8 Cobb residents qualify for jury in hot-car death trial
THE STORY SO FAR
Previously: Ross Harris was charged with murder after his 22-month-old son died in June 2014 after spending hours in the back of Harris's sweltering car.
The latest: Jury selection continues, with several potential jurors saying they could be fair and impartial.
What’s next: It could take several weeks to complete jury selection; the trial could last months.
Eight Cobb County residents were qualified Thursday to serve as jurors and potentially decide the fate of Ross Harris, accused of killing his 22-month-old son by leaving him in a hot car in June 2014.
Jury selection continues Friday and, by the look of the progress so far, it will take at least a couple of weeks. Superior Court Judge Mary Staley is allowing the prosecution and defense teams to individually question prospective jurors and then argue which ones should be struck on grounds they cannot be fair and impartial.
“There is nothing more important in a criminal case than the selection of a fair and impartial jury,” said Atlanta criminal defense attorney Don Samuel, who is not involved in the case. You need a jury that can decide a case without preconceptions or biases that skew the decision-making process, he said.
“What is the hurry?” Samuel asked. “If it takes two weeks, then let it take two weeks. There is no time limit in the quest for a fair trial.”
Staley rejected three of four requests by Harris’ lawyer, Maddox Kilgore, to strike jurors for cause. One whom Staley allowed on the panel is an independent contractor who’d said he couldn’t believe anyone would mistakenly leave a child unattended in a car.
Harris, who is charged with murder, told police he forgot to drop Cooper off at daycare and instead drove to his office at Home Depot, parked and left his son in the car. It was a sweltering June day, and Cooper died in the SUV while his father worked inside.
Staley denied a motion by prosecutors to strike a Mableton man who had prior misdemeanor convictions and whose son faces a murder charge in Douglas County. Prosecutor Jesse Evans argued that the man, who works maintenance at a nursing home, should be removed because he did not disclose his or his son’s charges on his jury questionnaire.
Before Staley issued her rulings, jury selection had taken a decidedly different turn. On Wednesday, most of the jurors interviewed said they had fixed opinions on Harris' guilt.
On Thursday, four prospective jurors said they had formed no opinions about Harris’ guilt and could be fair and impartial. They also said they only had a cursory knowledge of the sensational case. All wound up being qualified.
“I think anyone’s innocent until proven guilty,” said one, a divorcee with four children and five grandchildren. “I don’t really know about the case.”
The woman, a deputy court clerk, once worked for a police department and the victim-witness program of a district attorney’s office. She also said she’s aware of the danger of leaving kids in cars and, after hearing about the Harris case, began warning her children about it.
“I try to tell my kids all the time,” she said. “Be careful when you go somewhere. Don’t leave your kids in the car for any length of time.”
The woman said she has found it to be “nerve-wracking” when she’s had to drive with one of her grandchildren in a rear-facing car seat. “You can’t see them,” she said.
About the Author
Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. His father, Jim Rankin, worked as an editor for the newspaper for 26 years, retiring in 1986. Bill has primarily covered the state’s court system, doing all he can do to keep the scales of justice on an even keel. Since 2015, he has been the host of the newspaper’s Breakdown podcast.
