INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Justin Ross Harris Found Guilty Of Murder In Son Cooper’s 2014 Hot Car Death [Video]

By Patricia Ramirez
Published on: 09:34 PST, Nov 14, 2016

A Georgia jury handed down a guilty verdict in the trial of 35-year-old Justin Ross Harris, the deviant dad charged with deliberately baking his 22-month-old son cooper to death in 2014. Justin Ross Harris was also tried for and found guilty of two counts of child cruelty for the circumstances leading up to the horrific hot car death of little Cooper Harris.

In addition to being found guilty of Cooper’s murder and the unimaginably cruel hours leading up to the child’s death, Justin Ross Harris was also found guilty of three charges related to sexting two underage girls in the days and weeks leading up to Cooper’s murder. In all, Harris was found guilty of all counts that had been levied against him.

A sentencing hearing for Justin Ross Harris has been scheduled for December 5. It is then he will learn his ultimate fate, after having been found guilty of his young son’s horrific murder. As 11 Alive reports, prosecutors have opted not to seek the death penalty in the murder case. Rather, Harris faces a maximum sentence of life without parole, plus an additional 42 years.

As CNN reports, Justin Ross Harris was stoic as his murder trial verdict was read in court on Monday. Leading up to the guilty verdict, jurors deciding the outcome of the emotionally devastating trial deliberated for 21 hours over four days, meticulously considering the testimony of 70 people and over 1,000 evidence exhibits. The trial itself spanned nearly five weeks.

According to the prosecution team in Cobb County, Georgia, Justin Ross Harris intentionally and maliciously locked his toddler son in his hot car for hours in the summer of 2014. Harris’ legal team has always contended that Cooper Harris’ death was an accident, not murder. Justin Ross Harris has steadfastly claimed to have forgotten his son in the car on the day of the boy’s death.

That day was June 18, 2014. Harris, an employee at The Home Depot corporate offices, reportedly left Cooper strapped in the back seat in his rear-facing car seat. Justin Ross Harris should have dropped the 22-month-old off at daycare, but he claimed to have forgotten. Cooper would spend roughly eight hours strapped in the sauna-like car in the stifling Georgia summertime heat.

It wasn’t until after 4 p.m. that Justin Ross Harris claimed to have realized his son was still in the car. By that time, his shift was over and he was headed to a local movie theater to watch a film. He claims that it was then that he noticed Cooper, dead and still strapped helplessly in his car seat.

Prosecutor Chuck Boring, who successfully fought for Copper Harris all the way to his father’s murder conviction, has long argued the unlikeliness of Justin Ross Harris’ claims. According to Boring, anyone sitting in Harris’ SUV would have seen Cooper strapped in his car seat.

“If this child was visible in that car that is not a failure in memory systems. Cooper would have been visible to anyone inside that car. Flat out.”

In addition to arguably being able to see his now-deceased son strapped in his vehicle, the murder trial also uncovered some disturbing and damning details about Justin Ross Harris’ personal life. Details that indicated that the then-33-year-old father was sick of his parental responsibilities. Several witnesses in the Ross murder trial testified that Justin led a “double life.” Evidence indicated that he had a lengthy history of sexting women (and underage girls) despite being a married man; on the day Cooper died, he had sent sexually explicit messages and photos to six females.

The last one sent before Cooper’s death was a foreboding portent of horrific things to come.

“I love my son and all, but we both need escapes.”

In addition to his electronic sexual escapades, the course of the murder investigation and trial uncovered that Justin Ross Harris had an extensive history of sexting underage girls (he was convicted of three counts related to that behavior), cheating on his wife in public places, and even paying a prostitute for sex.

According to Justin Ross Harris’ defense team, their client’s deviant sexual behavior and infidelity have nothing to do with Cooper’s death.

“The state wants to bury him in this filth and dirt of his own making, so that you will believe he is so immoral, he is so reprehensible that he can do exactly this.”

Even Cooper’s mother and Harris’ ex-wife, Leanna Taylor, testified in her former husband’s defense. She claimed that, despite their extensive marital woes, he had been a good and devoted father. She also recounted the personal loss she suffered on the day that Cooper Harris died. She testified that the “only possible explanation” for Cooper’s horrific death was that Justin Ross Harris had “forgotten him” in the car. Leanna Taylor appeared unwilling to consider the possibility of murder.

“Cooper was the sweetest little boy. He had so much life in him. He was everything to me.”

Ultimately, the jury wasn’t swayed by Justin Ross Harris’ defense team, character witnesses or even his ex-wife. They found the Georgia father guilty of murder in one of the most horrific hot car death cases to in recent years.

Harris has been in police custody since Cooper’s death. On December 5, he will learn whether or not he will ever again enjoy life as a free man. Following Justin Ross Harris’ sentencing for murder, his legal team will have 30 days to appeal; his legal team has indicated plans to do so.

[Featured Image by Marietta Daily Journal/Kelly J. Huff/Pool/File/AP Images]

Share this article: Justin Ross Harris Found Guilty Of Murder In Son Cooper’s 2014 Hot Car Death [Video]
More from Inquisitr