Father faces trial for leaving 22-month-old son to die strapped in hot car

A man who prosecutors said intentionally left his 22-month-old son strapped inside a hot car to die because he wanted to live a child-free life will remain jailed pending his trial, a judge ruled.

Magistrate Judge Frank Cox also found probable cause for murder and child cruelty charges against Justin Ross Harris, aged 33, of Marietta, Atlanta, Georgia, after hearing evidence he swapped nude photographs with women other than his wife while at work at the time his son was dying.

The lead investigator in the case testified Harris was having marital and work problems. He had done internet research on living child-free, how long it would take for a child to die in a hot car, and how to survive in prison, before leaving son Cooper Harris in his vehicle for seven hours on a hot day, Cobb County Police detective Phil Stoddard said.

Defence lawyer Maddox Kilgore accused prosecutors of trying to publicly shame Harris with tawdry testimony. He said there was no proof his client knowingly left the child in the car on a day when the temperature in Atlanta was about 30C.

Harris told police he forgot to drop his son off at daycare before heading to work on June 18.

“An action doesn’t become a crime because the results were catastrophic,” Kilgore said.

Harris said he ate breakfast at a restaurant with Cooper, kissed him after strapping him into a rear- facing carseat and then forgot his son was there as he drove less than a mile (1.6 km) to work, according to Stoddard.

Stoddard said Harris raised police suspicions by not mentioning he had visited his car to drop something off during his lunch break and by not showing emotion when interviewed later by detectives.A man who saw the father after he pulled into a shopping centre car park and appeared to try to revive his son, said he believed Harris’ grief at the scene was genuine.

“I heard the desperate cries of a father who had just lost his son,” said witness Leonard Madden.

According to search warrants, Harris and his wife said they had conducted internet searches about how hot cars needed to be for a child to die inside because they feared it would happen.