This is a running account of the Justin Ross Harris murder trial. Harris is accused of intentionally leaving his son in a hot car to die on June 18, 2014.
The jury took a short field trip of sorts outside of the courtroom to view the actual SUV that Harris' son, Cooper, died in. The prosecution said it would help the jury to better understand the actual dimensions inside the car, including how far the car seat was from the driver's seat.
Staley Clark is on the verge of going into recess when lead defense attorney Maddox Kilgore tells her he wants to "perfect the record" regarding his motion for a mistrial earlier in the day. Kilgore objected strenuously to the jury's viewing of Harris's SUV in the courthouse parking lot this morning. Calling this brief trip an "absolute disaster," he moved for a mistrial immediately afterward. Staley Clark denied the motion. She hears Kilgore, notes his comments for the record and then recesses the trial for the day.
Evans asks Dustin about technical issues such as "merging the data" and "stitching."
Staley Clark asks Evans how much longer this testimony will require. He replies that it could run another 20 minutes. And the judge dismisses the jury and asks it to return at 8:30 a.m. Friday.
Credit: WSB-TV
Credit: WSB-TV
The prosecution is laying the foundation for the 3D scans of Harris's SUV that it plans to show to the jury.
Dustin says he worked with NCIS to create a 3D scan of a drive-by shooting scene. The court acknowledges that he's an expert witness in the area of laser scanning.
Prosecutor Jesse Evans invites Dustin to step down from the stand and explain 3D scanning and crime-scene mapping. He demonstrates a Faro scanner, which contains a laser, a camera, a mirror and other components. It is capable of scanning 360 degrees of objects in direct line of site. (I.e., it can't "see through" things like walls or cars.)
Cobb police created such detailed imagery at the parking lot in which Ross Harris parked his SUV and pulled his son's body out of the vehicle.
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Credit: WSB-TV
Next witness for the prosecution is sworn in: David Dustin runs Dustin Forensics, which specializes in 3D laser scanning and other kinds of image capture.
He then talks about how 3D laser scanning is used.
"In law enforcement, they use it for the mapping of crime scenes and then also for crash scenes. So we instruct agencies and companies in the use of the technology and then also the software. I've trained approximately 60 individual police agencies across the nation."
Rodriguez asks Persinger how much his company billed Cobb County for his services.
"Approximately $31,000, over the 30 months, at about five hours a month," Persinger replied.
Persinger is then excused, but the defense ask that he remain available for recall to the stand.
Carlos Rodriguez for the defense: There's a lot of photographs on his phone, correct?
Persinger: Yes, sir.
Rodriguez: Did you look at them?
Persinger: Not all of them, no, sir.
Rodriguez: No evidence that he was systematically trying to delete the filthy photographs that were saved on his phone, correct?
Persinger: Correct.
Rodriguez and Persinger then engage in a dialogue about how often a web developer would clear his cache as he goes about his job. Persinger says on one browser-- in this case Google Chrome -- Harris cleared his cache; on another kind of browser -- Firefox -- he didn't. Persinger said he found this to suspicious behavior.
He now talks about information that is deleted from a computer. Some of that information is overwritten by later files and is not recoverable, he explains. But some of it can be recovered because the space it occupies has not been overwritten. He notes that Harris's Lenovo computer would contain vastly more deleted information than Harris's iPhone would.
Forensic computer expert Jim Persinger resumes his testimony on his examination of Ross Harris's computers. On re-direct, the prosecution asks him whether people who traffic in a lot of sexual content are known to wipe that material from their computers.
"It's very common that they won't delete it," he says. "We refer to them as collectors. They don't want to have to go back out and collect it again. ... Most of these people didn't want to lose what they have. They move it to a thumb drive, they move it to a CD-ROM. ..."
He begins to testify to the habits of "child pornographers." The defense objects, saying that has no relevance to this case. Judge Staley Clark sustains the objection.
Court is back in session after the midafternoon break. There is a brief argument among counsel about whether the prosecution delivered certain evidence to the defense in timely fashion. The jury is readmitted at 3:32.
The court is taking a break.
The defense attorney asks Persinger to confirm that Harris searched for houses and discussed it online on June 13, 2014.
There was no evidence that Harris searched for anything related to a divorce, Persinger says.
Persinger says Harris researched a statute in Georgia on the age of consent on his phone. But he found no evidence that he had searched for murder or homicide.
Persinger says he was not aware that Harris was a web developer that had created a small business with two friends.
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Credit: WSB-TV
Persinger says there were two browsers, but the search history on one had been deleted. Persinger says Harris was not the average computer user, and calls him "crafty" for intentionally hiding items.
Persinger says he tried several searches during his investigation, such as "hot car" and "child" searches on the computer. He didn't find anything related to those specific words.
Persinger says the applications Harris used to communicate with various women was not deleted. The Whisper app was easily located during the investigation, but was located in a folder on the phone.
Persinger says he wasn't asked to analyze everything. He was asked to review what Cobb police had already done on the electronic devices. He says he was handed copy of data on desks and went to work.
Persinger says his directives came from the District Attorney's Office, though he did meet with the lead detective with Cobb police at least twice.
On May 9, 2014, a webpage titled "Divorce/Legal Separation Checklist" was accessed following a search on the Home Depot's network, Persinger says. Harris searched "name change" to pull up the page, Persinger testifies.
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Credit: WSB-TV
On June 17, 2014, two searches were done for trips in July and August for two adults and no children, Persinger says.
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Credit: WSB-TV
The jury returns to the court room following a lunch break.
The court is taking a five-minute break.
Persinger says he found vacation plans on a computer that included two adults and no children.
Persinger says history was manually deleted from the computer on June 6.
Persinger says there was a search on a laptop for "how to survive in prison." But this search had been deleted from the browsing history.
Credit: WSB-TV
Credit: WSB-TV
Persinger says there was only two days of web history, June 17 and 18. Other history had been deleted.
Persinger says he received the "dump" of Harris' phone and data from two computers.
Persinger discusses the programs used to extract date from phones and electrical devices. He says the software updates are critical so that all data can be reviewed.
Persinger says he was contacted by the Cobb DA's office in July 2014. He then met with investigators.
Persinger says he's worked on 2,400 cases and examined more than 6,000 hard drives and electronic devices. He has also created software to assist with forensic evaluation.
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Credit: WSB-TV
Prosecutors call Jim Persinger to the witness stand, employed with PM Investigations Inc. He is also a certified police officer.
Grimstead says he photographed a pair of sunglasses next to the car seat, but did not include them in his investigative report.
The detective says he has moved the car seat in and out of the SUV at least four times during the investigation.
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Credit: WSB-TV
Detective Grimstead returns to the witness stand for the third time.
Cornett says she exchanged messages with Harris on June 18 during cross-examination. She is dismissed from the witness stand.
Cornett says Harris told her he wanted to sleep with as many different people as possible in his lifetime. She says she told police about the statement.
Cornett says she was interested in dating people. But Harris said he was interested in sex and wanted to meet her, but Cornett said he seemed "creepy" and "sketchy."
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Credit: WSB-TV
Prosecutors call Angela Cornett to the witness stand. She began chatting with Harris in spring 2014 through the Scout messaging app.
The court is back in session.
The judge says she is taking a three-minute break.
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Credit: WSB-TV
Judge says an argument can be made that jurors were too limited. She says it was a structured opportunity for jurors to see the evidence. She denies a mistrial.
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Credit: WSB-TV
"It was a disaster," Kilgore says. "An absolute disaster." Kilgore again asks for a mistrial.
Prosecution says this the car is the murder weapon for the entire case. The jurors were allowed to examine the evidence, Prosecutor Chuck Boring says.
Kilgore asks for a mistrial.
Kilgore says the lighting outside was different Thursday morning than the day Cooper Harris died.
Kilgore says all of the jurors are different heights, and many are shorter than Harris. Their view of the SUV would be different, the defense attorney says. The jurors have been "given free range to substitute their vantage point for the evidence," Kilgore says.
The jury has returned to the courtroom. Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore is objecting to the jurors being allowed to walk around the SUV.
Credit: Christian Boone
Credit: Christian Boone
Credit: Christian Boone
Credit: Christian Boone
Credit: Ross Cavitt
Credit: Ross Cavitt
The jurors have left the courtroom and are being allowed to view Ross Harris' SUV and Cooper's car seat. Jurors will be allowed to walk around the vehicle twice. Jurors will be allowed to walk around the vehicle twice. The jury's inspection of the SUV is not live-streamed. The broadcast will continue when the jury returns to the courtroom.
Credit: Christian Boone
Credit: Christian Boone
The jury has returned to the courtroom and court is in session.
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