Lead Detective Phil Stoddard ended his testimony after four days on the witness stand. Under cross-examination, Stoddard took some punches, but also delivered some blows. On Friday, the state rested its case after calling 51 witnesses to the stand over the course of 16 days of testimony. They presented no eyewitnesses, no DNA on a murder weapon, no irrefutable video. Instead, prosecutors put into evidence a mountain of circumstantial evidence and a pile of filth – being Harris’ deviant sex life. The defense then started presenting its case, trying to show the jury that Ross Harris was thinking of a life with his son Cooper long after the day he was left in his father’s SUV to die.

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Danetta Knoblauch is escorted by security as she enters a Newton County courtroom for her sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

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Democrat Eric Gisler celebrated his Tuesday election victory at the Trappeze Pub in Athens, Ga. (AP)

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