The Grand Jury & Trial

[borndem]

Yep, Jink -- That will be a tuff one. When he had his son in his arms to put him in the car seat, surely he was thinking of which way to go to get to the daycare place. He had to be thinking of that instead of work. They will prolly say that once he got to his workplace parking lot, he only thought of what he had to do that day and nothing else -- it's feasible, but I can't believe that the little boy wasn't babbling all the way. That's what children of that age do.

We'll see...

 

[Hope4More]

Some jurors have said they cannot be impartial. But the media coverage since the bond hearing has been very much pro-prosecution, Ross killed his son on purpose. During the trial, the jurors will hear rebuttals from the defense side. For example, maybe the searches aren't as convincing as they've been made out to be. I'm not saying the defense has a case, just that people might think nothing could convince them that the prosecutions case isn't 100% solid but at this point, they haven't heard any arguments against it, and are really hearing what the media decides to report.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The discrepancies the Atlanta Constitutional Journal saw between Stoddard's testimony and the actual Home Depot lot surveillance tape are pretty disturbing.

There's obviously a huge difference between:

1. A quick 15 second grabbing of things before exiting his car in the AM and a 30 second long delay, especially if the tape shows 15, not 30.

2. Between sticking his head all the way into the car at lunchtime and just opening the front door to throw the lightbulbs in.

3. Between hestitating or whatever when he saw someone approaching him after he went to his car at lunchtime and doing absolutely no such thing, twice.

(I think it's actually telling he didn't seem to notice or care that folks were going very near his car, especially on his after lunch walk, when what he was doing was holding his phone and seemingly texting).


And. Saying his motive was that he wanted to be "child free"? Based on what evidence? Not those supposedly related but aren't really 3 internet searches so widely publicized.

Because he told someone that AM that he loved his son but they (or "everyone"?) needed an escape? That IMO is not an unusual thing for any exhausted/overwhelmed/overworked and/or overscheduled good parent to say, whether or not he fit into that category.

 

[JerseyGirl]

Ok, even if he "forgot" how can the defense explain his 7 or so minute drive to the strip mall with Cooper in the back seat and foul smell???????

Are they going to argue there wasn't a smell? That he smelled something but didn't bother to look ANYWHERE in his car, whether in the HD parking lot, at a stop light or driving along??

Defense is going with the idea that at lunchtime he didn't stick his head in or he didn't see. But at 4:15, he got INTO THE CAR AND DROVE, he did not see or smell anything?!?! BS and MOO! He's guilty!

 

[Laughing]

Years ago I was in a jury pool for a murder charge. This was in a state with the death penalty. There were general questions in the courtroom, then about 50 of us were interviewed in the judge's chambers.

My next door neighbor was also in the group, I did tell the assembled attorneys & assistant prosecutors and assistant defenders that they simply could NOT take my neighbor & me both and gave the age range of our combined children. The younger attorneys all looked terrified, likely at the idea of being left alone with their own kids!

My poor neighbor was sequestered for 2 & a half weeks. I cooked big meals, checked lotsa homework, and did many many loads of laundry....


I still want each & every juror to back that car in!

 

[magnolia]

Ok, even if he "forgot" how can the defense explain his 7 or so minute drive to the strip mall with Cooper in the back seat and foul smell???????

Are they going to argue there wasn't a smell? That he smelled something but didn't bother to look ANYWHERE in his car, whether in the HD parking lot, at a stop light or driving along??

Defense is going with the idea that at lunchtime he didn't stick his head in or he didn't see. But at 4:15, he got INTO THE CAR AND DROVE, he did not see or smell anything?!?! BS and MOO! He's guilty!

BBM--How do you explain all the other parents involved in "hot car death" cases. How about the parents that got in their car, drove to pick up their child at daycare and discovered the child dead. Did they see or smell anything ? The comparison of other hot car death cases is sure to come up during the trial. I think the prosecution is going to have a tough time trying to explain why Ross should have noticed the smell when so many other parents in similar circumstances did not. IMO

 

[eileenhawkeye]

I'm seeing articles by the media saying it will be impossible to find a jury. Yet 8/12 jurors are qualified. That's a rate of 67% for a case that is high-profile and is being tried in the same county it happened in. Am I missing something here? Is this just the media trying to make a story out of everything?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 10m10 minutes ago
Juror 16 understood judge's dismissal: "I'm not going to have to be here anymore," she said, smiling #hotcardeath #RossHarris

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 24m24 minutes ago
Pace in #RossHarris jury selection has quickened; avgd 1 juror/hr on Wed. today 3 jurors questioned in 90 mins #hotcardeath

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 26m26 minutes ago
Law enforcement as capable of exaggerating on stand as any other witness, says Juror 15 #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 45m45 minutes ago
Juror 15: No problem being impartial #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 1h1 hour ago
Juror 14: "I don't think it's possible for a person to forget his child" #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 1h1 hour ago
Juror 14 says he could be impartial but has opinion that won't change. Not sure what to make of that #hotcardeath #RossHarris

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 2h2 hours ago
As #RossHarris case evolved, Juror 13 & wife made "conscious decision to disengage" from #hotcardeath coverage

 

[eileenhawkeye]

If juror #15 is qualified, the rate will increase to 69%. I recall another article said that each side won't be able to go through the questionaires until the weekend so once that happens, we should see the rate get even higher. While everyone has heard of the case, and some potential jurors have said they talked about the case to their family members, it doesn't seem like anyone obsessively followed it, or knows every detail, or was engaging online about it.

Only 5/16 have been disqualifed so far...One was disqualifed because of a language barrier, another disqualified because of an upcoming trip. So we've had a very small number of jurors (3/16...19%) where the judge says their opinion of the case makes it impossible to serve.

Yet this article by The Daily Mail says: "Jury selection in the case of Justin Ross Harris may go on for weeks as many called have preconceived opinions about the case"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...old-son-locked-car-purpose.html#ixzz45uhkYZSq

 

[Hope4More]

I'm seeing articles by the media saying it will be impossible to find a jury. Yet 8/12 jurors are qualified. That's a rate of 67% for a case that is high-profile and is being tried in the same county it happened in. Am I missing something here? Is this just the media trying to make a story out of everything?

67% of a total jury selected, but not 67% of the total number of folks undergoing round 1 of voir dire, right? It's the latter number that the media is focusing on, then, it would appear.

This case has been hyper- sensationalized from day one, and I suspect it will continue to be that way all the way through the trial.

I'm still flabbergasted that the other charges against him weren't severed. IMO it will be difficult enough for jurors to resist wanting to punish him, even if it was an "accident," much less when they're given another reason to loath the man.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

67% of a total jury selected, but not 67% of the total number of folks undergoing round 1 of voir dire, right? It's the latter number that the media is focusing on, then, it would appear.

This case has been hyper- sensationalized from day one, and I suspect it will continue to be that way all the way through the trial.

I'm still flabbergasted that the other charges against him weren't severed. IMO it will be difficult enough for jurors to resist wanting to punish him, even if it was an "accident," much less when they're given another reason to loath the man.

67% refers to how after Day 4, 8/12 jurors were qualifed to serve. Four were dismissed from jury duty, and now 8 jurors could possibly be selected to serve. On Day 5, they've questioned four more jurors. One was disqualifed because of a language barrier. Not sure if the judge will disqualify Juror #15.

The local media is definitely hyper-sensationalizing every single aspect of the case. Their pre-trial coverage reminds me a lot of a movie being hyped up as being the biggest movie of the year before we even get box office receipts. The local media must be praying there's a huge amount of interest in the trial because that means the more clicks and views on their website. They might be the only source for watching the trial live. I have no clue how much interest there will be once the trial starts, but I don't see a huge amount of interest so far. I haven't seen more than twenty people viewing this forum, articles about the case aren't getting a crazy amount of comments and likes compared to articles about other stories, only local media reporters are tweeting about the case currently, etc. Of course I expect interest to increase when the trial begins but the local media seems to be trying to make it sound like the trial will be as big as Zimmerman or Anthony and I've seen no actual proof of that yet.

 

[DaleTray]

I hadn't even considered the other charges be severed but now that you mention, maybe if charges had been severed, the prosecutors would possibly have been prevented but bringing up the facts that he was sexting 6 different women and some were minors. Maybe the judge wouldnt have allowed some of that to be entered, which is going to really help the jurors dislike JRH even more.
Maybe the prosecutors realized it was going to be an uphill battle to get JRH convicted. "We think he left child in car on purpose" with the other side saying "No he didn't he just forgot his baby". The prosecutors need the jurors to really dislike JRH and needed the judge to allow the sexting angle with minors. Maybe the prosecutors would have liked to have severed and went back at JRH at a later date on separate charges but maybe were willing to forego potential furture charges if they more desperately needed the evidence in the initial trial?
Just me talking out loud to myself....speculating

 

[Jinkasaurus]

One thing that has crossed my mind is that the sexting with other women is not a motive for murder but rather, a cause of mental distraction.

I know the most popular opinion is that he intentionally did this. But there is a part of me that wonders if he is just a jerk who actually forgot his kid in the car. I'm trying to figure out what makes him so different from all the cases profiled in that WaPo article.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

One thing that has crossed my mind is that the sexting with other women is not a motive for murder but rather, a cause of mental distraction.

I know the most popular opinion is that he intentionally did this. But there is a part of me that wonders if he is just a jerk who actually forgot his kid in the car. I'm trying to figure out what makes him so different from all the cases profiled in that WaPo article.

I am definitely worried about the outcome of this trial. There's never been someone convicted for intentionally leaving their child in a hot car, and received a significant sentence for it. The defense just has to put doubt in the juror's minds...Is it possibly you are sending a father away for life, a father who made a horrible mistake?

I think he is either getting the maximum punishment or he's getting off...I can't see him being sentenced to like 5-10 years. That wouldn't make any sense. Oh we think you premediated the murder of your son, who died in a horrific manner, okay 10 years sounds good enough...or we think your son died accidentally, so we'll give you 10 years...for what?

 

[MsMarple]

I hadn't even considered the other charges be severed but now that you mention, maybe if charges had been severed, the prosecutors would possibly have been prevented but bringing up the facts that he was sexting 6 different women and some were minors. Maybe the judge wouldnt have allowed some of that to be entered, which is going to really help the jurors dislike JRH even more.
Maybe the prosecutors realized it was going to be an uphill battle to get JRH convicted. "We think he left child in car on purpose" with the other side saying "No he didn't he just forgot his baby". The prosecutors need the jurors to really dislike JRH and needed the judge to allow the sexting angle with minors. Maybe the prosecutors would have liked to have severed and went back at JRH at a later date on separate charges but maybe were willing to forego potential furture charges if they more desperately needed the evidence in the initial trial?
Just me talking out loud to myself....speculating

It doesn't take much to dislike Ross IMO. The prosecution successfully argued that the sexting went to motive. The text Ross sent to a woman while he and Cooper were eating breakfast is pretty compelling:

About 10 minutes before Cooper was left in the car, investigators said Harris used an app called Whisper and responded to a woman writing about how she didn't want to be a wife or mother anymore.

"He responds at 9:15 that morning, 'My wife gets upset when I want to go out with friends,'" Stoddard testified.

"And did he make another statement that specifically goes to motive." the prosecutor asked.

"He does. 'I love my son and all but we both need escapes.' And that was done at 9:15:33," Stoddard said.

At that time, according to records and video, Harris was at Chick-fil-A having breakfast with Cooper, Stoddard testified.

http://legacy.11alive.com/story/new...ry-split-sexting-and-murder-charges/73807728/

While that particular text broke no laws (it was with a married woman not a minor) it really does point to him being unhappy in his marriage and as a father and so it could support a motive for Ross wanting to rid himself of Cooper. And in order to paint the whole picture the prosecution needs to include all the sexting. The judge agreed but yikes, IMO it's going to be difficult for at least some of the jurors to look beyond the moral issues. And it's not like he was checking sports scores that morning, the guy couldn't even put it on hold long enough to enjoy a meal with his son.

P.S. Some idle thoughts of my own: I wonder how Dr. Diamond will spin the sexting if he testifies. Part of fogotten baby syndrome includes a "distraction" of some kind that disrupts the normal routine. How exactly can he explain that Ross was distracted that morning because he was texting a woman about how he was unhappy with his role as husband and father?

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 4m4 minutes ago
Juror 80: A child can't be left unintended, "it's deep in my core" #RossHarris #hotcardeath


Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 6m6 minutes ago
Juror 80, son went missing for cpl of hrs, found w/ assist from law enforcement #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Do they mean the juror is 80 years old....? So his son went missing for a couple of hours likely 50+ years ago?

 

[MsMarple]

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 4m4 minutes ago
Juror 80: A child can't be left unintended, "it's deep in my core" #RossHarris #hotcardeath


Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 6m6 minutes ago
Juror 80, son went missing for cpl of hrs, found w/ assist from law enforcement #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Do they mean the juror is 80 years old....? So his son went missing for a couple of hours likely 50+ years ago?

I think he means juror #80 - I looked at prior tweets and he doesn't use the number sign.

https://twitter.com/ReporterJCB

 

[tlcya]

I am thinking the jurors are assigned numbers. Probably juror number 80

 

[eileenhawkeye]

LOL That makes more sense. I feel like the media needs to just refer to him as Juror #17...as in the 17th juror that has been questioned. #80 is just irrelevant to those of us following the case.

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 2m2 minutes ago
Juror 80, on belief that #RossHarris is guilty: "etched in my mind pretty deep" #hotcardeath

 

[eileenhawkeye]

Christian Boone ‏@ReporterJCB 2m2 minutes ago
Juror 17: Driver for Frito-Lay, has 3yo son, same age Cooper Harris would be today #RossHarris #hotcardeath

Is Christian reading our forum?