Ross Harris' Hot Car Death Trial Open to Public, Media

The trial of a Cobb County man accused of intentionally leaving his 22-month old son inside a hot car to die in June 2014 year will be open to the press and the public, a judge ruled Monday.

Ross Harris’ defense team argued that past coverage of the investigation into their client had painted a negative picture of the man and had damaged his chance to have a fair trial. Allowing the media continued access to the courtroom would completely strip Harris of that right, according to his attorneys.

Attorneys for the state and several media organizations made arguments that media coverage and public access to the trial were essential to preventing rumor and gossip from taking the place of evidence argued in court, the Marietta Daily Journal reports. Additionally, attorneys for the media argued that barring future coverage of the trial would not make the past coverage magically disappear.

A Cobb County assistant DA prosecuting the case argued that some of the coverage of Harris’ investigation could be favorable to the former Home Depot employee or could attack supposed weaknesses in the state’s case.

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Judge Mary E. Staley, who had previously ruled against a media man requested by the defense team, again ruled in favor of the media and will allow all pretrial motions and Harris’ eventual trial to be fully open to the press and the public.

Pretrial motions will be argued until Wednesday, including a defense motion to sever charges Harris faces for allegedly sexting an underage girl from the main murder trial, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

Harris was indicted by a grand jury on Sep. 4, 2014 on eight counts relating to the June 18, 2014 death of his son Cooper, who investigators say was left alone in a hot car for seven hours while his father was at work. Harris pleaded not guilty to all eight counts against him in October.

Prosecutors argued during a July 3, 2014 probable cause hearing that Justin Harris wanted a “child-free life.” A detective on the stand noted Harris had been sexting girls, one as young as 17 years old, throughout the day while he was at work.

During testimony, Det. Phil Stoddard noted Harris had two life insurance policies on Cooper’s life and prosecutors argue they’ll show Harris was having financial trouble.

Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds announced in September of 2014 that the state would not seek the death penalty against Harris if he is convicted.