This is a running account of the fifth day of testimony in the Justin Ross Harris murder case. Harris is charged with murder in the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper, by leaving him in his SUV for hours on a hot June day in 2014. For a linear chronology, start with the last item first. Court starts at 8:30 a.m.
Judge Mary Staley Clark said court is adjourned for the day.
"We have worked hard and we’re still recovering from the storm,” she said. "It’s going to get much better tomorrow.”
Boring called his next witness.
Jeffrey Jackson works at Home Depot as an IT security engineer.
Jackson was asked to track a phone call that came into Home Depot.
“What is the phone number that you pulled records for?” Boring said.
Jackson said the phone number but said he did not know whose phone number it was. The calls were from the Central Time Zone. Calls were both inbound and outbound.
Other than that do you know anything about this case? Boring asked. Jackson said no.
Boring cross examined Gray.
Gray was never arrested, although the officers said she was obstructing the investigation.
Kilgore asked her how she felt when she was repeatedly asked whether she spoke with Harris on the classroom’s phone.
“I was frustrated because I know I didn’t pick up the phone,” she said.
Gray had the sense that the officers weren’t believing her.
“I did nothing wrong,” she said.
The other newsletters make no mention of Cooper either.
There’s no any notation anywhere on those as to the children who were absent that day, right?” Kilgore said.
Gray shook her head no.
So if Cooper’s mom pulled open the email there’s no place to see that Cooper wasn’t there that day.
On the day Cooper died, anyone who had opened up the email, they wouldn’t have seen something specific that Cooper wasn’t there that day, Kilgore said.
The detective asked if she had a relationship with Harris. Gray said she did not.
Kilgore gave Gray two of the daily email newsletters to look at.
Cooper and Harris are in a photograph in a newsletter from July 2013. He wasone of four kids featured that day.
Kilgore showed another newsletter where Cooper was mentioned from February 2014.
He showed Gray another four newsletters to Gray.
There’s one from June 17, 2014, the day before Cooper died. There’s no mention or image of Cooper in it.
Gray said she gave a statement to the lead detective in the case, as well as the lawyers for the daycare company.
They asked her about the phone call to the classroom where she worked. They asked if Harris called, and she said no.
The detective said there were records that there was a phone call to the room.
The detective asked her over and over to explain that how can this be, Kilgore said.
Gray said she didn’t know.
Then the detective warned Gray that making a false statement was a crime. Gray said she was telling the truth from the beginning.
Kilgore is cross examining Gray.
In the afternoons more often than not, it was Leanna who picked Cooper up from daycare. Harris picked up occasionally.
She only saw them together picking up Cooper two or three times. They walked in together.
It was clear to Gray that Leanna was surprised Cooper wasn’t there.
On the day Cooper died, Gray sent out the daily email newsletter, which updates parents about what the kids did that day. Harris was on that email list.
The email was sent at 1:26 p.m.
Gray said they try to get photos of group activities in the newsletter, so all of the parents can see their children.
Gray worked on June 18, 2014, the day Cooper died.
Late in the afternoon up to 4:30 p.m., Gray said she had helped one of the teachers get the kids outside, came back in and was planning for parent conferences.
Around 5:20 p.m., she was in the classroom.
Gray said Leanna came in while she was changing diapers.
“I saw her walk in and thought to myself that’s weird, that’s Cooper’s mom,” she said.
“I told her what are you doing here? Cooper’s not here,” Gray said. “She was confused, she looked frantic.”
The state called to the stand Michelle Gray, who was also a teacher at the daycare when Cooper was there.
I was the closer in the room, I came in between 9:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m.”
The daycare closed at 6:30 p.m.
Cooper started talking. “He had learned how to say my name, which I thought was adorable,” Gray said.
The night before Cooper died, Cooper said “by Shell,” Gray recalled.
Harris, who is sitting at the defense table, smiled at Gray’s comment.
Kilgore said Harris was a very engaged dad and Hawkins agreed.
“Ross wasn’t the kind of dad who would just drop and run. He would get him settled,” Kilgore said. “Yes,” Hawkins said.
When asked, Hawkins said she was not personal friends with Cooper’s parents.
Leanna would sometimes call or text that Cooper wasn’t going to be at daycare.
Breakfast is usually over by 9 a.m.
If Harris called, they would set aside food for Cooper.
Harris loved that little boy, didn't he? Kilgore said. Yes, Hawkins said.
Kilgore is now cross examining Hawkins.
He asked her if she was personal friends with Harris or Leanna, and she said no.
Were there occasions when Cooper wanted to eat breakfast at the daycare even if he had already eaten that morning? Kilgore said. Yes, Hawkins replied.
Hawkins said she was in the classroom when Cooper arrived in the morning, not in the lobby.
If Ross brought cooper in dead asleep and set him down inside and walked with him into the classroom, you wouldn’t have known, Kilgore said.
No, Hawkins said.
“(Cooper) was an active toddler, talking and playing with his friends,” Hawkins said, smiling.
Sometimes he would be awake, sometimes he would be sleeping and Harris would come in carrying Cooper on his shoulder or in a car seat, Hawkins said.
If Cooper had been to Chick-fil-A before coming to daycare, he would usually be active when he showed up, Hawkins said.
Hawkins was working the day Cooper died but was already gone by the time Leanna showed up.
“(Cooper) was an active toddler, talking and playing with his friends,” Hawkins said, smiling.
Sometimes he would be awake, sometimes he would be sleeping and Harris would come in carrying Cooper on his shoulder or in a car seat, Hawkins said.
If Cooper had been to Chick-fil-A before coming to daycare, he would usually be active when he showed up, Hawkins said.
Hawkins was working the day Cooper died but was already gone by the time Leanna showed up.
Court is back in session.
Boring called his next witness, Azure Hawkins, who was one of Cooper’s teachers.
Hawkins worked at Little Apron Academy for three years.
“He was normal, happy, healthy,” Hawkins said of Cooper.
Hawkins said Harris typically dropped Cooper off.
Kilgore showed Patrick an email to parents from June 18, then day Cooper died, that documented special events the daycare had that day.
Cooper is not mentioned in the email and there is no picture of him.
The emails don’t mentioned what students were there and which were not. The fact that Cooper wasn’t there was not reflected in the June 18 email that went out to parents, including Harris.
Court is in recess.
Parents don’t usually come in and talk about their sex life, Kilgore said.
No, it would be very unusual if that happened, Patrick said.
“They don’t come in and tell you about what’s going on in the bedroom or what their intimacy issues are,” Kilgore said.
No, Patrick responded.
One time Harris brought Chick-fil-A for the teachers.
“It was just something nice he did one day,” Kilgore said.
A teacher asked Harris if he’d bring Chick-fil-A for the teachers and Harris did, Patrick said.
Harris would take pictures of Cooper with his phone.
So if he took it on his phone, there would be a record of when he took those pictures and when he stopped, Kilgore said.
As Cooper got older, he was more mobile, Kilgore said. It may have been more difficult for Harris to get a picture? Kilgore asked.
Patrick said she couldn’t say that because often Harris would take the photo when Cooper was at the table.
“Ross was dressed up that day like a tool, and he took a picture with Cooper,” she said about a photo Kilgore showed her.
Kilgore walked back and forth in front of the jury, showing them the picture.
He then asked Patrick if she missed Cooper.
“I do, I really do. He was a great kid,” she said.
Harris showed up at the daycare at least twice wearing a tool costume.
“Are you personal friends with Ross and Leanna?” Kilgore ask.
“No, not outside of work,” Patrick said.
Patrick said she called Leanna after Cooper’s death to check up on her. “She was having a hard time.”
Kilgore is now cross examining Patrick.
Harris was always smiling, cracking jokes, happy go lucky,” Kilgore said.
“Yes,” Patrick replied.
Harris would go into the room and spend time getting Cooper settled.
She told a detective that Cooper was a little spoiled.
“(Harris) fell into the category of a pretty involved dad,” Kilgore said.
Yes, Patrick said.
When Home Depot or Little Apron Academy had special events, Harris would always come and interact with Cooper, she said.
“He was very much so involved with his son,” Patrick said.
Boring asked Patrick to show the jury where the Chick-fil-A is located in relation to the daycare.
She sometimes goes there for breakfast before work. With traffic, she said, it takes her two to three minutes to get from the Chick-fil-A to the daycare.
If Harris was running late, he would usually call around 8:40 a.m. because the daycare stopped serving breakfast at 8:45 a.m.
On June 18, 2014, Cooper did not come to the daycare.
Patrick said she spoke with Leanna when she came to pick up Cooper that day. She tried to contact Harris but was unsuccessful.
Sometimes Harris would take photographs when he dropped off Cooper. It was something he did every day until roughly two weeks before June 18, the day Cooper died.
I noticed he had stopped taking photographs of Cooper. I just thought it was kind of strange that he stopped.
She asked why he had stopped and “he said no because he’s getting older,” Patrick said.
Patrick also new Cooper’s parents.
Harris was very active with Cooper. “He would just spend quality time with him” when Home Depot had special events.
Harris dropped Cooper off most of the time, according to Patrick.
“Most of the time, Cooper ate breakfast at the daycare,” she said.
There were some occasions he came after breakfast but Harris would call and say that Cooper had already eaten breakfast.
Sometimes he would stop at Chick-fil-A with Cooper and bring it to the daycare.
Boring called the next witness, Keyatta Patrick.
She is an early childhood teacher at Little Apron Academy, where she’s worked for three years.
“I’m a toddler teacher, we start off with breakfast … we have a daily routine of welcoming the kids, singing to the kids,” Patrick said.
“I helped teach them how to use a spoon, how to use a cup, we started potty training,” Patrick said.
She knew Cooper. He was a healthy boy.
“Cooper was a fun loving child, I was with cooper from the infant room, I was able to see his growth from not walking and crawling on the floor to walking, I was able to see him to begin talking,” Patrick said.
He started talking more in late May and the early part of June.
“I was very excited,” she said.
The day before he died, Cooper woke up from his nap and talked to Patrick.
“He looked at me and said I need a diaper,” she said. “I was so excited, you’re using words, you’re using sentences,” Patrick said.
Kilgore showed evidence that indicates on a number of occasions Harris went to Chick-fil-A after dropping Cooper off.
“I love every single one of them,” Gibson said, referring to the kids at the daycare.
Boring asked a follow up question.
In your career have you ever been surprised by someone’s behavior, not being what you thought it was, Boring asked. Yes, Gibson replied.
Kilgore pointed out that Gibson’s observations of Harris’s behavior were not a one-time thing.
Gibson’s office is directly to the left of the front entrance, where she’s able to see the front door.
“Sometimes Cooper would be fast asleep and sometimes he would be walking” when Harris would bring him into the daycare, Kilgore said.
Yes, Gibson agreed.
No teachers or staff ever came to you with concerns that Cooper was being mistreated, Kilgore said. No, Gibson responded.
On some occasions, Harris would feed Cooper breakfast before dropping him off, though Gibson said she didn’t know how often.
Sometimes if Harris was running late, he would call the daycare and ask them to save breakfast for Cooper. The daycare provides breakfast every day.
Lead defense attorney Maddox Kilgore is now cross examining Gibson.
“(Harris) was a big personality,” Kilgore said.
Everyone at the academy was familiar with him right? Kilgore asked. Gibson replied yes.
Harris used to come in at lunchtime sometimes to spend extra time with Cooper.
The academy would have parades with the children in push carts
Harris was present for many of the events like that, Gibson said. He would also sometimes dress up.
“We definitely knew when Ross was in the building,” Gibson said.
Kilgore showed pictures of Harris and Cooper to Gibson who smiled. One picture shows Harris dressed up in a Home Depot mascot costume as a tool, holding Cooper in his arms.
The daycare uses tracking sheets that tracks a child’s drop off and pick up, as well as throughout the day. The teachers fill in the tracking sheets.
Lead prosecutor Chuck Boring is questioning Gibson. He shows a paused video of the second floor front lobby of the academy. It shows a front entrance. The double doors require an electronic pass to open.
The parking lot outside is for visitors, not the main entrance for employees.
Another image shows the second floor front lobby with a security station.
The Little Apron Academy is located on the campus of the Home Depot headquarters and only serves Home Depot employees.
Gibson described Harris, his then-wife Leanna and Cooper as an ordinary family.
“Dad was more gregarious, mom was more reserved,” she said.
Gibson also described Cooper.
“Cooper was an affable child. He was a talker, calm nature, very easy to get along, just a normal soon-to-be two-year-old,” she said.
Ross normally brought Cooper in: around 8:30 a.m. or 8:45 a.m.
If it was going to be later, Harris would call and to let the academy staff know, she said.
Cooper typically was awake and walked in with his dad, Gibson said.
Court is now in session. The state has called Melony Gibson as its first witness of the day. Gibson is the director of the day car, Little Apron Academy, where Cooper had attended since infancy.
Court has not yet begun.
About the Author
