Justin Ross Harris, awaiting trial in the hot-car death of his 22-month-old son, was indicted Friday on charges that he swapped lewd snapshots and engaged in sexually explicit chats with underage girls.
Harris’ attorney, Maddox Kilgore, questioned whether the eight-count indictment — two counts of sexually exploiting children and six of disseminating harmful material to a minor — was a “calculated maneuver to inflame public opinion against Ross” just five weeks before jury selection in the murder trial. Harris, who goes on trial April 11, is charged with intentionally leaving his son, Cooper, to die in the back of a sweltering SUV in June 2014.
“Despite possessing Ross Harris’ cell phone for almost two years, the Cobb County district attorney has only now chosen to indict Ross for some alleged consensual electronic communications,” Kilgore said in a statement.
In the new indictment, Harris is accused of possessing lewd photographs of two underage girls, sending nude photos to those girls and one other and engaging in sexually explicit chats with all three.
Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds said the timing was unavoidable.
The new indictment was made possible by “advances in electronic forensic analysis in conjunction with recent interviews of newly discovered victims,” he said.
“Had the state delayed charging any further, prosecution of some of the charges would have barred by the statute of limitations,” Reynolds said.
Harris will be tried separately on the latest charges which, according to prosecutors, should not delay the murder trial.
The defense had previously moved — unsuccessfully — to separate charges related to Harris' extramarital dalliances from the more serious counts, including malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children. But the state argued in pretrial hearings that his sexting with other women was crucial to understanding motive.
Neither side denies Harris was actively engaged in sexual online chats with numerous women. Cobb Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified in October that Harris sent 40,000 texts using the Whisper messaging app alone.
Family was a “hurdle that stood in the way of Harris’ desire to be with as many women as possible,” Cobb Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said at a motions hearing in October.
Prosecutors also revealed that, just 10 minutes before he last saw his son Cooper alive, Harris responded sympathetically to a social media post written by an anonymous mother lamenting her decision to have children.
“I love my son and all,” Harris wrote on the morning of June 18, 2014. “But we both need escapes.”
Kilgore has long contended the state is trying to poison the well against his client. He repeated that charge on Friday.
“After more than a 20-month investigation into every imaginable detail of Ross Harris’ life, this new indictment alleges no acts of cruelty, no deprivation, no abuse, nor any neglect of Cooper,” Kilgore said. “The content and timing of this indictment confirms the absence of such evidence, and it signals the state’s desperation to convict Ross of the worst mistake any of us as parents could make.”
Harris pleaded not guilty to all charges in the first indictment. He's been held without bond since June 2014.
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