Saturday, July 5, 2014

Cooper Harris: Attempts to Free Himself?

With nods to Casey Anthony, let's hope that prosecutors do not allow Ross Harris' sex life to become the focal point in a murder trial.  Tangents are tangents, and not justice.

Although it speaks to the callousness of his character, much like Casey Anthony's dancing while Caylee was alleged to have been "missing", we see how under informed jurors can be easily distracted from the topic in hand, or possess no ability to follow an argument.

Here we learn that Cooper likely suffered in an attempt to free himself from his father's death trap, scratching at his face and banging his head.



When Leanna Harris arrived at the Little Apron daycare center, she was told her son never arrived, Stoddard testified.
His mother then said her husband must have left him in the car.
After being questioned at police headquarters, the couple were briefly reunited, the detective said.
“Did you say too much?” Leanna Harris asked her husband, according to Stoddard.
The father told investigators he had taken his boy to breakfast at a fast-food restaurant, then drove to work forgetting Cooper was in the car.
Cooper  Harris, seen here with his dad, scratched his face and banged his head, a police detective testified, most likely in a vain attempt to escape his car seat and the blistering hot SUV he was trapped in.CHANGE.ORGCooper Harris, seen here with his dad, scratched his face and banged his head, a police detective testified, most likely in a vain attempt to escape his car seat and the blistering hot SUV he was trapped in.
The drive was less than a mile and took 30 to 40 seconds, Stoddard told the court.
After sexting at his Home Depot job, Harris went to lunch with his co-workers, bought some light bulbs, and went to his car, opened the driver’s door and threw them in, authorities said.
Harris claims he didn’t see his child.
Stoddard testified that the belts on Cooper’s car seat were set at the tightest possible setting and that the car seat was facing toward the rear, a position usually used only for infants.
Cooper’s head was plainly visible above the seat, Stoddard said.
Justin Ross Harris has been charged with  murder and cruelty to children for leaving his  22-month-old child in this car for more than seven hours in a Marietta, Ga., parking lot.
Justin Ross Harris has been charged with murder and cruelty to children for leaving his 22-month-old child in this car for more than seven hours in a Marietta, Ga., parking lot.
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  • Justin Ross Harris has been charged with  murder and cruelty to children for leaving his  22-month-old child in this car for more than seven hours in a Marietta, Ga., parking lot.
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  • Leanna Harris, the mother of Cooper, is seen arriving at her husband’s bond  hearing in Marietta, Ga. Justin Harris is accused of murdering their young son.
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WSBTV
The dad’s recent online activity included researching how long it took for a child to die in a hot car.
Harris has been charged with murder and child cruelty. He was denied bail Thursday.
His wife has not been charged.

30 comments:

Dacea said...

I believe it was premeditated and I have no words that are fit for public use about what I think about poor Cooper's parents. That said, it is now suggested to keep children rear facing as possible. My grandson was rear facing until just after 2 due to the new recommendations.

Lucy said...

Dacea,

True, but Cooper had outgrown the rear facing seat. His head was above the back of the seat, making it more dangerous for him to be rear-facing than front-facing. The recommendations are only until they are physically too big for the seat, which Cooper was.

Lucy said...

Ross's sex life should not be the focus of the investigation, but it is not irrelevant. First, it goes far to negate the parade of character witnesses claiming that he is a good man and was a good dad. None of them knew about his extramarital activities or sexting, so they didn't know him all that well, and perhaps not well enough to comment on his character. It also contradicts his wife's claims of him being a wonderful husband. And if she is lying about that, "wonderful father" also comes into question. Lastly but perhaps most importantly, it speaks to his state of mind on the day Cooper died. If it can be proven that he had knowledge of Cooper being in the car, then it can be shown that he was so unmoved by his son's slow, torturous death that he was able to flirt and "sext", and more disturbing, perhaps, he was sexually aroused at that time. (He was aroused in the picture he sent the underage girl)

Anonymous said...

I don't understand why the car seat straps would be adjusted to the smallest setting. That, in itself, seems a bit torturous.
-Kitt

Juliette said...

Kitt @ 7:09pm, I think JRH planned to murder Cooper so he grabbed the old seat Cooper had way out grown and didn't bother to readjust the straps; I don't think Cooper's comfort meant enough to JRH to care if the straps were hurting Cooper.

Apparently they had a relatively new seat for Cooper but I think JRH used the small seat Cooper had outgrown simply because it was backward facing so there was less possibility of anyone passing outside the car to see Cooper.

Anonymous said...

Too many supposed "coincidences".

Anonymous said...

Aha. That does makes sense, Juliette. The "man" is a monster.
-Kitt

Nic said...

What a horrible human being.

Dacea said...

Somehow I had missed that, Lucy, thank you. My grandson is a tiny guy and I was nervous about him being turned around even at 2.

I do not understand the taking of an life, but the premeditated murder of your own child is at a level of depravity all of its own, but then to be pleasuring yourself and sexting with underage girls while murdering your child? My brain shatters at that. It's doubtful with my degrees that I will ever get to serve on a jury because a defense attorney would be apoplectic at the thought. I sure would love to be called though. I've been hoping I get called to Craig Woods trial but it is possible it's going to be moved. If I don't get called I am going to attend, take notes and quotes and report back here with anything analysis worthy.

Unknown said...

That's awesome. Take good notes! I'd love to read them :)

I have issue with the wife, something doesn't smell right with her response to seeing him and being able to talk to him. My first response would be instense emotional asking why? What happened to my baby?!? What happened??? While I physically shook him.

This guy is the fugly man version of Casey...macey

Anonymous said...

Cooper was such a cute baby which is shocking because his father is so ugly.
I am not saying this in jest: is there any chance the father doubted paternity?
Probably a stretch, but the baby is adorable and the father is hideous, plus the baby doesn't really look like him although it is hard to tell with babies.

BostonLady said...

The father and mother are monsters. Cooper suffered in that car. No one with a conscience could have done this. My heart breaks for Cooper.

The picture of the father holding Cooper is disgusting. He is vile and disgusting and evil. I hope he is sweating in a hot cell. And I hope the wife is arrested asap. Both should never be allowed outside of a jail ever again.

Anonymous said...

Bostonlady, I agree, the picture of them is disgusting as the father's eyes show evil in them and Cooper is absolutely adorable, and Ross did not deserve to have him as his son.
The father is without conscience.

Anonymous said...

It's so sad, I can't stand to think of what little Cooper went through. :'( Why and how can "parents" do things like this?

I feel so weird when my daughter isn't with me (in the vehicle). For some reason I always double check her seat, and she's not even in a baby/toddler seat anymore, but a booster seat. I can't for the life of me understand how someone could forget, and I especially can't understand how someone could torture their child on purpose like that.

Anonymous said...

"Did you say too much?"

What about herself? She said "too much" at the daycare. Not that I give a flying hoot, I hope they both say "too much", but why was she so worried about what he said, when she already said what she said? That's something that really sticks out to her possible and probable guilt and/or guilty knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say, she was probably worried if he said too much about HER, like she did to him.

Anonymous said...

I see a lot of parallels with casey anthony. motive. Psyvhology. lyinh. uber confidence.

Anonymous said...

His attorney said because his friends didnt notice anything weird and RH acted "normal" during lunch its proof it wasnt a crime but a tragic accident... he is stretching for that one... i see it as a complete disregard for his son, even evidence of his.guilt. He was almost jovial, he could hardly contain his own satisfaction.with his actions. I wonder how that p.o.s. wife of his liked hearing in court how her husband spent part of his day. Freakin perv. How wonderful is he now? I predict they just steps away from throwing each other under the bus.
Nvmomma73

Anonymous said...

I agree. Although it's not on the same caliber, it also proves though, that he was acting "normal" while sexting 6 women, other than his wife, one of which was underage, of which who he was sending pics of his aroused genitals.

Unknown said...

I actually think the reason for the carseat straps being in the lowest setting is more sinister than just an overlooked detail as he grabbed the old car seat to use in his rear-facing murder plot. The straps would have been on the highest setting when Cooper stopped using the seat, so moving them back down to the lowest would have to be done on purpose.

As heartbreaking as the thought is, the straps were likely moved in order to more tightly trap Cooper in the seat, and ensure he didn't wriggle out of the restraints. If Cooper had somehow been able to free himself, and he wasn't found IN the carseat, JRH would have had zero chance convincing anyone that it was an accident. (not that he did a great job anyway)

Anonymous said...

Little Cooper is so adorable an innocent in the pics, he must have been so sweet and lovely in real life. He is at a age, still beginning to speak and children are at their cutest with their baby talk. I wish I can just hold him and bring him back.

It is unimaginable that his own parents can do this to him. (one or both).

Anonymous said...

The time taken for a man to die in a hot car should be researched and that horrid man should be given that information with a clock and put in a hot car. Take him out just about to die, put him in prison for life and let him think of what he did to his son.

S + K Mum said...

Totally agree, he made sure he gave Cooper zero chance of getting out of the car seat. I don't think it's out of the realms of possibility that he was regularly treated badly by his parents. He disliked his son and his wife gave him permisson to murder him / or knew he was thinking of doing so. They prob researched other ways too. I feel sick thinking about them, so evil.

christy said...

Jen Ow, that is the most sad thing I've read, I hope it's not true.

Anonymous said...

Saddly, I'm inclined to beleive that Cooper may be in a better place. If his father was doing the sexting, forgetful enough within the timeframe mentioned, he's more than likely the type that also enjoys watching abuse as well as dishing it out. Poor Cooper may have had a horrible life in store for him.

Anonymous said...

I like your scenario. Unfortunately, I think the outcome of it would be that Harris would spend his prison days thinking of how HE almost died in a hot car.

Anonymous said...

Oops, forgot to sign my reply. This is Kitt.

rob said...

I think the parents may have an agreement, like, I'll get him up in the mornings, get him dressed and to daycare; you pick him up in the afternoons, feed him, put him to bed. It's obvious he's not into the wife, sexting, going out to the movies with his friends. In her funeral speech, she said she did things, over, and over, and over for Cooper. Too many overs, she sounded like she was sick to doing the things.The father's friend said he saw the baby with the father when they came back to AL, but not the wife. She may have been the type, when Ross told her he wanted a divorce, she said, I'm not keeping the baby, and it's obvious the baby didn't fit into his fantasy sex life.
Sorry, but he had to go, and get them out of debt at the same time was just an extra bonas.
I'd love to have been a fly on the wall at both families home after the funeral and the court hearing. Even if you love your child, it would be hard to get past hearing all that.

Anon "I" said...

If Cooper was strapped in the car-seat so tightly, it would hurt. He would have been screaming his head off and likely been heard unless he was drugged. Why didn't anyone hear him screaming? Does that have something to do with his alleged choking? If he wasn't drugged, was he gagged? It makes me sick just thinking about it. All, IMHO.

Anon "I"

foodnerd said...

The too-small seat and too-tight straps were probably to ensure that Cooper couldn't escape. Some kids that age are Houdinis with escaping their car seats and playpens; imagine the incentive with that insane, suffocating heat?