A Cobb police captain testified he smelled an unusual odor inside Justin Ross Harris' SUV that "I can only associate with death" as testimony resumed Wednesday in the hot car death trial, one week after Hurricane Matthew suspended proceedings.
“You could smell the odor of sweat and a diaper,” Cobb County Police Capt. James Ferrell testified. Earlier that day, 22-month-old Cooper Harris’ lifeless body had been discovered by his father still strapped in his car seat. Ross Harris is charged with intentionally leaving his son inside the Hyundai Tucson to die.
Ferrell and investigator Phil Stoddard were the only people on the scene to report a smell emanating from the vehicle.
Jurors were shown also images of Cooper’s final meal, at a Vinings Chick-fil-A located less than a mile away from the Home Depot parking lot where Harris worked. The restaurant was the last stop before Harris parked his car, leaving Cooper behind.
“I just remember Cooper smiling,” said Chris Redmon, the Vinings Chick-fil-A’s general manager on June 18, 2014, the day Harris’ only child died. “He seemed like a happy kid.”
Redmon testified he recognized Harris, estimating he had witnessed him in the restaurant around a dozen times. That morning was the first time he had seen him with Cooper, he said.
In its opening statement, the defense said Harris usually grabbed breakfast at Chick-fil-A after dropping his son off at a nearby daycare facility.
Redmon said he observed Harris and his son leaving the restaurant.
“I don’t remember (Cooper) sleeping,” Redmon said.
Paramedic Peyton Barwick testified Wednesday that Harris showed no emotion as he collected basic information about Cooper from his father. By then Harris was sitting, handcuffed, in the back of a police cruiser and investigators had already identified the parking lot as a crime scene.
“He asked if (Cooper) was dead,” Barwick said.
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