Dad Gets Life in Prison in Son's Hot-Car Death
A Georgia man convicted of murder after his toddler son died in a hot SUV has been sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jurors last month convicted Justin Ross Harris of malice murder and other charges in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. The malice murder conviction means they believed Harris left the young boy to die on purpose.
Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark sentenced the 36-year-old Harris at a hearing Monday. Prosecutors said at trial that Harris intentionally killed his son to escape the responsibilities of family life.
"What factually was a horrendous horrific experience for this 22-month old child who had been placed in the trust of his father and in violation and dereliction of duty to that child, if not love of that child, callously walked away and left that child in a hot car in June in Georgia in the summer to swelter and die," Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark said.
Defense attorneys said the boy's death was an accident.
On the morning of his death, Harris was supposed to drop off his son at daycare and then go to work at Home Depot in the Atlanta suburbs. The two went to Chick-fil-A, according to NBC News, then, instead of dropping the boy at daycare, Harris parked his car at Home Depot and left Cooper inside for seven hours. The child died of hyperthermia.
Harris, who was married at the time, had been texting sexually explicit messages to women, including prostitutes, and underage girls. Some of the messages were sent the day Cooper died.
Harris' wife of ten years, Leanna Taylor, filed for divorce during the trial.
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