The Grand Jury & Trial

[tlcya]

Court is now in session

Bringing in JRH

Witness being sworn - Det. Phil Stoddard

Cobb County PD - Crimes against persons

Investigates crimes against individuals, rape, assault, etc. Prior with crimes against children. trained in homicide and in child abuse cases.

 

[tlcya]

defendant was the normal person to take Cooper to daycare. His taking Cooper that morning was not out of the ordinary or unusual.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Didn't most of their case of premeditation rest on this research? I was made to believe Harris was googling "How long does it take someone to die in a hot car" I swear we were told that (or something along those lines). Was that completely made up? I'm really annoyed. If I was the judge, I would make anything regarding the "research" not permissible in court.

 

[atthelake]

Didn't most of their case of premeditation rest on this research? I was made to believe Harris was googling "How long does it take someone to die in a hot car" I swear we were told that (or something along those lines). Was that completely made up? I'm really annoyed. If I was the judge, I would make anything regarding the "research" not permissible in court.

Yes that was found after they did the search warrants. The defense is trying to throw out the reason they got the search warrant was based on they said in their interviews they had looked at deaths in hot car... *research* they did in seeing TV show and a veterinarian video about hot car deaths .

I'm trying to recall everything from when it first happened and I miss remember some things.. sorry.. Someone else chime in if I am incorrect on anything

:moo:

 

[nightwatch]

Thank you ATL and tycla for posting the tweets and links. This case will be interesting. The lack of emotion on the part of the defendant I guess is to be expected. He didn't show much emotion the previous times he was in court. I wonder if he and his wife think he will be acquitted?

When he's in front of a jury he may turn on the grieving father acting job. Jmo

ciao

 

[watergirl62]

Didn't most of their case of premeditation rest on this research? I was made to believe Harris was googling "How long does it take someone to die in a hot car" I swear we were told that (or something along those lines). Was that completely made up? I'm really annoyed. If I was the judge, I would make anything regarding the "research" not permissible in court.

I believe the crux of it is that Stoddard heard from other detectives who had been listening to the interview that RH said he had googled how long... and watched the vet vid on the net. Stoddard subsequently included this info in either his verbal or written warrant request using the word "research' when referring to RH net activities I just mentioned. He found two plus two to be compelling so considered that it implied premeditation thus probable cause. The defense position is that this constitutes an overreach.

At least that's what I got out of it.

 

[CarolinaMoon]

I wonder how a man such as this current witness, who was tasked with getting information off the phone/computers is supposed to know if the material is pertinent to the case based on the title alone.

Many people purposely misname files; well, I do! Unless a file is at least glimpsed at briefly, how can an expert sort through it all?

In this case, the defense is saying the investigators were "over-reaching" in their searches. Yet, it wouldn't be "reaching" if, to establish the timeline for Harris' activities on the phone and internet during the time the poor baby was dying/dead in the scorching car. They find all the sexting going on, leading to motive and character. Future search warrants will need to include it. That's pretty much what Vinnie and other legal commentators have just been saying.

All this electronic nit-picking is something we will be seeing even more of, I'm sure.

 

[watergirl62]

I compiled all the warrant info I found on that thread. I like lists...
Let me know if y'all have any issues viewing this file.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1g8yoH71DQTaLUSJJzLSmFXmaOl-BFJ42mu_UxL-gMpw/edit?usp=sharing

 

[angelainwi]

Did the hearing conclude today or are they continuing on Saturday?

 

[Edwards20]

Did the hearing conclude today or are they continuing on Saturday?

Continues tomorrow (Thursday).

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Hoosgirl]

Attorney Phil Holloway's video recap of yesterday:

http://www.11alive.com/videos/news/local/2015/12/15/legal-analyst-recaps-ross-harris-case/77383590/

And he has some very interesting details in his tweets:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PhilHollowayEsq/tweets

Apologies as I'm on my phone, too hard to c&p to bring them over!

 

[watergirl62]

Attorney Phil Holloway's video recap of yesterday:

http://www.11alive.com/videos/news/local/2015/12/15/legal-analyst-recaps-ross-harris-case/77383590/

And he has some very interesting details in his tweets:

https://mobile.twitter.com/PhilHollowayEsq/tweets

Apologies as I'm on my phone, too hard to c&p to bring them over!

Thanks! I thought I had heard there were 33 warrants, and Phil confirmed that number. So I am still missing 18 of them. :thinking:

Also, he framed it all in terms of the 4th amendment. Big fish!

 

[ScarlettScarpetta]

I just don't see how the texting or messaging is relevant to this event. I understand if they looked through and found messages about the alleged crime but Just because he was a cheater does not make him a killer. That would not help me convict him.

 

[Minette]

Hi Scarlett. IMO the sexting is tied into motive, and is related to his searches on the 'child-free' lifestyle--he really did not want to be a 'daddy' tied down with a wife and toddler as evidenced by his profiles on hook-up apps and liaisons with under-age girls. Even his wife said she knew he "wasn't getting what he needed at home," whatever that means. Plus, to me it speaks to a degree of depraved indifference--if you know your young son is roasting to death in the back of your car (and I believe he knew very well) then what does it say about his state of mind that after the mid-day trip to buy lightbulbs and take them out to his car he was sending pics of his erect penis to girls?

So, in my mind his sexting actions are not separate from the crime of deliberately letting his son die in a hot car, they are intimately (pun intended) tied up in the whole mindset that led up to the crime and carried him through the commission of it. Of course, many people cheat and don't go on to kill their children, and some others remain faithful but do go on to kill their children and there are many variations on both themes, but in this case I think the acts go, er, hand in hand.

YMMV!

 

[watergirl62]

Hmmm, so now I have too many warrants but it will have to do. Maybe nobody really knows how many there are.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sPOpPl2eMckTKlr9EdG3dSNBUpKVMcJoLh2sFZ4kI6A/edit?usp=sharing

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I am guessing the most severe punishment he could receive is LWOP. Yet I feel like most cases of "child left in hot car" receive zero jail time or very little. Of course, you could say that a lot of those cases are complete accidents, but people always allege that some aren't. I just worry that this case being unprecendented in that respect could pose an issue. I remember so many people defending JRH when the case first hit the news. Of course when the info came out about the search history, his supporters dwindled to none, but info that turns the public against you doesn't always hold up in court. Could his attorney figure out a way to make the sexting or internet search history seem less convincing?

This is a case of a nice, ordinary religious middle class, educated, non-threatening man who is being charged with a crime that no one has ever been charged with. He is possibly facing a punishment that is decades longer than what any other parent who left their child in a hot car has faced. Will this pose an issue in the courtroom? I feel like his attornies need to get the jurors to see the case from the same view his supporters did when the case first hit the news.

 

[rob]

IMO- if you go on google or u-tube, and type in the words "hot car deaths' or 'how long or how hot for someone to die in a car', then you have 'researched' hot car deaths.
If the first thing out of your wife's mouth is 'oh, Ross must have left him in the car', then you are leaking what you already know.
Usually in the south (but maybe not the nut job judge in Charleston) judges are all law and order, we going to hang your azz types. Hopefully that is what we will have here.
People, LE and by standers are suspicious of Ross because of his own actions. You act suspicious at an improper time, you arouse suspicions. Your 90 degree car stinking to high heavens and you didn't notice it, more suspicions.

 

[Zuri]

Hmmm, so now I have too many warrants but it will have to do. Maybe nobody really knows how many there are.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sPOpPl2eMckTKlr9EdG3dSNBUpKVMcJoLh2sFZ4kI6A/edit?usp=sharing

Thank you so much for taking the time to compile this list. It really helps understand what the police were looking for. I really hope there was no overreach and subsequent evidence dismissed like in the Beverley Carter case.

There have been quite a few cases like this and it seems as though choosing to prosecute them varies. I wonder if he had been crying hysterically and not on his phone, LE would have viewed his demeanor differently and not been suspicious of intent.

 

[Zuri]

HLN discussing it now.

 

[Zuri]

http://www.wildabouttrial.com/one_off/live-stream-1/

I think WAT is covering the hearing live when it starts at 2:00 EST.