GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #2

[LisaB]

Why can't we know what he placed in the car? I want to know what he placed in the d@mn car at "lunch".

If I had to guess, I'd think a water bottle. That way the water could warm up before he dampened the child with it a few hours later. Or his (possibly work-issued) laptop, with the "dogs in hot cars" search in the history.

 

[Judicious1]

Yep. That's what child locks and pool alarms and gates are for.

I don't disagree. I wonder how many parents would be arrested if no drugs or alcohol were related and there were no other signs in the home of neglect or endangerment to a children. If they honestly just fell asleep watching a movie with the little one or while the child played. For example when I was pregnant
I was so incredible exhausted and I would find myself dozing off while in my living room while my 4 year old played next to me or watched Frozen for the zilinth time. I would wake up after a couple of minutes frantic. She was always right there but it didnt make me feel any better. What if she choked on her snack and I couldn't hear her. Every thing else in our home is baby proofed so she would never have access to sissors, medications or cleaning products. Baby gates near all stairs but she knows how to open our back door. What if she went to play in our fenced in back yard and hit her head, bitten by a copperhead or kidnapped but I was still inside sleeping and had no clue she needed medical assistance. She also knows she is never allowed in a pool with out an adult but she is 4 they get tempted and curious. We don't have a pool but I'm just hypothesizing all this. At what point does an accident become criminal?

 

[BrianInBirmingham]

One more thing that is haunting me, considering this case and the recent Florida man is that societal standards and expectations relating to fathers and mothers are coming into play. I'm having a tough time finding a way to articulate it because I am also immersed in those standards, but it feels like we as a culture seem to be much more sympathetic and forgiving of mothers than fathers. It's just a visceral response and I have no way of quantifying it.

 

[blue22]

In the studies someone linked about child car deaths yesterday, the opposite was true. Mothers that were charged were looked at more harshly and received longer sentences.

 

[JeannaT]

Thanks. Interestingly, a news article I just read said this happened on June 19th. They're all over the place, aren't they? Who's the most dependable news source that you don't have to pay for, in your opinion?

In my opinion and experience, the public comments under articles are the most reliable news sources. If the commenter truly appears to have an inside scoop - and the comment is well-written, it's usually a MUCH better source of information in a case where lots of different "facts" are floating around unconfirmed and copied and pasted from one MSM source to another.

 

[Judicious1]

I think we're all here to discuss something more "sinister" as intimated by the Marietta Police and especially officer Pierce. Whether these charges are appropriate for an accidental death is not the issue...at least that's what Marietta police and the prosecutors would have us believe. They're even on the record as saying that these sorts of accidents do happen, but that is not what evidence suggests in this case. So... If the current charges are appropriate for accidental death, then this is no longer a case to be solved, but some sort of legal ethics discussion. I just want to make sure, lest we quickly forget, what the original charges and assertions were and hold LE accountable for their original assertions. Otherwise, we enter a legal realm of prosecution on innuendos and hunches that eventually lead to legal precedent.

The baby gate child lock thing was in response to me and I was basically alluding to a question of when does an accident turn into a crime. Police implied people do accidentally leave children in a hot car. That's not their main issue leading to arrest.. So with the questions and comments that people should be prosecuted regardless of if it being an accident I was just trying to draw a comparison to other type accidents that result in a child's death to see if the feeling is mutal to all accidents. Sorry if you felt it was off topic. I don't feel it is. By all accounts Ross was a responsible and caring parents up until the say Cooper died.

 

[Irisha]

Karmady, no need to bite my head off. I thought we were allowed to opine here. If we're not, I'll stop posting, I guess. I didn't think it was a requirement that we were all legal professionals or criminal analysts. As I wasn't even talking about the murder charge, I was talking about the neglect charge so I don't know why the hyperbole about the death penalty was brought up! I have zero impact on whether he's sentenced to death anyway. OK bye then, I'll just lurk.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Please don't leave because of another poster, use the :ignore: feature. Your opinion is as important as everyone else's. No:lurk:

 

[Judicious1]

One more thing that is haunting me, considering this case and the recent Florida man is that societal standards and expectations relating to fathers and mothers are coming into play. I'm having a tough time finding a way to articulate it because I am also immersed in those standards, but it feels like we as a culture seem to be much more sympathetic and forgiving of mothers than fathers. It's just a visceral response and I have no way of quantifying it.

I think its because people assume the fathers are out working and spend less time with their children as a result so they aren't use to being as alert as the mother who may spend more time caring for the children in the home. I don't agree with that stereotype I Love You just suggesting that's why mothers may be judged in a harsher light.

 

[CountryGirl]

Support fades for Cobb Co. father in hot car death

Harris initially garnered an enormous amount of online support after police filed murder charges against him. Thousands signed an online petition urging Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds to drop the charges.

(snip)

After the new information was released, organizers of the online petition shut it down. A message posted on Thursday read:

Hello, I think that based on the recent developments this petition is no longer relevant. I still pray that this was truly an accident. If that is the case, the DA now knows that the community does not want Justin prosecuted on murder charges.

I would think he had pictures of his son at his desk/cubicle ... even if he forgot he was in the car between breakfast and work, wouldn't it dawn on him when he got to his desk?

 

[JeannaT]

I think we're all here to discuss something more "sinister" as intimated by the Marietta Police and especially officer Pierce. Whether these charges are appropriate for an accidental death is not the issue...at least that's what Marietta police and the prosecutors would have us believe. They're even on the record as saying that these sorts of accidents do happen, but that is not what evidence suggests in this case. So... If the current charges are appropriate for accidental death, then this is no longer a case to be solved, but some sort of legal ethics discussion. I just want to make sure, lest we quickly forget, what the original charges and assertions were and hold LE accountable for their original assertions. Otherwise, we enter a legal realm of prosecution on innuendos and hunches that eventually lead to legal precedent.

And the media. I would really like to see a return to Walter Chronkite reporting, rather than all this guessing.

 

[LisaB]

Off Topic...
I pulled up this article (and don't necessarily expect the same to happen if you go there now) at http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/source-cobb-father-new-child-was-left-hot-car/ngRn6/ and there was a big old ad for:

 

[Nana46]

In my opinion and experience, the public comments under articles are the most reliable news sources. If the commenter truly appears to have an inside scoop - and the comment is well-written, it's usually a MUCH better source of information in a case where lots of different "facts" are floating around unconfirmed and copied and pasted from one MSM source to another.

I respectfully disagree......those 'comments' under a news story are some of the most outrageous comments you can ever read....since they are under an alias usually, they range from racist to downright ridiculous..IMO...I have read some that simply would be laughable if not so tragic a situation.

All the above my opinion only.

 

[BrianInBirmingham]

The baby gate child lock thing was in response to me and I was basically alluding to a question of when does an accident turn into a crime. Police implied people do accidentally leave children in a hot car. That's not their main issue leading to arrest.. So with the questions and comments that people should be prosecuted regardless of if it being an accident I was just trying to draw a comparison to other type accidents that result in a child's death to see if the feeling is mutal to all accidents. Sorry if you felt it was off topic. I don't feel it is. By all accounts Ross was a responsible and caring parents up until the say Cooper died.

No, I wasn't reprimanding for off-topic... I think it was perfectly related and I have seen this case devolve in the court of public opinion. I was just using it as an opportunity to remind myself of what the assertions are and that we're supposed to be patient and more evidence will follow. In my opinion, no real additional facts have come out in this case since day one except for having gone to the car at lunch...even though the originator of the online petition stated so. Sorry if I seemed assy.

 

[JeannaT]

Support fades for Cobb Co. father in hot car death

Harris initially garnered an enormous amount of online support after police filed murder charges against him. Thousands signed an online petition urging Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds to drop the charges.

(snip)

After the new information was released, organizers of the online petition shut it down. A message posted on Thursday read:



I would think he had pictures of his son at his desk/cubicle ... even if he forgot he was in the car between breakfast and work, wouldn't it dawn on him when he got to his desk?

He is not saying he forgot he had a son - rather, he forgot he had skipped the step of taking him to daycare that morning. My guess is, his son crossed his mind hundreds of times that day, but not in the context of whether he had gone to the daycare or not.

 

[JeannaT]

I respectfully disagree......those 'comments' under a news story are some of the most outrageous comments you can ever read....since they are under an alias usually, they range from racist to downright ridiculous..IMO...I have read some that simply would be laughable if not so tragic a situation.

All the above my opinion only.

I guess I'm referring to comments where the person uses an actual facebook account, and when you go to it you can see a history of the person knowing the subject of the articles.

I agree, completely anonymous postings can be outrageous. But I think all of us here have also seen cases where they turn out to be exactly true.

 

[CountryGirl]

He is not saying he forgot he had a son - rather, he forgot he had skipped the step of taking him to daycare that morning. My guess is, his son crossed his mind hundreds of times that day, but not in the context of whether he had gone to the daycare or not.

My comment didn't mean that he forgot he had a son, but that he forgot he left his son in the car.

 

[JeannaT]

My comment didn't mean that he forgot he had a son, but that he forgot he left his son in the car.

Right. That memory wouldn't be jarred by a picture of his son, IMHO. It might be jarred by a reference to the daycare, though.

 

[Judicious1]

No, I wasn't reprimanding for off-topic... I think it was perfectly related and I have seen this case devolve in the court of public opinion. I was just using it as an opportunity to remind myself of what the assertions are and that we're supposed to be patient and more evidence will follow. In my opinion, no real additional facts have come out in this case since day one except for having gone to the car at lunch...even though the originator of the online petition stated so. Sorry if I seemed assy.

Oh I gotcha- sorry I probably just misinterpreted the beginning of your post.

 

[Judicious1]

Right. That memory wouldn't be jarred by a picture of his son, IMHO. It might be jarred by a reference to the daycare, though.

Again I understand why many feel this way but after reading the many many stories on kidsandcars.org people who truly just forgot these children honestly believe they were were they need to be ie with sitters, family or daycare so nothing jars their memories typically. The relay stories of it being a feeling like any other day and head to pick up the child as they normally do.

 

[Irisha]

In my opinion and experience, the public comments under articles are the most reliable news sources. If the commenter truly appears to have an inside scoop - and the comment is well-written, it's usually a MUCH better source of information in a case where lots of different "facts" are floating around unconfirmed and copied and pasted from one MSM source to another.

Anyone can act/appear like an insider on news comment sites. I take news comments with a GOS.:twocents: