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Frankly, I'm an attorney but at one point I looked up the word. I've had an understanding of the term but wanted to make sure I understood. These are serious charges. The possible ways to get to those charges should be totally understood. "Wanton" to me is an old-fashioned word that's rarely used.
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Honestly, "wanton" should not even be in jury instructions or the law because it is not a word people use.

But the judge can't give them a definition because there is no precise "legal" definition So it's supposed to have its plain meaning that people give it.

It is a very old-fashioned word, to be fair. I'm definitely getting old.

It's a real possibility younger jury members have never even heard of it. And maybe those who are familiar, not comfortable settling for their own take on it. The Judge could've explored it a bit more, made clear there's no legal definition in itself, but gave them the dictionary definition. No harm in that.
 
As frustrated as I am with this case, it's still less stressful than watching CA lead the detectives "to her office" down a dead end corridor.

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Actually, the being late to the movie but then actually leaving work with plenty of time to spare... there is a real reason for that, depending on when Ross told his friends he might be late. (don't remember & too lazy to look it up) His project meeting was changed from the morning to the late afternoon so if he thought that might go long then I can see him telling his friends he might be late. idk feeling generous today. :)

I'm not sure he even said he would be running late . Did he? I thought what he texted friends was that he would be there ASAP, which isn't necessarily the same thing.
 
Or , guilt, because Leanna had been telling him he wasn't spending enough time with Cooper.
Imo he would have certainly told her he was doing it if that were the case

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I'm not sure he even said he would be running late . Did he? I thought what he texted friends was that he would be there ASAP, which isn't necessarily the same thing.
Yes he told his friends he would be an hour late

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We call that a non-verbal tell. I've even had people say yes to me in interviews, while shaking their head no.

His large expelling of breath and directing his hands in front of him while alone in the interview room can also be interpreted as a "focus". He's physically telling himself to focus, don't become emotional.

Why do you need to focus so hard is also good question. If it's an accident, what's the harm in letting it all out?

I can also believe he is feeling a lot of anxiety over Cooper's death. Even if he wanted it to happen, there's nothing to say it's not also sad or emotional. Having bad feelings and doing intentional bad acts, are not mutually exclusive. I can feel terrible about putting my dog to sleep, even though I knew it was for the best. See how that works? We understand that even bad people doing bad things will have some sort of negative emotion. The truly scary ones are the ones who show little or no emotion, or rehearsed and/or insincere emotion.

Absolutely, and most suspects/defendants are called out for that here, but for some reason Ross gets a pass.

If this were truly a case of FBS and he had just realized in hindsight the significance of that trip to his car, surely he would have expressed his dismay that if he'd only been more observant, he could have possibly saved Cooper. I cannot believe he hesitated at that moment, stalled and shook his head and yet completely forgot about dropping off the light bulbs altogether.

JMO
 
Imo he would have certainly told her he was doing it if that were the case

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She had already left for work, and he didn't get the email until 8:34 that his 10am mtg was postponed.
 
Then he wasn't late essentially

Yes, he was still late. Because he hadn't finished his work on the project. So he should have gone in that morning to catch up and keep his job.
 
Absolutely, and most suspects/defendants are called out for that here, but for some reason Ross gets a pass.

If this were truly a case of FBS and he had just realized in hindsight the significance of that trip to his car, surely he would have expressed his dismay that if he'd only been more observant, he could have possibly saved Cooper. I cannot believe he hesitated at that moment, stalled and shook his head and yet completely forgot about dropping off the light bulbs altogether.

JMO

Another interpretation, not one that says anything becoming about Ross, is that he hadn't put those pieces together for himself, but when Stoddard did, he went into CYA mode.

A lot more suggests plain vanilla forgetting than either FBS or malice, imo.
 
She had already left for work, and he didn't get the email until 8:34 that his 10am mtg was postponed.
They exchanged texts and a phone call. He would've wanted credit for being the best father in the world if she was giving him crap about not spending time.

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As frustrated as I am with this case, it's still less stressful than watching CA lead the detectives "to her office" down a dead end corridor.

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I'm not sure how CA leading detectives to a dead end corridor is somehow more frustrating than watching JRH get excused for absolutely everything including Cooper's death, but okay.

I agree to disagree.
 
I've snipped this for length and hope I did so correctly as it was my first time.

I have been more confused by this case I'm dizzy from whipping back and forth! I haven't been so much on the fence as on a swing over it! But here's my :twocents:: I truly, madly and deeply dislike Stoddard. to the point where I'm itching to throw everything he said out, but I know I can't do that. His whole idea of there being a correct way to show grief, (I'm one of those people who assess the problem, deal with it, and then fall apart), his literal persecution of the poor daycare worker who could have lost her job (and more!),
his "manipulation" of the media by releasing incorrect and inflammatory info, the whole ball of string!!!

BUT, here's where I come back to when I swing the other way over the fence: :fence: The inside of RH car is REALLY small. I couldn't get over that. It looked like she should have been diving that car. I don't know how he was comfortable in it. So really, for me anyway, I keep coming back to how did he not see him? Cooper was alert in CFA, said school when he got back into car so he was excited about it. Somebody (maybe Peach?) said he not only had to forget Cooper in that few a time, he also had to forget he had just ate breakfast inside CFA too, as in you might forget what you went to get in the kitchen but you remember you were just watching tv. That rang true to me.

I don't necessarily think he plotted for any time, I just think maybe it was a more sudden thing. But I acknowledge there are holes in this theory. There would certainly be "better" ways to plot this out, as in parking somewhere else, not going to the car at lunch, time of discovery and more; and several peeps whose opinions I respect have explained these.

Sociopaths can "love' their victim as long as that's beneficial to them and as someone else said, they may be hard to spot but once you've seen one it gets a lot easier.

A final point I would like to make. Have you noticed that many of these children in these cases are around the same age? That's important. These toddlers are starting to get around pretty good, explore their environment and TALK. Just like CA, Ross has stuff he hides. All that sexting, sooner or later Cooper is going to say something to the effect of "why is there a picture of (insert anatomical part here ) on Daddy's phone? And you know it's just easier to get around for a quick BJ when you don't have to account for the "little joker."

Ross really did have two lives. The upstanding family man viewed highly at church etc. Then the other side where he admitted he just wanted to "f*ck" as many women as he could. It's really interesting to ponder why he had problems in that area with his wife but not all these other women. I think an in depth psych eval would be telling.

I have really enjoyed my time with all of you all, this is my first case here.

And now with something funny (after all these horrible things): I freely admit I am a :cuckoo:, at least a little and probably more. Let me take you back to my youth, when dinosaurs roomed lol. I was in a dorm, second year of college, and got an obscene phone call. Except I didn't REALIZE it was one? They guy kept asking me if I would be interested in fellatio. Well I had NO idea what he was talking about. I guess I must have said "what?" a couple of times, and THEN I said, :drumroll: "If your're trying to sell something like siding I live in a dorm and they keep it real nice" :hilarious: I don't know why I thought it was vinyl siding, can't remember. Any who the obscene caller hung up on me!

Hope that leaves you all with a smile!

I had an obscene phone call early one morning years ago back my dinosaurs days, I answered the phone and he asked if I was wearing panties, and I said no, are you, and he hung up.
 
They exchanged texts and a phone call. He would've wanted credit for being the best father in the world if she was giving him crap about not spending time.

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Later on, those communications. Though it is interesting he didn't mention CFA then.
 
Absolutely, and most suspects/defendants are called out for that here, but for some reason Ross gets a pass.

If this were truly a case of FBS and he had just realized in hindsight the significance of that trip to his car, surely he would have expressed his dismay that if he'd only been more observant, he could have possibly saved Cooper. I cannot believe he hesitated at that moment, stalled and shook his head and yet completely forgot about dropping off the light bulbs altogether.

JMO

I saw a guy who was just telling LE what he thought they wanted to hear. He thought that if he said the right things and showed them what a responsible guy he was, they would accept it was all a mistake and let him go home. He may have decided to omit the part about returning after lunch because he knew that would make him look more suspicious and reduce his chances of being released right away. That still doesn't mean he killed Cooper on purpose.
 
I saw a guy who was just telling LE what he thought they wanted to hear. He thought that if he said the right things and showed them what a responsible guy he was, they would accept it was all a mistake and let him go home. He may have decided to omit the part about returning after lunch because he knew that would make him look more suspicious and reduce his chances of being released right away. That still doesn't mean he killed Cooper on purpose.
I personally don't believe he had enough time for reflection on how bad that would make him look. It's obvious he'd wasn't thinking about it before that moment.

In all of his baseline questions, he responded so quickly he was actually talking over Stoddard. So now we know that when he's answering truthfully, he is doing so quickly. Name, address, where you work... all replied before Stoddard finished his question. That's the baseline.

Now, watch where he starts to pause in how long it takes to reply to questions. It takes your brain longer to lie. He's not conforming to his baseline. Stoddard doesn't need to know all the baseline answers, he can get all of that from his drivers license, surrounding documentation. Stoddard is assessing a baseline, interviewing 101.

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Found the below link that gives the length RH can serve if charged. Hope it helps out.

Thanks to AJC for making this a bit clear to us 'non lawyers'.

http://www.ajc.com/news/local/jury-...s-century-more-prison/j5f4F2TISDvz9hoP16ZGhP/

"Justin Ross Harris faces eight charges in the hot-car death of his son, Cooper. Here is a brief description of each count of the Cobb County grand jury's indictment of Harris, with the sentence that offense carries. Harris, of course, may be found not guilty on all counts, convicted only of certain charges or convicted of all eight.

In the case of the three murder charges, the law provides that the defendant may be sentenced to life without possibility of parole. Otherwise, he would serve a minimum term before he could be considered for parole.

1. Malice murder. This is Georgia’s equivalent of “first-degree murder” (although Georgia law has no such charge). It asserts intent. The indictment charges that Harris “did unlawfully and with malice aforethought cause the death of Cooper Harris.”

Sentence: Life (minimum 30 years)

2. Felony murder, count one. In felony murder, the defendant causes the death of another during the commission of a felony. In count one charged against Harris, the “underlying” felony was cruelty to children in the first degree.

Sentence: Life (minimum 30 years)

3. Felony murder, count two. In count two, the underlying felony was cruelty to children in the second degree.

Sentence: Life (minimum 30 years)

4. First-degree cruelty to children goes to intent; i.e., the defendant meant to inflict harm. The indictment says Harris “did maliciously cause Cooper … cruel and excessive physical pain.”

Sentence: 5 to 20 years

5. Second-degree cruelty to children. This charge is not concerned with intent; it goes more toward what the defendant failed to do and the consequences of that failure. The state alleges that Harris “did, with criminal negligence, cause Cooper Harris … cruel and excessive physical pain.”

Sentence: 1 to 10 years

6. Sexual exploitation of children, relating to Harris’s attempts to persuade a minor female to provide him images of “her genital and pubic area.”

Sentence: 1 to 10 years

7. Dissemination of harmful material to minors, count one (misdemeanor). The first relates to texts Harris sent to a minor female containing “explicit and detailed verbal descriptions and narrative accounts of sexual excitement and sexual conduct.

8. Dissemination of harmful material to minors, count two (misdemeanor). The second involves Harris’ sending images of his erect penis to minor females.

Sentence: up to 1 year"
 
After posting the above....if RS is found guilty on any charges, who decides the length of time to be served? I get the impression it is the Judge?
 
I saw a guy who was just telling LE what he thought they wanted to hear. He thought that if he said the right things and showed them what a responsible guy he was, they would accept it was all a mistake and let him go home. He may have decided to omit the part about returning after lunch because he knew that would make him look more suspicious and reduce his chances of being released right away. That still doesn't mean he killed Cooper on purpose.

It in itself doesn't mean he killed him on purpose. But if it had been truly a tragic accident, I wonder if he would have had the clarity of mind to even think so strategically so soon after the tragedy.
 
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