Dad in US charged with murder for leaving baby to die locked in a hot car
Boy suffered in 30C heat for 7 hours as accused swapped nude photos at work, grand jury heard
PUBLISHED : Friday, 05 September, 2014, 10:02pm
UPDATED : Friday, 05 September, 2014, 10:02pm
Associated Press in Marietta
Justin Ross Harris weeps as he sits at his bond hearing in Cobb County Magistrate Court in Marietta, Georgia on July 3, 2014. Photo: AP
A man who allegedly sat in his office exchanging nude photos with women while his son was dying, locked for hours in a hot car, has been charged with murder, more than two months after the child's death.
A grand jury in the US state of Georgia on Thursday indicted Justin Ross Harris on multiple charges, including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children. The malice murder charge indicates that prosecutors intend to prove Harris intentionally left his son Cooper in the hot car to die.
The eight-count indictment also includes charges related to sexually explicit exchanges prosecutors say Harris had with an underage girl.
"Today was another step in a long process," Vic Reynolds, district attorney in Cobb County, in suburban Atlanta, said. "We look forward to the case running its course and, ultimately, justice being served in this matter."
Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds leaves a news conference at the Cobb County Courthouse in Marietta, Georgia after discussing the indictment against Justin Ross Harris. Photo: AP
Harris will be arraigned within weeks, and Reynolds said he would decide before then whether to seek the death penalty.
Harris has been in jail since his arrest the day his 22-month-old son died. Harris' attorney, Maddox Kilgore, said his client was devastated after losing his son, his livelihood and freedom. Kilgore said the state had introduced several inconsistent theories about a potential motive in the boy's death, which his client maintains was unintentional.
"The truth is Cooper's death was a horrible, gut-wrenching accident," Kilgore told a news conference on Thursday. "It was always an accident and when the time comes and we work through the state's maze of theories at trial, it's still going to be a terrible, gut-wrenching accident."
Harris has told police he was supposed to drive his son to nursery on the morning of June 18 but drove to work without realising that the child was strapped into a car seat in the back.
Police have said the toddler was left in the vehicle for about seven hours on a day when temperatures in the Atlanta area reached more than 30 degrees Celsius. The medical examiner's office has said the boy died of hyperthermia and has called his death a homicide.
The investigation is still ongoing, Reynolds said.
"The evidence in the case has led us to this point," he said. "Whether or not it leads us to anyone else remains to be answered."
Prosecutors have questioned Harris' wife, Leanna, and she has hired a criminal defence lawyer, but no charges have been filed against her.
"I am surprised that the District Attorney is still contemplating after almost three months of reviewing the evidence whether or not to charge my client, if that is who he was referring to in his press conference," lawyer Lawrence Zimmerman said in an emailed statement. "By now, I would think they would have been able to make a final decision and clear her from any wrongdoing."
In June, police had charged Harris with felony murder and second-degree child cruelty - charges that imply negligence but not intent. The new charges supersede those.
Harris was sitting in his office exchanging nude photos with several women, including a teenager, the day his son died, Detective Phil Stoddard testified at the hearing.
The indictment also accuses Harris of asking a girl under the age of 18 to send him a nude photo and of sending nude photos of himself and sexually explicit messages to her.
