A parade of women filtered through the courtroom in the Justin Ross Harris murder trial to testify that they exchanged sexually explicit text messages and nude photos with the defendant. Two of them were 18-years-old at the time.
Harris is charged with murder in the hot car death of his 22-month-old son Cooper who he left in a hot SUV to die on June 18, 2014. The defense maintains that it was a terrible accident with Harris forgetting his son was in the car.
Here are three things to know from Thursday's day of testimony.
1.’He told me he loved me’
One of the women, Jaynie Meadows, testified she was an 18-year-old college student in 2013 when she first began engaging in online chats with Harris. Eventually, she said, she fell in love with him.
“He told me he loved me everyday,” the 21-year-old testified.
At one point, lead prosecutor Chuck Boring had Meadows read a message Harris had sent to her. “If (Cooper) wasn’t in the picture, I probably would have left L by now,” she said, with the “L” referring to Harris’ former wife, Leanna Taylor.
But under cross-examination, Meadows agreed when defense attorney Maddox Kilgore told her Harris “loved that baby more than anything” and “wouldn’t end his marriage because he loved that little boy.”
Meadows grew increasingly impatient with the prolonged questioning, often glaring at the defense attorney. At one point, she looked toward the courtroom gallery, shook her head and mouthed, “Please stop.” But no one could help her, and Kilgore continued on.
2. Sexual liaisons
Alexandra Swindell, another woman who testified Thursday, said she was a student at the University of Alabama when Harris contacted her in an online chat under the user name BAMAXH. In early 2013, she said, Harris drove to Tuscaloosa to pick her up from her dorm room. They drove to a secluded area where she said she performed a sexual act on Harris.
They never met again, but in May 2014 Swindell messaged Harris again. She indicated, in sexually explicit terms, that she’d like to get together once more. Harris responded by sending her photos of his genitals.
Three days before Cooper’s death they were chatting about getting together sometime in July.
Another woman, 24-year-old Elizabeth Smith, testified she began exchanging sexually explicit messages with Harris in January 2014. They met up for sex a month later in a parking lot off I-75, she said. Two months later, Harris texted her a selfie he’d taken of himself and Cooper while they attended a Braves game.
They also exchanged messages in the early morning hours of Cooper’s last day. At 7:25 a.m., Harris messaged Smith and asked her if she would meet up with him and have sex. But Smith replied, “No, I’m in Hilton Head.”
3. ‘He’s awesome’
Earlier Thursday, Harris’ defense team tried to paint their client’s online chats and texts in a different light.
Defense lawyer Carlos Rodriguez showed jurors a series of texts sent by Harris that indicated he loved his son.
For example, Rodriguez showed jurors an online chat Harris had June 18, 2014, with an unidentified person on the anonymous messaging site Whisper while Cooper was strapped inside his overheated SUV.
Cooper woke him up at 5:30 a.m. that morning, Harris wrote. “That joker decided, ‘Hey I’m gonna get up early.’ Ha ha Ohhhh gotta love kids. … He’s awesome.”
Rodriguez also showed jurors texts Harris had with his wife days before Cooper’s death.
Shortly after 1 p.m. on June 11, 2014, likely at Cooper’s daycare facility, Harris took a photo of his son while he was taking a nap.
Harris texted the photo of Cooper to his wife and noted at one point the child awoke, saw him and said “Daddy!!!”
Court resumes Friday at 8:30 a.m.
You can follow minute-by-minute developments in the trial 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.
About the Author
