The jury in the Justin Ross Harris hot-car murder trial on Thursday asked to watch yet another video — this one a security video of Harris returning to his car at lunchtime and tossing light bulbs inside.
The jurors asked to have the large-screen monitor moved extremely close to the jury box so they would have a good view. As the video played, all the jurors paid rapt attention. At one point, one young juror looked to a man behind him and nodded his head.
Prosecutors have said Harris should have been able to see Cooper in his car seat when he walked up to open his driver’s side door and toss the light bulbs inside. But the video shows Harris never put his head below the roofline of the car. He walks up, tosses the package inside, closes the door and walks away. In a matter of seconds.
When Harris returned to his SUV, Cooper had been locked inside the car for about three hours. The Cobb County medical examiner has said it’s possible the young child was still alive at that time. This means if Harris left Cooper in his car by accident, it’s possible he could have saved his son’s life if he saw him inside the car during that lunchtime visit. Prosecutors have suggested that Harris returned to his car to make sure his son was already dead.
Previously, the jury saw videos of Harris being interviewed by lead detective Phil Stoddard at police headquarters. They also watched a video of Harris with his then-wife, Leanna Taylor, in the same interview room not long after Harris talked to Stoddard.
The jury is now in its third day of deliberations. If it can't reach a verdict Thursday, it will return on Monday. The jury has Friday off because the Glynn County Courthouse is closed in observance of Veteran's Day.
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