Heartache and tragedy continued to surface Thursday among the prospective jurors being questioned during the Ross Harris hot-car murder trial.
One man said he may have a hard time sitting as a juror in the case because his wife has had three stillborn babies. His voice quavering, he said he can’t watch TV shows that deal with children who have medical issues because of his personal heartache.
This prospective juror, who owns his own landscape construction business, will be questioned more in depth about his views at a later time when jurors are questioned individually by the prosecution and defense.
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 final jury of 12 members and four alternates will be chosen. Those six jurors came from an initial panel of 12 prospective jurors. On Thursday, lawyers began questioning the second 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. In other words, there's still a long ways to go.
Also Thursday, one other prospective juror, a kindergarten teacher, disclosed that her husband suffered a catastrophic injury at work several years ago when he worked at the water department. She noted she has had to care for him ever since.
One other juror, a man who sells collectibles and computer games on eBay, noted he moved to the Golden Isles from California more than a decade ago because his father was suffering from terminal cancer. He also said an extremely close friend of his unexpectedly committed suicide by hanging himself. Yet another juror revealed that she’d been removed from her home when she was young because her parents abused her.
Jury selection continued with a new constant: the sound of coughs and muffled sneezes. Two of the 11 prospective jurors seated in the jury box appeared to be extremely ill. One had a constant, hacking cough; the other was so congested lawyers strained to hear her answers. Two more looked like they were coming down with something.
The two jurors who looked the most ill have sat on both sides of the owner of the landscape construction company for two days now. On Wednesday, he appeared fine. On Thursday, he was coughing.
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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