About 17 months before Ross Harris left his 22-month-old son inside a hot car, he received an email from his then-wife Leanna with the subject line, "Don't be this dad."
The message contained a link to a news story about a father in New York who had forgotten his baby inside a car for eight hours. The advocacy group Quality Care for Children sent Harris two additional emails on the topic in 2014, the last of which was received five weeks before Harris left son Cooper strapped into his car seat. Harris, charged with malice murder, insists it was an accident.
Interviewed a few hours after his son's death, the former Home Depot web developer told Cobb County detective Phil Stoddard that he had twice watched a YouTube clip by a veterinarian about the dangers of leaving a dog inside a vehicle.
On Monday, jurors were shown the video in which the veterinarian, sitting inside the car, windows slightly cracked, describes the heat to be "almost unbearable." Twenty-five minutes into his demonstration, the temperature had reached 113 degrees.
“It’s a lousy way to die,” the veterinarian says. The video was last viewed by Harris on June 13, 2014, five days before Cooper died.
It’s one of many coincidences that form the basis of the prosecution’s case against Harris. They may lack a smoking gun, but the defendant has provided the state with considerable ammunition.
The seemingly damning evidence against Harris that was either introduced or expanded upon Monday included:
- Harris conducting a web search about surviving in federal prison.
- Harris telling Stoddard, after learning he would be charged with cruelty to children and felony murder, "but there was no malicious intent." That part was not recorded, however.
- Stoddard asking Harris, during that same interview, to recount his day. After telling the detective he had gone to lunch with two co-workers, Harris paused, neglecting to mention his lunchtime purchase of light bulbs, which he placed in his car soon thereafter. By then Cooper had been inside the Hyundai Tucson for roughly three hours.
- Harris asking what constitutes murder under Georgia law. Informed by Stoddard that his actions caused his son's death, Harris argued that it wasn't intentional. "How is that against the law?" he asked.
- Investigators saying apps frequently used by Harris, including Whisper and Kik, were no longer on his phone when they accessed it after his arrest. According to testimony, Harris had used his phone the morning of Cooper's death to comment on a Whisper post written by a mother who said she regretted having children. He engaged in 36 other conversations that day, mostly about sex, Stoddard said.
Meanwhile, Stoddard doubled down on testimony that appeared to contradict video evidence of Harris' actions on the day of his son's death. He maintained that Harris appeared concerned someone might see Cooper after he dropped off the light bulbs.
"All we know is he stops. He pauses," Stoddard said under questioning by prosecutor Chuck Boring. And even though it appears Harris is simply looking at his cellphone, the detective didn't back down.
“After looking at many, many pictures of this, it’s possible the defendant was turning his head,” he said.
At Harris’ July 2014 probable cause hearing, Stoddard testified the defendant was “all the way inside the frame” when he stopped by his car at lunchtime.
“He’s in there. He has a clear view,” he said then. If true, Harris must have known at the time that his son was still in his car seat.
He backed off that claim somewhat at an August pre-trial hearing, acknowledging Harris’ head was “above the car,” as shown on the video.
But on Monday, Stoddard testified, “There is nothing between him and the view of the inside of the car,” adding that when Harris approaches the SUV, “he appears to bend down a little bit.”
The defense is expected to press Stoddard hard on these inconsistencies. That cross-examination is expected to begin sometime Tuesday.
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