TRIAL - Ross Harris #1

[Seattle16]

I've only posted a few times on this site. I have been following this trial the best I am able so far, and doing my best to keep up with this thread. I may have missed it somewhere, but, why are we not hearing anything about all these internet searches supposedly made by RH, as well as the ones regarding children dying in hot cars? Why about all the sexting? It seems like the most incriminating avid emcee is either not being presented, or will come up later. Why was it said that RH and/or wife made all these internet searches? I'm really confused. Some of the trial was just too dry for me, so I may have skipped over these issues.

 

[Seattle16]

Also, I should mention that I've only made it through about 35 pages of this thread.

 

[tlcya]

Some posts have been removed. Discuss THIS investigation. Do so respectfully, and mindful that it is not your job to convince anyone of anything. State your opinion without personalizing and with the understanding that not all will agree with it.

 

[Hope4More]

I've only posted a few times on this site. I have been following this trial the best I am able so far, and doing my best to keep up with this thread. I may have missed it somewhere, but, why are we not hearing anything about all these internet searches supposedly made by RH, as well as the ones regarding children dying in hot cars? Why about all the sexting? It seems like the most incriminating avid emcee is either not being presented, or will come up later. Why was it said that RH and/or wife made all these internet searches? I'm really confused. Some of the trial was just too dry for me, so I may have skipped over these issues.

You're not hearing about them because RH did not make the searches LE said on June 18, 2014 that he had.

LE stated in their 8 search warrants requested a few hours after LE arrived at the scene that RH had researched children dying in cars, and what temperature it had to be for those children to die in hot cars.

RH did not make those searches. As LE stated more accurately in their June 24 search warrant applications, RH and LEANNA watched something on TV, once, on the topic (could even have been a PSA, who knows), and RH clicked on a link (from a page he was on) to a trending PSA video about pets in hot cars. That's it.


The other meme the media ran with is that RH had researched living "child free." What that amounted to was a single visit to a Reddit subforum in APRIL 2014, where he clicked 4 times on posts having nothing to with children or marriage, never posted, and never returned. Es toto.

And for good measure, because it was one of the misrepresentations that most contributed to a pretrial rush to judgement that RH was guilty-- LE flat out lied that the straps on Cooper's car seat were set to the lowest, infant setting. Photos taken by LE, not the defense , have been introduced at trial of his seat, and no sirree, the straps most certainly were not.

 

[cricket49]

View attachment 103168

What Kind of Parent – By Stephanie

rs/bbm

"When you hear of cases of child hyperthermia where the parent or other care giver has left the child in the car unintentionally, you must wonder, “What kind of parent would do that?”

Definitely not a parent who took prenatal vitamins for 6 months before trying to get pregnant. A parent who threw out the baby bumper because the American Pediatric Association did not recommend bumpers for cribs as they could cause suffocation. A parent who drew up three different driving routes and tested the routes in order to determine which route was safest. A parent that made their own baby food, breast fed and pumped. A parent that made belly casts for both her pregnancies. A parent who went on bed rest, ate right, did not drink, smoke or do drugs. A parent who thought they had researched enough about child hyperthermia and thought their drop-off plan would work. A normal, good and caring parent that was looking forward to the birth of the child she was carrying. A parent like me, Stephanie.

According to Kids and Cars Organization, approximately 92% of the cases happen to great parents. This tragedy happens to the wealthy, the poor and the middle class. It is blind to gender, race, education, those with great common sense, the disorganized, and the organized. It has happened to a dentist, a postal clerk, a social worker, a police officer, an accountant, a soldier, a paralegal, a preacher, an electrician, a Protestant clergyman, a rabbinical student, a mechanic, a stay at home mother, a teacher, a nurse, a construction worker, and an assistant principal. It happened to a mental health counselor, a college professor and a pizza chef. It happened to a pediatrician, an attorney and an ER doctor. It happened to a rocket scientist. It happened to me."

http://www.kidsandcars.org/how-kids-get-hurt/heat-stroke/

This article was sad and chilling.

On the kidsandcars website it also says there is an phone app that would remind parents to drop off their child but it is not popular because no parent believes it will happen to them.

So why doesn't the parent do something simple like putting the diaper bag or child's backpack in the front seat?

 

[Hope4More]

I don't think they are trumped up charges. They might have over charged a bit. But that often happens, and then the juries find a middle ground. The cops found a young child, who had died a gruesome painful death, because his so called father was distracted by his obsession with sexting young girls---no wonder LE was pissed. I don't blame them one bit.

But that's not what they thought, because they charged him with malice murder, and as early as June 18, the same day as Cooper died, they listed the crime of 1st degree child cruelty on all 8 search warrants, meaning they already had suspicions (or more) he intended to kill Cooper.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Agree. The smoking gun clearly shows guilty of negligent homicide.

But I have yet to see evidence Ross was bent on killing Cooper because he was horny for different various women.

So imo. Why did the prosecution make the case harder instead of keeping it simple and let the judge hand down the appropiate sentence .

 

[Seattle16]

You're not hearing about them because RH did not make the searches LE said on June 18, 2014 that he had.

LE stated in their 8 search warrants requested a few hours after LE arrived at the scene that RH had researched children dying in cars, and what temperature it had to be for those children to die in hot cars.

RH did not make those searches. As LE stated more accurately in their June 24 search warrant applications, RH and LEANNA watched something on TV, once, on the topic (could even have been a PSA, who knows), and RH clicked on a link (from a page he was on) to a trending PSA video about pets in hot cars. That's it.


The other meme the media ran with is that RH had researched living "child free." What that amounted to was a single visit to a Reddit subforum in APRIL 2014, where he clicked 4 times on posts having nothing to with children or marriage, never posted, and never returned. Es toto.

And for good measure, because it was one of the misrepresentations that most contributed to a pretrial rush to judgement that RH was guilty-- LE flat out lied that the straps on Cooper's car seat were set to the lowest, infant setting. Photos taken by LE, not the defense , have been introduced at trial of his seat, and no sirree, the straps most certainly were not.

Wow. This is unbelievable. It seems that LE has embellished a lot in this case. The State's case is not looking all that good, in my opinion.

 

[Safeguard]

We don't know the facts of Stephanies hot car case though. It might have been understandable and a series of circumstances that created the perfect storm. I have seen some cases where I am very sympathetic with the grieving parent. They were tired from over work, maybe dropping off the child was out of their routine, child was asleep, long drive, etc etc....it can happen to a 'good' parent and it is tragic.

But maybe Stephanie went to 'Happy Hour' after work, picked up her precious child, made it home but was too drunk to remember to bring the baby inside? I saw a case like that. If her reasons for 'forgetting' were something negative like that, there would be less sympathy, imo. If she picked up her child and drove to a bar or casino, and left the baby to die in the car, . ----zero sympathy---no matter how 'great' of a parent she was before that day.

bbm

Well actually they do give us the facts of Stephanie's case. (Truly sad. I think I might lose my mind, if I had to live that). I did notice in many of the cases on that site, there is common kind of "false memory" of dropping the child off. It often occurs, as the parent gets a gimps of their work place, or the route to their work... In Stephanie's case she describes it:
bbm/rsbm

"my brain re-booted in my old driving route when I saw my work building. At one intersection, I turned right instead of going straight. And during the few seconds it took to turn off my car and go through my mental/visual list of seeing myself dropping of my children, my brain processed a false memory, a previous memory, that I dropped him off at daycare as actually just occurring. My memory of dropping him off was indistinguishable from my memory of dropping Mackenzie off at her daycare, which I had done. I had successfully completed my Mommy List for the morning; like I had done for 31 days prior . And since my husband helped put the children in the car that one morning, my personal routine of putting the bottles in the front did not occur. And all day long while planning weekend activities for the children, talking to friends about Gannon, I believed, I knew, that he was being coddled and cooed by his daycare ladies. That he was safe."

I guess we are here trying to discuss two issues, Should all parents who have this happen to them, be charged with a crime? ( Most all are, btw. but few get any jail time), and Did RH deliberately broil his son to death.

I can't see why RH would need to get rid of Cooper at all, he wasn't an impediment to RH's adult playtime and in fact having Cooper would give him something in common with many of the single moms he was chatting up. Plus there are many ways a small child could be killed "accidentally on purpose" that were a lot less risky, ( not to mention quicker!) than the way this happened.

That is why I personally don't believe it was at all, intentional. I don't claim to know what type of punishment people deserve, I guess as you say, it does depend on the circumstances, (Spaced out on drugs vs sleep deprived and overwhelmed ect...).

 

[GA_Peach]

After the first two weeks of the case, I would like to share my thoughts about this case. For reference, I have listened to all of the testimony given in court except for that which was given on Friday morning. It's my understanding that information pertained to the data extraction from Ross's multiple devices.

My first thought is that the State has done a terrible job presenting its case. The opening statement was weak, unconvincing, and void of any emotion. Moreover, it failed to create an easily understandable framework for the jurors. Instead, the events as presented by the State seemed like a series of random happenings where one event had no bearing or relationship to the other events. That lack of cohesion has carried over into the examination of each witness. The questions are scattered rather than pointed. If I were a juror with no prior background on this case, I could see myself confused by the relevance of several witnesses. The State really needs to review and overhaul its approach to questioning. Why is each witness being called, and what story do you want that juror to tell you? Most importantly, how does that witness's story play into the big picture?

In stark contrast to the State, the DT seems well-prepared. The DT's cross examination has been perfectly on point, and the questions have been asked with purpose. IMO they have successfully impeached several witnesses. I liked Kilgore during jury selection, but he's done an even better job during the trail itself. He has been soft with witnesses, which has allowed him to pull the right information from them. For brief moments of time, Kilgore has almost made me feel sympathetic toward Ross. Almost.

I have the utmost respect for LE, but they are suffering from a credibility crisis in this case. If Detective Stoddard is supposed to be the star witness for the State, the State is going to be in serious trouble. I think that things are going to get extremely interesting when he takes the stand. By misstating numerous items, LE have done themselves, and Ross's case, a huge injustice. IMO LE had plenty of evidence to secure a felony murder conviction without any of their exaggerations or manipulations (I am deeply troubled by them changing the angle on the car seat and filming the 3D animation with the seat in a different position). Also none of these items help convince me that Ross is guilty of malice murder. Why?

I was initially impressed with Judge Staley, but I fear that being a tough judge has crossed over into being a "pro prosecution" judge. She has given the DT numerous opportunities to have a guilty verdict overturned on appeal. It puts a pit in my stomach.

Last but not least, I have not heard any evidence that convinces me that Ross is guilty of malice murder. I am a firm believer that Ross acted with criminal negligence and should be convicted of felony murder. It will be interesting to see what the final weeks of the trial hold.

 

[PaperDoll]

Agree. The smoking gun clearly shows guilty of negligent homicide.

But I have yet to see evidence Ross was bent on killing Cooper because he was horny for different various women.

So imo. Why did the prosecution make the case harder instead of keeping it simple and let the judge hand down the appropiate sentence .

Maybe the prosecution believes it was intentional due to the timeframe which Ross claims he forgot. Again, that is what seals the deal with me. Plus, this trial got moved to another County due to the jurors not being able to keep an open mind, I believe most of them thought he was guilty. I could be wrong for I didn't listen to the jury selection and I'm going off what I've read.

 

[Safeguard]

This article was sad and chilling.

On the kidsandcars website it also says there is an phone app that would remind parents to drop off their child but it is not popular because no parent believes it will happen to them.

So why doesn't the parent do something simple like putting the diaper bag or child's backpack in the front seat?

I read a suggestion on reddit that you could put one of your shoes in the back seat. Sounded like a great idea to me.

 

[DexterMorgan]

Maybe the prosecution believes it was intentional due to the timeframe which Ross claims he forgot. Again, that is what seals the deal with me. Plus, this trial got moved to another County due to the jurors not being able to keep an open mind, I believe most of them thought he was guilty. I could be wrong for I didn't listen to the jury selection and I'm going off what I've read.

But also.

Maybe Nancy Grace exploiting this case within the same week forced the DA to feel like they wanted more than a negligent homicide conviction. Jmo.

 

[Madge_Ick_Dike]

Agree. The charge should have been negligence and not malice intent.

Because the negligence is seeable but wanting sex doesn't prove he had malice intent to kill Cooper.

yes Ross said so himself, there was no malicious intent...

 

[katydid23]

I read a suggestion on reddit that you could put one of your shoes in the back seat. Sounded like a great idea to me.

I had a simple system that worked great. I kept a huge pink teddy bear in the baby seat at all times. When I put the baby in the carseat I put the teddy in the front passenger seat. So I always had a visual right there. I could not have gotten out and locked the car door w/out seeing the hot pink teddy in the front seat.

 

[arkansasmimi]

I had a simple system that worked great. I kept a huge pink teddy bear in the baby seat at all times. When I put the baby in the carseat I put the teddy in the front passenger seat. So I always had a visual right there. I could not have gotten out and locked the car door w/out seeing the hot pink teddy in the front seat.

Definitely not being snarky or meaning to be. But the fact that you took precautions to have a reminder, in itself gives pause that there is that possibility. I am not by any means excusing what RH did that caused the horrible death of his 22 mo old son. I can not imagine, but there are many thing that have happen through out my life that I can not believe happened. Good and not so much.Sadly this case is not the only case this has happen, thus the warnings, and "systems" to remind that a little one is in the car seat. JMHO

 

[arkansasmimi]

To best of my knowledge list of Witnesses who have testified up til now. jmho

:judge:
Tues 10/4/16
Jacqueline Piper - CCPD Officer detained on scene/took to CCPD
James Hawkins - tried to perform CPR on Cooper Harris
Anthony “TJ” Pantano - boss of Hawkins, first on scene, helped RH get Cooper out of car

Wed 10/5/16
Brett Shumpert - CSI Tech processed crime scene, Harris Home & LH veh at Treehouse parking lot
Artiyaa Eastland - witness at scene came from restaurant across street
Ashleigh Womack - witness called 911
Dale Hamilton - witness was leaving Subway
Lindsey Folgia - Officer in area/not dispatched/on scene
Brett Gallimore - Officer in area/not dispatched/on scene

NO Court Thur 10/6, Fri 10/7 Hurricane Matthew

Mon 10/10/16 NO Court Hurricane Matthew

Tues 10/11/16 NO testimony, scheduling & status check after Hurricane Matthew

Wed 10/12/16
Kyle Weston - CF employee
Charles Christopher “Chris” Redmon - CF Regional Mgr 6/18/14
Payton Barweck - EMT at scene
James Ferrell - Lt, Supervisor over RH case
Carey Grimstead - CSI Tech, took measurements of car seat, inside measurements of SUV,executed SW on RH SUV 6/18/- 6/19/14

Thur 10/13/14 1/2 day court - scheduling problems
Melony Gibson - Director Little Aprons Academy
Keyatta Patrick - Teacher Little Aprons Academy
Auzure Hawks - Teacher Little Aprons Academy
Michelle Gray - Teacher Little Aprons Academy

Fri 10/14/16
Wesley Houston - Home Depot Security Guard “Treehouse”
Ray Yeager - Det Hi Tech Crimes Unit CCPD did forensic on RH/LH electronics
Ann Coulson - Det Hi Tech Crimes Unit CCPD did forensic on laptop
Daniela Doerr - Escort/Prostitute

 

[arkansasmimi]

Guess there was only 1 witness from scene call 911? Mgr from restaurant that Piper recognized his voice, maybe someone just told him to call 911

 

[Cinnalauda]

Hello all marking my place here - been away on holiday for a week so have some serious catching up to do!

 

[arkansasmimi]

lease: good audio today lease: