Eleven more jurors on Thursday were found to be eligible to preside over the Ross Harris hot-car murder case, bringing the number to 17 in the final jury pool.
Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark has now decided which Glynn County residents will continue to be prospective jurors after lawyers finished questioning of two panels consisting of 12 jurors each. A third panel of 12 prospective jurors will be brought to court on Friday.
During Thursday’s questioning, some prospective jurors said they couldn’t understand how someone could leave a child in a car to die, while others said they would find it extremely difficult to look at photos of a dead child.
"It's hard for me to understand how someone, who's supposed to be an adult, wouldn't step up and take notice," Juror #18 said, when questioned individually about Cooper Harris' hot-car death in June 2014.
This juror, who buys and sells collectibles, comic books and video games on the Internet, said the Harris case made him think of a jarring incident he experienced when he was 10 or 11 years old and living in California. One day, he said, he looked out his bedroom window and saw a child in diapers walking along the street.
He said he ran downstairs and grabbed the child and later learned the child had walked 17 blocks away from home.
“It’s hard for me to how that could happen,” he said.
But as regards to Harris' guilt or innocence, Juror #18 said he could sit as a fair and impartial juror and decide the case based on the facts and the evidence presented in court.
Juror #18 was declared eligible to serve.
Another prospective juror said he would have a difficult time sitting in judgment of a trial that will include photos of Harris' dead 22-month-old son, Cooper. The man, who owns his own landscaping construction business, became emotional when he explained why: his wife has had three stillbirths.
“I would be concerned about it,” he said.
But when questioned by Cobb prosecutor Jesse Evans, the man said he believed he could remain fair and impartial to both sides if he sat as a juror and had to look at such photos.
“I would do my best if I was chosen,” he said. He also was declared eligible to serve.
Another prospective juror, a woman who answers customer service sales calls and has a 16-year-old son, said she could not sit in judgment of another person because she’s a Jehovah’s Witness. “I’m not God, I’m not Jehovah,” she said.
She was the only juror struck for cause from the second batch of a dozen prospective jurors.
A kindergarten teacher said she previously read a story in the local newspaper about the case being transferred to Brunswick from Cobb County.
Her initial impression: “How horrible that this could happen to a child.”
But she said she can keep an open mind and be a fair and impartial juror. “As far as guilt or innocence, I don’t know anything,” she said.
On Wednesday, six jurors survived the first round of questioning and have been asked to return to court on Oct. 3, the likely date when the jury of 12 members and four alternates will be chosen. Those six jurors came from an initial panel of 12 prospective jurors.
A total of 42 must be deemed eligible to serve before the prosecution and defense exercise their strikes to arrive at the final jury.
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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