Murder defendant Ross Harris sent out a message that his son was "awesome" while Cooper was dying in his father's hot car, according to court testimony on Thursday.
Harris posted that on the anonymous messaging site Whisper when he chatted with an unidentified person the morning of June 18, 2014. Harris had noted Cooper woke him up at 5:30 a.m. that morning.
“I have a son. That joker decided, ‘Hey I’m gonna get up early,’” Harris wrote shortly after 10 a.m. “Ha ha Ohhhh gotta love kids.”
When Harris told the person that his son was two years old, the person replied, “What a great age.”
“He’s awesome,” Harris said.
At that time, 22-month-old Cooper was strapped inside his car seat in Harris’ SUV in the Home Depot office parking lot. Harris is now on trial for murder, accused of intentionally leaving his son in his car to die. His lawyers contend Cooper’s death was a horrible accident, that Harris forgot his son was in his car.
Defense attorney Carlos Rodriguez got Harris’ online chats into evidence through Cobb Police Det. R.B. Smith. Smith had obtained Harris’ messaging and texting history off his iPhone.
Rodriguez got Smith to call up messages and texts that were not of an explicit sexual nature to try. The obvious strategy was to try and offset prior testimony that showed Harris having chats with other women and under-aged girls in an effort to get them to have sex with him.
On Wednesday, prosecutors introduced into evidence the Whisper exchange Harris had with an unidentified woman while he ate breakfast with Cooper before he left him in his hot car.
A woman had posted on Whisper that she hated being married with kids, had nothing to show for it and resented her husband. Ten minutes before leaving Cooper in his car, Harris responded, “I love my son and all but both need escapes.”
During his opening statement, lead prosecutor Chuck Boring said this showed Harris wanted his son dead so he could be free of his family and pursue his varied sexual interests.
On Thursday, Rodriguez also got Smith to call up an exchange of texts Harris had with his then-wife Leanna Taylor. For example, Harris had apparently gone to visit Cooper at his daycare at about 1 p.m. on June 11, 2014, a week before Cooper’s death.
Harris took a photo of Cooper while he was taking a nap and messaged it to his wife. He told her Cooper saw him when he lay down next to him and gave him a “Daddy!!!”
When the adorable photo of the young child was displayed on the large computer screen in the courtroom, Harris became emotional, wiping his eyes with tissue.
Rodriguez also got Smith to display texts Harris exchanged with Leanna on the day of Cooper’s death.
“Get to work OK?” Leanna asked at about 10:50 a.m.
“Yup yup,” Harris replied. “We’re gonna go to the early movie so I should be home close to 7.”
Then, at 3:16 p.m., an hour before he left work that day, Harris texted his wife, “When you getting my buddy?”
It was the last text Harris sent to his wife. Later that day he would be in police custody and charged with the murder of his son.
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