Jury selection completed in hot car death trial

BRUNSWICK — Sixteen jurors were qualified Wednesday for the Justin Ross Harris murder trial following a marathon session that completed the selection process two days ahead of schedule.

Following a week off, the trial will reconvene Oct. 3, with attorneys from both sides exercising their peremptory strikes to winnow the jury pool from 45 to 12 jurors and four alternates. Opening statements will follow that same day, more than 27 months after Harris allegedly left his 22-month-old son Cooper inside a hot SUV to die. The defense says it was a tragic mistake, not murder.

Among those declared eligible Wednesday: a landscaper who said both her mother and brother “died in my arms” of terminal illnesses; a former school bus driver whose friend’s dog died after being left in a hot car and a retired carpenter who participates in Civil War reenactments.