– A Cobb County man accused of leaving his young son in a hot auto to die is back in court Tuesday for a second day of jury selection.
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Justin Ross Harris, who prosecutors said intentionally left his 22-month-old son strapped inside a hot vehicle to die because he wanted to live a child-free life, sits in Cobb County Magistrate Court in Marietta, Georgia, U.S. on July 3, 2014.
Around 200 potential jurors lined the halls of the Glynn County Courthouse Monday morning for a high-profile case from the Atlanta metro.
It is a case which originally was supposed to go to trial in Cobb County in April of this year, but after three weeks of jury selection, the judge approved the defense’s request to move the trial out of the county because of pretrial publicity, eventually settling on the coastal city of Brunswick.
Here are things to know as the trial restarts.
Harris told investigators he forgot Cooper was in his vehicle when he went to work on June 18.
Legal experts believe potential jurors on the other side of the state may not have heard about Ross Harris and the case against him. Prosecutors say he intentionally left his son to die at a time when Harris was unhappy in his marriage and looking for relationships with other women. The many miles and media markets between the county where Cooper Harris died and the trial should blunt the emotion of the trial.
The Cobb County father has been in the Glynn County Jail since Thursday.
While Harris’ case certainly received attention beyond metro Atlanta, it shouldn’t be hard to find Glynn County jurors who know little about the case, said J. Tom Morgan, former district attorney for DeKalb County. Harris has pleaded not guilty and claimed that, while not being a ideal husband, he loved his son and the death was a bad accident.
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“People in Atlanta think all of Georgia is paying attention to what happens in Atlanta”, Morgan said.
