The decision by Cobb County’s top prosecutor not to seek the death penalty for Justin Ross Harris brought an instant and deeply split verdict in the court of public opinion.
Defense lawyers and prosecutors hailed it as a wise and even courageous choice, but many in the public denounced it as inexplicable, given what 22-month-old Cooper Harris suffered after his father left him strapped in a car on a hot June day.
“If anyone deserves (the death penalty), he does,” said a member of the Facebook group, “Justice for Cooper,” a sentiment widespread among people commenting via social media on Wednesday’s announcement by Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds.
On Twitter, the reaction was swift and unsparing.
“Leave him in a HOT jail cell for life” tweeted one person. Another took satisfaction in the thought that although the state will not seek the death penalty, “his prison mates will.”
But Reynolds’ former law partner, Jimmy Berry, praised the prosecutor for not being swayed by public sentiment. “It’s pretty courageous not to ask for it, even if the public thinks this is a case that deserves it,” Berry said.
Going for the death penalty also makes a case hugely more expensive and, if a death sentence results, brings an automatic appeal, Berry and others noted.
Reynolds made his decision known in a prepared statement: “After reviewing Georgia’s death penalty statute and considering other factors, the State will not seek the death penalty in this case at this time. I cannot and will not elaborate at this juncture.”
Harris’ lawyer, H. Maddox Kilgore, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was aware of Reynolds’ statement, but he declined to comment on it.
Earlier this month, Cobb grand jurors indicted Harris on eight felony counts, including deliberately murdering his son. Harris has not yet entered a formal plea, but Kilgore has reiterated what Harris originally told police, that Cooper's death was a tragic accident.
Reynolds’ biggest challenge will be showing that Harris knowingly left Cooper in the car with the intent to kill him. The evidence made public thus far can be interpreted to show that, but it is circumstantial and subject to other interpretations as well.
Seeking death would only make the prosecution’s job more difficult, according to legal experts.
Under Georgia law, prosecutors cannot obtain a death sentence unless they show a murder involved one of 10 aggravating circumstances. These include killing a police officer, killing more than one person or committing a murder that was outrageously vile or inhuman and involved torture or depravity.
Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said that requirement may have been the overriding factor in Reynolds’ decision.
“It may be whether he can prove the aggravating circumstances beyond a reasonable doubt,” Porter said. “There might not be enough evidence.”
Atlanta criminal defense attorney Steve Sadow agreed. “It puts a lot more on his plate than he needs to have,” he said.
Marietta attorney Ashleigh Merchant said she thinks Reynolds added the qualifier “at this time” to hedge his bets in case more information comes to light before the arraignment, now scheduled for Oct. 17.
“This could be a key witness coming forward, like if Harris’ wife were to flip and become a prosecution witness and say this was all planned,” Merchant said. “I know she has strongly denied this, but if something like that were to happen, then I think it might make a difference.”
But the attorney for Harris’ wife, Leanna Harris, seized on Reynolds’ announcement as an indication that the state’s case is lacking.
“There must be certainty as to guilt when seeking the ultimate penalty,” said Lawrence Zimmerman. “It’s obvious Mr. Reynolds does not agree with the police department’s first statement that (the evidence) would shock the public’s consciousness.”
Prior to the Harris case, Reynolds’ experience with the death penalty came primarily as a defense lawyer. Among his clients: Lynn Turner, the former 911 operator convicted of poisoning the father of her two children and a former husband for their insurance money. Turner was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
According to the state Department of Corrections, eight of the 84 inmates on death row were prosecuted in Cobb, though none of the cases were tried by Reynolds, who was elected in 2012. The last person put to death in Georgia, Marcus Wellons, was found guilty by a Cobb jury for the 1989 rape and murder of a Vinings teenager.
Krystle Walker, a 29-year-old mother who founded the “Justice for Cooper” Facebook group, said Reynolds probably made the right call on Harris, but she still hopes vengeance will be served if he’s sentenced to life in prison.
“That would put him in the general population in the prison, and I don’t think he’ll like that too much,” said Walker, of Toccoa. “Other inmates don’t take kindly to child killers.”
Another member of the Facebook group was even more vehement, alluding to the fact that while Cooper died, Harris was texting lewd images to several women. “He can rot in a cell then and stare at his penis,” the person wrote. “Ya know, the thing that was more important than Cooper to begin with? Monster.”
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