The lead attorney for Ross Harris, charged with killing his son in a hot car, began questioning jurors Tuesday in a way designed to get them thinking of how the case will be defended.
Harris, a former Home Depot web developer, has long contended it was a tragic accident when he left Cooper to die in his SUV on a hot Georgia day in June 2014. Through his questioning, defense attorney Maddox Kilgore got prospective jurors to begin thinking of tragic hot-car deaths across the nation and public service announcements warning parents and caregivers not to forget children in rear car seats.
The jury selection process continued at a snail's pace. On Tuesday afternoon, Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark indicated it will not be until Thursday when jurors from the 36 on the panel will be qualified as potential jurors. It is expected that as many as 42 people must be qualified to serve before the selection process begins. Twelve jurors and up to four alternates are expected to be necessary for the trial.
In the morning, as a torrential rain storm passed over the courthouse, one leak and then two leaks sprung from the ceiling, requiring deputies to put plastic trash cans on the front rows of the courtroom gallery. The storms passed in the early afternoon and the leaking finally stopped.
When it was his turn for questions, Kilgore asked the panel of 36 prospective jurors if they knew someone who had left a child in a car, even if for a short period of time. Three said they had.
He also asked the Glynn County residents if they had heard public service announcements warning people of the perils of leaving children or animals in hot cars. Almost two dozen said they had. Who had read news accounts of hot-car deaths across the country? he asked. Seventeen said they had.
Kilgore also established that 29 of the three dozen prospective jurors knew a family member, friend or co-worker who’d had an affair. Thirteen of the 36 had gone through a divorce. Three said they knew a family member or friend with a sex addiction.
One more juror said she'd realized, since being asked Monday, that she'd previously heard about the Harris case. That brought the total to 28 prospective jurors.
Twenty-one of the potential jurors said they’d formed or expressed an opinion as to whether a child could be left in a car. And 14 of them said they had family members and close friends who’d expressed opinions about the Harris case.
Harris is the subject of the second season of the AJC's podcast series "Breakdown," which will follow the trial's developments. Follow live updates on Twitter at @AJCBreakdown.
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