Prospective jurors for the Ross Harris hot car murder trial on Friday continued to share their unusual — and very personal — stories as the selection process continued into its fifth day.
Juror #25, the first person questioned, disclosed her brother had died earlier this year and that her brother-in-law was once imprisoned for molesting a child.
The brother-in-law’s conviction was particularly shocking because he’d been so good to her sister, she said. “It broke my heart.”
The soft-spoken woman, who’s semi-retired, worked for years as a domestic housekeeper on Sea Island. She also said she’s rarely missed a church service over the past three decades.
During questioning, she said she had twice been pulled over for speeding, and the first occasion happened on one of her birthdays. But the officer paid her son no mind when he told him he should let her off because of her birthday, she said.
The second time, she was pulled over while “sailing” along on the way to church one evening. “The police car came out of nowhere,” she said.
This time, she was given a courtesy warning. The officer, she said with a wide grin, “asked for me to pray for him in church.”
On Thursday, Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark found 11 jurors to be eligible to be on the final jury pool, bringing the total to 17.
To complete jury selection, 42 prospective jurors must be found to be eligible to serve on the basis they can be fair and impartial. This would allow prosecutors and defense attorneys to exercise their strikes to get 12 jurors and four alternate jurors.
On Friday, the prosecution and the defense began questioning jurors on the third panel of 12 Glynn County residents. Once this panel’s consideration is completed, jury selection should be more than halfway finished.
Staley Clark has set aside two weeks for jury selection, ending next Friday. Opening statements for the weeks-long trial are scheduled to begin Oct. 3.
You can follow the latest developments in the case on Twitter at @AJCBreakdown and at AJC.com. AJC reporters Christian Boone (@reporterJCB) and Bill Rankin (@ajccourts) will be in Brunswick for the duration of the trial.
Harris is also the subject of the second season of the AJC's podcast series "Breakdown," which will follow the trial's developments.
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