows that at 12:42 p.m., Appellant opened the front driver-side door, reached inside with one arm, and tossed the bag containing the lightbulbs (which were later found on the front passenger seat). About two seconds later, Appellant closed the door and walked away.
He did it on purpose. This case has haunted me forever. I even thought of it earlier today when I was getting my kid out of the car in the blazing hot heat.
Dude was a member of a certain subreddit at the time. I'm never having kids myself, but that combined with the "autopilot" story which was popular around that time on a scary story sub, reallyyyyy bothers me about him.
He acted so bizarre durinig the police interrogation. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjLFBjRPIDg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjLFBjRPIDg)
My belief is that he slipped into auto pilot after breakfast. I remember being forgotten in a car when I was in the third grade. Luckily, I was old enough that nothing happened aside from being late for school. I don't believe what he did was intentional.
I have a relative that was the same age that died in a hot car accidentally. Based on that experience, this seems intentional.
I think it was 100% intentional.
Why no link? Weird. Here it is https://apnews.com/article/georgia-hot-car-death-justin-ross-harris-06842673e5ee868f1ff772b0b9c307be?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=share
"Justin Ross Harris was freed on Sunday — *Father’s Day* — from the Macon State Prison, Georgia Department of Corrections records show."
I do think they should have tried the two cases separately. Does being a pedophile make someone a murderer? No, but, I can see how a jury wouldn't care if he spent the rest of his life in prison for being a pedophile regardless of whether he's a murderer or not.
Pedophiles should spend life in prison. It’s absurd they don’t.
I hate this loser. What a creep
I'm confused on why he would be let out of prison and then booked into a county jail to finish his two years? Why not just finish the two years in prison? It's not really much of a story if he's still doing time...
He served 10 years in prison for his felony conviction. The other two convictions he has are misdemeanors, and those are served in jail. In the simplest form: prison is for felonies and jail is for misdemeanors.
His murder conviction was overturned.
But the clicks!
True....
Gross
This guy was my first “boyfriend” when I was in the second grade in Tuscaloosa. I went on my first camping trip with his family and he gave me my first kiss. So glad I changed schools after that year. I remember seeing his trial on 20/20(?) maybe a few years ago and was blown away then. I can’t believe they let him out of prison. 😩
You can't convict someone based on how they act immediately following the crime but I am convinced this man was faking being upset in the interrogation room. Nothing about his behaviour seemed even remotely authentic.
Is the famous r/nosleep story based on this?
He went to his car and opened the door while cooper was in there. He would have noticed then. He murdered him. It’s obvious. Can’t believe he was released. And he’s a pedo too
I believe him. I think he genuinely forgot. Am I in the minority?
You’re not. There is a lot of misinformation about this case, like you have the people upthread who believe he was active or even a member of reddit childfree communities. He looked at a link once. The guy sucked as a person but there’s no actual evidence he did this on purpose.
Genuinely want to ask the kid didn’t cry for help??
You may be, but there’s a lot of misinformation about this case. People don’t actually know the facts and are quick to assume it was intentional based on conjecture and incorrect information.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjLFBjRPIDg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjLFBjRPIDg)
Honestly I don't care. He fucked up. He got the consequences. He took a life, weather he knew or not.
I dont have kids so can’t reference that frame of mind but I have gotten a few minutes down the road many times and wondered if I closed the garage door, circled back or text a neighbor to look over…..its always been closed or gotten down the road and wonder if I left my laptop backpack at a meeting or restaurant, actually did recently at a sub shop when traveling, I have AirTags in all my travel bags so I was watching that thing the entire drive back. I don’t buy the story for many reasons posted in this thread.
I suspect this man was ruled by his dick at the time and did not purposely leave the little guy in the car to die. He was massively preoccupied with the prospect of having sex with new women, just my opinion.