Think of it like a job interview, with more than 300 Glynn County residents applying to serve on the jury of Justin Ross Harris.
Most will sit through as many as three interviews over the next few weeks as lawyers for both sides wrangle over who should sit in judgment of Harris, charged with intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son Cooper inside a hot SUV in June 2014.
For some, the questions are minimal. For others, like Juror No. 5, a massage therapist, the process can seem more like an interrogation. She was asked about everything from her previous employer to her husband’s arrest while he was in high school. Her connections to Cobb County, where she lived for five years in the late-1990s, and Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark, whose stepson knows the prospective juror’s husband, brought extra scrutiny.
Juror No. 5 was questioned for 45 minutes Wednesday morning, discussing an in-law’s sex addiction and her interest in true crime dramas. She will be questioned again, specifically about her knowledge of the Harris case and whether she has formed an opinion on his guilt or innocence. Harris’ attorneys say Cooper’s death was unintentional.
The second round of questioning is ongoing. As of 11 a.m. eight of the first panel of 36 jurors had been questioned.
Judge Staley Clark told attorneys she would like to have that first panel completed by lunchtime Thursday, an ambitious goal, based on the current pace.
Harris is the subject of the second season of the AJC's podcast series "Breakdown," which will follow the trial's developments
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