Justin Ross Harris' double life — at least parts of it — wasn't a secret to everyone he knew.
That's what his defense team aimed to prove by putting the former Home Depot web developer's best friend on the stand this week. Harris is accused of murdering his 22-month-old son Cooper in June 2014 by leaving the toddler in a hot SUV for 7 hours.
Here are three takeaways from the testimony of his friend, Billy Kirkpatrick, who has known Harris since college.
1. ‘I saw him struggle’
Kirkpatrick said Harris first came to him for help in 2010 after Harris’ now ex-wife, Leanna Taylor, discovered objectionable material on his cellphone. He testified he became Harris’ accountability partner through a service called Covenant Eyes that would notify him via email every time his friend visited a pornographic website.
“I saw him struggle with sexual sin at the same time I saw him be a tremendous friend to me and a tremendous father,” Kirkpatrick said.
2. ‘I need … accountability’
In 2013, a year before Cooper died, Harris enlisted Kirkpatrick’s help again, telling him in an email that his struggles with pornography had persisted.
“Please do not hesitate to question my actions,” Harris wrote to his friend. “This is something I need serious accountability over.”
3. ‘I dropped the ball’
Visits to hook-up sites such as Ashley Madison and Adult Sex Finder started turning up in the notifications from Covenant Eyes, said Kirkpatrick, who felt he should have been a better accountability partner to Harris.
“For my part, that was my responsibility and I dropped the ball,” Kirkpatrick said. “I guess I felt at that point I was ruining the marriage of my best friend.”
Only a handful of witnesses remain to be called by the defense.
On Thursday, expert David Diamond, who has testified in the hot car deaths of other children, is expected to take the stand. Diamond has testified in the past that people’s brains sometimes go on essentially “auto pilot” when doing routine things like driving to work. That force of habit can sometimes cause people to forget other things they had planned to do instead.
The trial resumes today at 8:30 a.m.
You can follow minute-by-minute trial developments at AJC.com and on Twitter at @AJCBreakdown. 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.
