Investigators have long claimed that, before his son Cooper’s death, Justin Ross Harris searched “child-free lifestyle” and other terms and phrases related to leaving someone inside a hot car and all the possible repercussions that could entail.
On the witness stand Friday, however, Ray Yeager, once a member of Cobb's high-tech crime squad, testified that he analyzed data on cellphones and computers owned by Harris and Taylor and found no evidence of such searches.
“No results for child free?” defense attorney Carlos Rodriguez asked.
“He never searched it,” Yeager said.
Yeager added, however, that this doesn't mean Harris didn't click multiple times on a link he already had about the topic of being child-free.
Yeager, a Cobb County computer forensics expert, also testified Friday that even though he was told Ross Harris and his wife researched in-car child deaths on the Internet, he found no evidence that they did.
He said he searched through and analyzed data on cellphones and computers owned by Harris and his now-ex-wife Leanna Taylor. He then turned over this information to Cobb investigators.
Harris is on trial for the murder of his 22-month-old son Cooper, accused of intentionally leaving the child in his SUV for seven hours to die on a hot day in June 2014. Harris' lawyers contend the child's death was a horrible accident.
They also have accused Cobb police of perpetrating what they consider a damning misconception: that Harris had researched how long it takes a child to die in a hot car.
» Reading Leanna: On Thursday, the first person at Little Apron Academy to tell Leanna Taylor, Ross' ex, that her son Cooper had never been dropped off testified that Taylor was "frantic and confused" upon learning the news. That contradicted previous testimony from the lead investigator in the case that Taylor showed no emotion when informed of Cooper's absence, telling Little Apron employees that Ross must have left their son in his car.
A former Home Depot corporate security officer seemed to back up the lead investigator's testimony on Friday. He witnessed Taylor as she came to her then-husband's office on the afternoon of June 18, 2014, with a head full of steam. But after coming to the realization that Cooper was dead, she went "from hot to not," the security officer, Wesley Houston, testified.
Taylor, who has never been charged, is expected to be called to testify on both sides. Her attorney, Lawrence Zimmerman, said recently that Leanna still believes Cooper's death was an accident.
» Basic vanilla sex: An escort who last serviced Justin Ross Harris less than three weeks before his son was found dead inside a hot SUV testified Friday the former Home Depot web developer was "very relaxed" during their three encounters together.
Daniela Doerr, who Harris contacted through the controversial website Backpage.com, described their liaisons as “strictly business.”
“Basic vanilla sex,” she said.
Doerr's testimony affirms the state's claims that Harris lived a double life, which included visits to prostitutes and sexting with strangers, including underage girls. Lawyers for Harris, accused of intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son Cooper inside a hot car to die, have acknowledged he is no saint.
“He’s earned every bit of the shame that’s coming his way,” lead defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said.
» What's next: More prosecution witnesses, mainly from law enforcement. The trial is expected to last at least another month.
Follow: AJC reporters Christian Boone (@reporterJCB) and Bill Rankin (@ajccourts) will be in Brunswick for the duration of the trial.
Harris is the subject of the second season of the AJC's podcast series "Breakdown," which will follow the trial's developments. Receive live updates on Twitter at @AJCBreakdown.
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