GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #6

[jmcgladr]

(snipped to reply to a particular point)

What I'd need to know is the plan for the day. Because there is another possibility here in that his wife may have forgotten to pick him up from day care. If it was HER day to pick him up, (which is evidenced by RH having plans with friends right after work) it could be that the husband didn't expect to have to stop by the daycare center after work which is why he left the office and jumped straight on the road.

It's possible. It's also possible that the father as the leader of the house took the full responsibility for the incident. Perhaps this is why he came across so fake in the parking lot, he was trying draw the attention off his wife failing to pick him up, onto himself. In this case he martyred himself to save his wife, which might be why she's so supportive of him right now. Perhaps.

So I'd need to see some details on their schedule and routine. I'd need to know when he made the plans with his friends and whether they expected him to be bringing Cooper or if he had already stated that "mom's got him, so we can have a baby free fun time." Etc.

Interesting thoughts, but I guess I don't understand why the wife failing to pick up Cooper at child care would cause her to be at fault, as that had nothing to do with Cooper's cause of death as we understand it (hyperthermia from being left in a hot car for ~7 hours). So why would he be "martyring" himself when he was indeed the ONLY one at fault for either forgetting or deliberately leaving Cooper in the car for all that time? Cooper was never AT child care, and he didn't die because his Mom didn't pick him up from child care. Failure to pick up Cooper at child care would never cause his death, at any rate. There would obviously be some legal/contractual problems from that if she never showed up, but the child would be alive and well. And even if Leanna had tried to pick Cooper up say, early in the afternoon (we don't have confirmation of the usual pick up time, I don't think) he would have already been dead in the car. It would have not made a difference to him living or dying. Her pickup, or failure to do so, seems completely irrelevant to this case. Can you explain how it would be pertinent, because I'm just not seeing it!

 

[Chewy]

Interesting thoughts, but I guess I don't understand why the wife failing to pick up Cooper at child care would cause her to be at fault, as that had nothing to do with Cooper's cause of death as we understand it (hyperthermia from being left in a hot car for ~7 hours). So why would he be "martyring" himself when he was indeed the ONLY one at fault for either forgetting or deliberately leaving Cooper in the car for all that time? Cooper was never AT child care, and he didn't die because his Mom didn't pick him up from child care. Failure to pick up Cooper at child care would never cause his death, at any rate. There would obviously be some legal/contractual problems from that if she never showed up, but the child would be alive and well. And even if Leanna had tried to pick Cooper up say, early in the afternoon (we don't have confirmation of the usual pick up time, I don't think) he would have already been dead in the car. It would have not made a difference to him living or dying. Her pickup, or failure to do so, seems completely irrelevant to this case. Can you explain how it would be pertinent, because I'm just not seeing it!

Well I suppose martyring would be too strong of a word. But I don't think they just "googled" the subject because they were worried in general. It could be that there were incidents of forgetfulness prior to this.

But you are correct, him not dropping him off is what killed him, not her not picking him up. Unless she was supposed to get him out of the car earlier for some reason. But yeah that just get's too hard to figure out.

 

[deoneta]

I believe the internet searches demonstrate intent. I also think he never counted on such a thorough investigation and thought that the incident could be passed off as a tragic, horrible accident. He would be considered responsible, but many would be sympathetic considering he had already been punished in the worse possible way for his negligence. If he had been a better actor, had a more convincing story, he might have gotten away with it. The wife admitting to also performing those searches, coupled with her strange words at the funeral lead me to believe she acted in concert or had guilty knowledge of the crime. All conjecture on my part and MOO.

 

[Chewy]

I believe the internet searches demonstrate intent. I also think he never counted on such a thorough investigation and thought that the incident could be passed off as a tragic, horrible accident. He would be considered responsible, but many would be sympathetic considering he had already been punished in the worse possible way for his negligence. If he had been a better actor, had a more convincing story, he might have gotten away with it. The wife admitting to also performing those searches, coupled with her strange words at the funeral lead me to believe she acted in concert or had guilty knowledge of the crime. All conjecture on my part and MOO.

Yeah, I don't understand the comments earlier about there "being a better way to do this!" How much easier does it get to kill your kid than to just walk away from the car and forget about him and know that the public will bend over backwards calling it a "tragic accident." Are people forgetting the numerous petitions that sprang up in support of "it's ok to forget your kid, it happens sometimes."


That's why the visit at lunch is so vital to me and I believe may be the smoking gun that the police have. When this FIRST happened and the cops came after him so aggressively I said "I bet someone saw him looking in the back of the car." And it turns out that not only did he look at the car, he showed back up at lunch time. I bet you that there will be video of him looking AT the backseat windows and his defense attorney is going to use "but they were TINTED WINDOWS" as an excuse.

IMVHO the tinted windows, combined with the recent break that Cooper had at Chikfila, caused his death to come more slowly than RH anticipated. IMO he fully expected to find him dead in the car at lunchtime and when he got there and he wasn't, RH knew he was on video and that he was pretty much busted. But he continued trying to run with his story.

 

[MissJ]

Theory: RH used to be a LE dispatch. Many times in cases of murder, the 911 call was evaluated regarding the comments made, the authenticity of the emotion, leading with an alibi and other slip ups on the 911 call. If he was in the middle of a theatrical outburst he may have wisely decided not to be the one who made the 911 call so that his voice and reactions could not be evaluated later.



Yes he had his phone.



Yep, I wonder if he practiced.


I'd like to point out about the mother again, I feel uncomfortable to see people ripping apart her statements. Granted to some they may seem a little weird, but most people don't have their funeral statements dissected in front of the whole world. If she is innocent in this I think it is very cruel to do this.

I have a friend who is a born again Christian and years ago there was a fire in her daughters apartment building. It was a mess and she kept saying "Praise God! God is good!" I thought it was a little off putting especially because a man who had gone through the building waking people up and banging on doors perished in the fire. But she said he took his angel home. That man was a hero who saved others and went home to his maker. Etc. I think she was in a manic state after the fire.

In my personal opinion this woman is facing a tidal wave of devastation and an emotional bottomless pit. She is hanging on to that manic high at the moment to save herself. And I can't judge her for that.

Also, IMVHO as an atheist, it's a little strange to watch people with "their beliefs" ridiculing someone else for "their beliefs." Beliefs are irrational and emotional and spiritual. We have to respect that we might not understand why a person sees the world the way they do, but it's their world that they are living in, not ours. JMVHO


This conversation has been very interesting. I would agree that they need to take the death penalty off the table because if they don't I don't think he will be convicted. There's too much emotional bias at the idea of it MIGHT have been an accident and we can't execute someone for an accident.

Even though I think he deliberately did this, I would be fine with him getting 10 years in prison because at least that way SOME price is paid.

Playing devils advocate for a second.

I don't think the smell is a strong enough argument to be bringing into the discussion. As I posted earlier, we don't hear from WITNESSES on the scene anything about an overwhelming smell. They were close enough to see the body so they should have smelled something, if it was that strong. It could be true that while handling the body the smells were released. A long 'burrrrrping" sound emitting from the childs body "could" have sounded like a choking sound and then the smell suddenly overtakes the car and he pulls over. We only heard from LE that they noticed it, but LE is trained in this differently than the average person. RH is just an average person.

Even though some of us can say that we don't think this is what happened, it is POSSIBLE. So I hope the DA doesn't go down this line of argument and try to push it as evidence. Doing so creates Reasonable Doubt, IMO.

What I think we need to stick to are the actual time stamps and facts and evidence that we can prove without a doubt.

To me these include the following.

A. He and his wife were both worried about this happening enough to google it. (IMO it doesn't matter HOW he googled it. We've all looked up weird things on the internet. Perhaps he got curious about an animal in the same situation seeing it being discussed on similar sites. Benefit of the doubt.) But the bottom line is that they WERE worried about this happening.


B. He stopped at Chikfila before going to work. I need to really know exactly the situation of that stop. There will obviously be surveillance video to show what he did at Chikfila. But thus far it seems that he took the child out of the car and put him back in. Then he drove to work.

Benefit of the doubt number 2. The child, having been just out of the car for a few minutes, settled back in quietly on the ride. Most of the comments I've seen about how "other people's children" acted in cars are too personalized for me to use to evaluate this situation. The argument could go either way based on the statement "Hi Red Car" and Cooper's talkativeness that has been documented by the parents.

A. He should have been yapping up a storm according to the DA.

B. Defense Attorney jumps up and says "Yes, he should have and this is the problem. They were so used to Cooper chatting in the car, that when he fell silent this contributed to his father forgetting about him! You seee????"


So Cooper's behavior in the car that morning is an unknown and unproveable issue. Bringing it up only creates Reasonable Doubt. It doesn't destroy it.


What I'd need to know is the plan for the day. Because there is another possibility here in that his wife may have forgotten to pick him up from day care. If it was HER day to pick him up, (which is evidenced by RH having plans with friends right after work) it could be that the husband didn't expect to have to stop by the daycare center after work which is why he left the office and jumped straight on the road.

It's possible. It's also possible that the father as the leader of the house took the full responsibility for the incident. Perhaps this is why he came across so fake in the parking lot, he was trying draw the attention off his wife failing to pick him up, onto himself. In this case he martyred himself to save his wife, which might be why she's so supportive of him right now. Perhaps.

So I'd need to see some details on their schedule and routine. I'd need to know when he made the plans with his friends and whether they expected him to be bringing Cooper or if he had already stated that "mom's got him, so we can have a baby free fun time." Etc.

The surveillance tapes from the HD parking lot are also very important. I suppose I have this image of it being very clear, but it might be at a distance and not clear. I personally don't think the LE and DA would be going forward as strongly as they are unless they have irrefutable evidence that he did something wrong.

IMPO he went to the car in the afternoon to discover the body. But I want to see what he did on the surveillance tape.

I never saw anyone ridiculing the mother. I've suffered many losses as has my family. I wouldn't ridicule anyone's grief. To me (and I'm entitled to an opinion) her comments and the whole funeral didn't seem to have much to do with Cooper but about championing her husband who killed the child. I find that very strange.:moo:

 

[stmarysmead]

I want to know exactly when all this googling took place. If we put the best possible spin on this, these were TWO parents very concerned about Hot-car Death and protective enough to research not just incidents....but the particulars of time and temperature. They claim this was a "fear" of theirs.

It just does not make sense that, days later, their great concern and fear that this might happen..has evaporated into nothingness.

What I mean is...if I put the BEST possible spin on their "googling"....it then casts the WORST possible interpretation on his actions that morning.

The prosecutor should ask the jury to think about the things they fear most....things they fear to the extent that they seek out more information about them. If fear does one thing...it sharpens our focus. Fear pushes other things out of our mind. Fear becomes a little voice in our heads...interrupting our other thoughts. We lived on a small lake when my children were small. Locking doors immediately became an obsession of mine. I would check and double check. I could be on the phone and 90% sure...and have to say "Hold on, I just want to check a door."

Here we are asked to believe that these Google searches were made because of the fear of these parents. So then, I start by picturing parents as protective as I was...or even half that protective. You get the info and then you abate the fear by figuring what you can do to lessen your child's chances of becoming a statistic.

What did they do to protect their Baby after all that googling? They may as well been reading Mad magazine. They read, they "feared" , and then he swans into Chick-Fil-a and straps his child into a death seat...alters his usual morning route and exits the car in five minutes...and never "worries" or "fears" or thinks of that child again..for the whole steaming hot day!!!

These two parts do not fit together....Mr. Obsessive Protective Parent...and Mr. Clueless in Five Minutes.

 

[Chewy]

I never saw anyone ridiculing the mother. I've suffered many losses as has my family. I wouldn't ridicule anyone's grief. To me (and I'm entitled to an opinion) her comments and the whole funeral didn't seem to have much to do with Cooper but about championing her husband who killed the child. I find that very strange.:moo:

I have, over and over again I've seen people analyzing her statements and comparing her to Cindy Anthony. It's fine if she's been arrested or accused or something. I guess I always think "What if we're wrong and she is completely innocent." How horribly cruel to subject a mother who has lost her baby to even more. It's just wrong IMO. If something comes of it later, fine, but until we know, IMO it is unnecessary.

I want to know exactly when all this googling took place. If we put the best possible spin on this, these were TWO parents very concerned about Hot-car Death and protective enough to research not just incidents....but the particulars of time and temperature. They claim this was a "fear" of theirs.

It just does not make sense that, days later, their great concern and fear that this might happen..has evaporated into nothingness.

What I mean is...if I put the BEST possible spin on their "googling"....it then casts the WORST possible interpretation on his actions that morning.

The prosecutor should ask the jury to think about the things they fear most....things they fear to the extent that they seek out more information about them. If fear does one thing...it sharpens our focus. Fear pushes other things out of our mind. Fear becomes a little voice in our heads...interrupting our other thoughts. We lived on a small lake when my children were small. Locking doors immediately became an obsession of mine. I would check and double check. I could be on the phone and 90% sure...and have to say "Hold on, I just want to check a door."

Here we are asked to believe that these Google searches were made because of the fear of these parents. So then, I start by picturing parents as protective as I was...or even half that protective. You get the info and then you abate the fear by figuring what you can do to lessen your child's chances of becoming a statistic.

What did they do to protect their Baby after all that googling? They may as well been reading Mad magazine. They read, they "feared" , and then he swans into Chick-Fil-a and straps his child into a death seat...alters his usual morning route and exits the car in five minutes...and never "worries" or "fears" or thinks of that child again..for the whole steaming hot day!!!

These two parts do not fit together....Mr. Obsessive Protective Parent...and Mr. Clueless in Five Minutes.

Yep, that's pretty much why I think it will be something better to use to remove "Reasonable Doubt," because when you add up their own statements it doesn't match what happened. If you were so worried about it happening that you googled "into the gore of it" for what it's worth, then it doesn't make much sense that he didn't even LOOK at the back seat of the car, once in three times at the car. I can believe that this curiosity may have been piqued by stories in the news, but it simply doesn't match up if you try to run the story all the way through. I was talking about this line of thinking in the Patsy Ramsey thread and how when you run it all the way through in theory, it just will hit a bump in the middle that derails it.


Example

Theory A. The parents have had premonitiony type feelings that something was going to happen. They google it and get lots of information about it. Then the father goes to Chikfila which throws off his routine. Cooper is uncharacteristically quiet that morning and dad totally forgets he's in the back. He heads to work on automatic pilot and thinks he's dropped him off. Then he comes down to put something in the car and doesn't notice Cooper because the windows are tinted and the boy is already dead. He heads back up and then leaves to meet his friends at the end of the day.

Bumps in the theory.

1. Why didn't he pick him up from day care before he left? If it was his job why didn't he do it?
2. Did he or his wife communicate at all that day? If so didn't either of them mention their son?


Theory B. The parents researched this because they have been forgetful lately and the temperature has been rising. That day the father (all of the above) LUNCHTIME he goes to the car and horrifically discovers he's left his son there. He panics and tries to figure out what to do.

Bumps in the theory

1. Any parent is going to try to DO SOMETHING and would immediately call 911, did he really just go back upstairs?


When people start making excuses for forgetting a child, they will continue to make excuses all the way through the evidence. It gets strange after a while to see so many excuses made for someone who killed their child.


I have two "ideas" more than "theories" about their 'alleged" premonitions. If he did do this on purpose, I can see him revealing to others prior, that he had premonitions as a way to further bolster his sense of self importance.

 

[Flutterby80]

Behind the Life of Man who Left Child in Car to D…:
This one?
http://youtu.be/g0hpLYExszk

Thanks for that link. Anyone else feel queasy about the reporter trying to get Cooper's grandparents to talk?

 

[MissJ]

I have, over and over again I've seen people analyzing her statements and comparing her to Cindy Anthony. It's fine if she's been arrested or accused or something. I guess I always think "What if we're wrong and she is completely innocent." How horribly cruel to subject a mother who has lost her baby to even more. It's just wrong IMO. If something comes of it later, fine, but until we know, IMO it is unnecessary.[/QUOT

LE said she was being investigated, I never said she was guilty of anything. I have no way of knowing. But all I can think about is what a horrible way for this child to die. I don't see grief. They all made the funeral mostly about the killer.
How did that honor this child? IMO the funeral was about honoring the father.:moo:

 

[Chewy]

I have, over and over again I've seen people analyzing her statements and comparing her to Cindy Anthony. It's fine if she's been arrested or accused or something. I guess I always think "What if we're wrong and she is completely innocent." How horribly cruel to subject a mother who has lost her baby to even more. It's just wrong IMO. If something comes of it later, fine, but until we know, IMO it is unnecessary.

LE said she was being investigated, I never said she was guilty of anything. I have no way of knowing. But all I can think about is what a horrible way for this child to die. I don't see grief. They all made the funeral mostly about the killer.
How did that honor this child? IMO the funeral was about honoring the father.:moo:

Very respectfully, because I doubt you mean it this way, but analyzing someone's behavior at their child's funeral seems unnecessarily cruel to me. She has no choice but to make it about the father. Many people here posted that her "silence" compelled them to believe that the father was guilty.

She didn't invite the media to the funeral. The guests that were there were there to support her and she might have felt it was appropriate to stand by her husband that time to end any gossip and speculation about her not talking to the press etc. It also was the time she spoke to her husband.

I've seen too many women completely blindsided by the sociopathic men they are married to, not to give her the benefit of the doubt.

IMVHO it is extremely distasteful to analyze and criticize a woman's behavior at her child's funeral.

:blushing:

 

[Flutterby80]

The ONLY scenerio involving an accident that makes sense to me is this:

Cooper is sick. Parent's don't feel they can miss work and can't take him to daycare sick. For whatever reason, they feel they don't have anyone else to watch him. They talk about leaving him in the car for awhile, and either dad was supposed to leave early and take Cooper home or mom was supposed to leave early and pick Cooper up from dad. They are concerned enough to google how long Cooper will be safe in the car.

BUT something goes wrong. Someone gets distracted at work or there was a miscommunication...Cooper is forgotten. Dad goes to the car at noon and sees Cooper, realizes what's happened. He panics but somehow makes it through the day and hatches a hasty cover up plan (with or without help). This makes sense in regards to the call to mom at the scene IMO. It could have been a warning, things are not going as planned.

If this scenerio is close to the reality, all of the weirdness in the aftermath of Cooper's death makes sense.

Not saying this happened, and not saying this isn't still murder. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

 

[Chewy]

The ONLY scenerio involving an accident that makes sense to me is this:

Cooper is sick. Parent's don't feel they can miss work and can't take him to daycare sick. For whatever reason, they feel they don't have anyone else to watch him. They talk about leaving him in the car for awhile, and either dad was supposed to leave early and take Cooper home or mom was supposed to leave early and pick Cooper up from dad. They are concerned enough to google how long Cooper will be safe in the car.

BUT something goes wrong. Someone gets distracted at work or there was a miscommunication...Cooper is forgotten. Dad goes to the car at noon and sees Cooper, realizes what's happened. He panics but somehow makes it through the day and hatches a hasty cover up plan (with or without help). This makes sense in regards to the call to mom at the scene IMO. It could have been a warning, things are not going as planned.

If this scenerio is close to the reality, all of the weirdness in the aftermath of Cooper's death makes sense.

Not saying this happened, and not saying this isn't still murder. Just throwing it out there as a possibility.

Thanks for spelling this out! :seeya:

There's a few bumps in this theory. Any investigation as to how long it would take a child to die in the car, shows that a child can die within 15 minutes. Had the windows to the car been left cracked open, MAYBE I could consider that this is a possibility. But there's no way that someone researched this issue and then left a child in the car with the windows up for even a little while.

In addition, there are plenty of parents who leave their kids at day cares sick. Unless we find that the daycare had previously refused to take him, then there is no reason for them to have done this.

Especially since he worked so close to the daycare. He could have just said, "call me if he gets too sick." We haven't heard of a pressing deadline for him to be there that day. We haven't heard of him taking too much time off work.

And by law, (I'm pretty sure, perhaps someone can check) but up here, if you SHOW up for work and then leave, you are not docked for taking time off. There's just no way it was that important for the father to be at work that day.

 

[Patience]

Has anyone figured out what the map is all about on Roscoeua's photobucket. Probably nothing relevant but am curious. http://s132.photobucket.com/user/RoscoeUA/media/Misc Temp/starkvillemap.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

 

[stmarysmead]

I want to know from the Daycare...who dropped off every day. Was it him?

I want to know from Chik-Fil-a...if stopping there was part of his routine as well. Did they see the child there with him frequently? Were they regulars? Did anyone interact with Cooper that morning...say hi...hand him his food...any of those things that you do with a cute baby? I want to know of the child was wide awake when they left.

I want to know if the Father got coffee in a cup to go. Was that cup left in the car or did he carry coffee into work? Because that cup should have triggered his memory at some point. "Oh, my coffee. Chik-Fil-a....My God, my child!!! I carried in the coffee and left my Baby!"

I hope they have video of the car visit at noon. Did he march up, open the door, throw something in, and immediately close the door? Did he lean in? Did his head turn?

What did he put in the car and why? I don't think he would be putting electronics in a hot car.

It's not a question of whether people can innocently forget. Of course, they can. The point is ....in how short a time can you so quickly forget a child and then....for how long a time, can that child stay utterly and completely forgotten.

Short and long forgetting... this man did both.

 

[MissJ]

Very respectfully, because I doubt you mean it this way, but analyzing someone's behavior at their child's funeral seems unnecessarily cruel to me. She has no choice but to make it about the father. Many people here posted that her "silence" compelled them to believe that the father was guilty.

She didn't invite the media to the funeral. The guests that were there were there to support her and she might have felt it was appropriate to stand by her husband that time to end any gossip and speculation about her not talking to the press etc. It also was the time she spoke to her husband.

I've seen too many women completely blindsided by the sociopathic men they are married to, not to give her the benefit of the doubt.

IMVHO it is extremely distasteful to analyze and criticize a woman's behavior at her child's funeral.

:blushing:

Well I guess I'm distasteful then. I'm just not the kind of person who would be honoring a lousy father at the funeral of the child he killed. Following the coffin while still talking to the killer and telling him she loves him.....I had all the sympathy in the world for her until she made it all about her husband as if Cooper didn't matter at his own funeral. My heart is with this child. And I don't believe in standing by a killer whether it was my husband or my son who did the killing. I suppose thats what is meant by the Cindy Anthony remark. Cindy Anthony dishonored her poor murdered grandchild too.:moo:

 

[MissJ]

I want to know from the Daycare...who dropped off every day. Was it him?

I want to know from Chik-Fil-a...if stopping there was part of his routine as well. Did they see the child there with him frequently? Were they regulars? Did anyone interact with Cooper that morning...say hi...hand him his food...any of those things that you do with a cute baby? I want to know of the child was wide awake when they left.

I want to know if the Father got coffee in a cup to go. Was that cup left in the car or did he carry coffee into work? Because that cup should have triggered his memory at some point. "Oh, my coffee. Chik-Fil-a....My God, my child!!! I carried in the coffee and left my Baby!"

I hope they have video of the car visit at noon. Did he march up, open the door, throw something in, and immediately close the door? Did he lean in? Did his head turn?

What did he put in the car and why? I don't think he would be putting electronics in a hot car.

It's not a question of whether people can innocently forget. Of course, they can. The point is ....in how short a time can you so quickly forget a child and then....for how long a time, can that child stay utterly and completely forgotten.

Short and long forgetting... this man did both.

Exactly.:moo::twocents:

 

[Chewy]

Well I guess I'm distasteful then. I'm just not the kind of person who would be honoring a lousy father at the funeral of the child he killed. Following the coffin while still talking to the killer and telling him she loves him.....I had all the sympathy in the world for her until she made it all about her husband as if Cooper didn't matter at his own funeral. My heart is with this child. And I don't believe in standing by a killer whether it was my husband or my son who did the killing. I suppose thats what is meant by the Cindy Anthony remark. Cindy Anthony dishonored her poor murdered grandchild too.:moo:

I suppose you are speaking from experience at your own child's funeral. If so I am sorry for your loss. But if not, then this is what I find unfair. We don't know how we'd really act. Especially in a situation like this. We don't know what we'd do or say. I know what I'd like to do. I know how I'd like to act but having never been in this experience I find it unnecessary to even voice an opinion on the matter.

In hind sight if we find out she had some involvement, that's different. But for now I think it's inappropriate. IMHO.

 

[Tulessa]

Has anyone figured out what the map is all about on Roscoeua's photobucket. Probably nothing relevant but am curious. http://s132.photobucket.com/user/RoscoeUA/media/Misc Temp/starkvillemap.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

EWWW! Not liking where my mind is going.

 

[Chewy]

EWWW! Not liking where my mind is going.

I don't understand? Can someone clarify?

 

[oh_gal]

Depends on if you are in an employment at will state, IMO. People do tend to think that 'free speech' means that you are free from all consequences of the content of your speech, which is not true. It simply means that the GOVERNMENT cannot prevent you from stating your ideas as long as they don't harm another person.

It doesn't mean you can say whatever you want at any time and be free from any consequences. Private citizens, employers and other entities can still impose consequences on you for harmful speech.

Good point. Ohio is an at-will state...not sure about GA.