After four days of often contentious testimony in the hot-car death trial, Cobb County Police Det. Phil Stoddard emerged Wednesday bloodied but still standing.
Stoddard was on the stand for cross-examination by Ross Harris’s lead defense attorney for about five hours on Tuesday and Wednesday. Attorney Maddox Kilgore landed some punches, forcing Stoddard to concede that some earlier statements by police — and by him in particular — were either untrue or only partially correct. It’s not clear, however, whether the defense was able to undermine the state’s case with its relentless cross of the detective.
Nor was it certain that Stoddard’s missteps registered with the jury, which has been listening to testimony for nearly four weeks and is beginning to show signs of fatigue.
Harris is charged with malice murder in the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. The state claims Harris intentionally killed Cooper by leaving him inside a hot SUV for hours on a June day in 2014.
SPLIT DECISION
“(The defense) definitely inflicted some damage, but the state really rehabilitated him on re-direct,” said Marietta defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who has been following the trial since the beginning.
“He held his own,” she said. “But anybody who was listening carefully knows (the defense) pulled out some inconsistencies.”
Merchant, who was in the courtroom Wednesday, said some jurors appeared to have checked out.
“Stoddard is extremely important, but I don’t know if the jurors are going to grasp that,” she said. “I think they will probably forgive him for his mistakes, as the state categorized them.”
‘NOT A SUSPECT … AT THIS TIME’
Seeking to illustrate what he believes is the state’s rush to judgment, Kilgore pointed out how investigators initially believed Harris’s wife, Leanna, might have been involved in Cooper’s death. (Leanna Taylor divorced Ross Harris this year and began using her own name again.)
Stoddard said Taylor’s subdued response to the news that her son was dead aroused his suspicions.
“Leanna (Taylor) has been a suspect in this case all the way through,” he said. “Is she being actively investigated? No. … She’s not part of an active investigation.”
“You were dead wrong about Leanna,” Kilgore told Stoddard, implying to the jury that if the police were wrong about Taylor, they might also be wrong about Harris.
“Isn’t it true you’re looking for a conspiracy, you’re looking for nefarious motives?” Kilgore asked.
Lead prosecutor Chuck Boring objected, saying the defense attorney was being argumentative. With that, Kilgore concluded his cross-examination.
INSIDE HARRIS’S SUV
Jurors on Thursday will view the 2011 Hyundai Tucson where Cooper spent seven hours locked inside, strapped in his car seat. Harris’ car will be driven to a spot just outside the Glynn County courthouse.
Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark ruled with the prosecution on a motion to give the jurors an opportunity to get a better look at the inside of the vehicle. The defense opposed the viewing, saying it was unnecessary. But Boring successfully argued that the jury should be allowed to view “the murder weapon.”
Harris will not be there, waiving his right to be present.
ABSENCE OF MALICE
Much has been made of Harris telling Stoddard, after learning he was being charged, “but there was no malicious intent.”
“I was confused how he knew that language,” Cobb Police Det. David Raissi testified Wednesday. “It kind of struck me as being off.”
Harris, the defense has explained, was familiar with such terms because he worked three years as a police dispatcher while living in Alabama. Also, his half-brother works in law enforcement.
One problem: Malice murder is not a criminal charge in Alabama. The state was able to sneak that in through Raissi, who, when questioned by Kilgore, testified that he had looked it up earlier Wednesday morning.
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