BRUNSWICK — Justin Ross Harris defense attorney Maddox Kilgore, arguing that a Cobb police officer lied on the stand and the judge prevented him from properly cross-examining him, motioned for a mistrial Wednesday following a wild day of testimony.
“Our ability to cross examine that last witness had been severely interfered with,” Kilgore said. He accused Cobb County Police Officer Brett Gallimore of contradicting his initial report while on the stand Wednesday.
“We have a right to bust him on it,” Kilgore said.
Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark denied the motion, made on the eve of a four-day weekend necessitated by the looming threat of Hurricane Matthew.
“This is not grounds for a mistrial,” Staley Clark said. “There’s a remedy for that called appellate review.”
Gallimore had testified that Harris’ grief after finding his son’s body appeared manufactured.
“I felt like he was acting hysterical. Not hysterical, but acting,” said Gallimore, one of the first responders at the Akers Mill Square parking lot, where Harris said he discovered his 22-month-old son’s lifeless body. Cooper had been strapped into his car seat some seven hours earlier; prosecutors say he intentionally left him in the hot SUV to die.
Under cross-examination, Gallimore was pressed by Kilgore why, in his initial report, he never pointed out Harris’ alleged lack of authenticity.
“At the end of your report, you said when securing the scene Ross Harris was still extremely upset,” Kilgore said.
Questioned by prosecutor Chuck Boring, Gallimore testified he “never saw (Harris) cry once. I didn’t see any emotion whatsoever.”
Gallimore ordered Harris handcuffed after the former Home Depot web developer allegedly uttered an obscenity directed at him. But Gallimore admitted the cursing couldn’t be heard on video from the scene.
