Hot Car Murder: Ross Harris Sentenced in Death of Toddler

COBB COUNTY, GA — A father convicted of leaving a small boy in a hot car to die in 2014 was given the maximum sentence Monday. Ross Harris will serve a life sentence without parole for the murder of his son, as well as 32 years for related charges.

Found guilty last month on all eight charges in the case, including malice murder, Harris had been arrested hours after the death of his young son, 22-month-old Cooper. Evidence in the case convinced the jury that Ross Harris had not forgotten his son was in the back seat, as he claimed, but that he intentionally left the boy to die in the hot car that day in order to live a child-free life.

Calling the act "heinous and horrendous," Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark announced the sentencing Monday afternoon. She noted that, in conversations in the hours after the death, Harris had told police and his wife that he wanted to be an advocate to remind parents of the consequences of forgetting their children in a hot car.

"I would say, perhaps not in the way you intended, but you have accomplished that goal," Judge Staley Clark said.

Early in the case, prosecutors declined to seek the death penalty. “After reviewing Georgia’s death penalty statute and considering other factors, the State will not seek the death penalty in this case at this time. I cannot and will not elaborate at this juncture of the case,” District Attorney Vic Reynolds said in a statement in 2014.

The jury sat through 22 days of testimony from 70 witnesses, as well as a delay in the trial as Hurricane Matthew moved up the Georgia coast. The jurors had asked to review security footage of Harris returning to his SUV after lunch, tossing light bulbs inside and walking away.

According to the National Safety Council, children overheat four times faster than adults. A child is likely to die when the body temperature reaches 107 degrees, and that can happen in minutes. Even in 70-degree weather, a vehicle can reach life-threatening temperatures quickly. The average increase in temperature inside a vehicle is 3.2 degrees per five-minute interval.

Charges included malice murder, two counts of felony murder and cruelty to children in the first degree and in the second degree. Three other charges were related to text messages and images Harris sent to underage girls on the day of Cooper's death. Those charges included criminal attempt to commit sexual exploitation of children and two misdemeanor counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.

“Today is not a victory, nor is it a day we celebrate. In fact, today is a monumentally sad day,” Reynolds said in a statement following the conviction. “It was a true team effort, and I believe justice was served today on behalf of young Cooper Harris.”

• Read More: A Father's Mistake or Murder

‘What Have I Done’

At 8:30 a.m. on June 18, 2014, Harris and his son left the family’s Cobb County condo in a 2011 Hyundai Tucson and drove to a nearby Chick-fil-A, where Harris treated his son to breakfast.

At the restaurant, Harris allegedly texted a woman, who shares her displeasure at being a wife and mother. Police say Harris texted, “'I love my son and all but we both need escapes.” Harris also allegedly told the woman that he missed having time to himself and going out with his friends.

They left the restaurant at 8:55 a.m., with Cooper fastened in his rear-facing car seat in the center of the Tucson’s backseat. Instead of taking his son to his daycare at The Home Depot headquarters, Harris went directly to work at the company’s Treehouse office on Cumberland Parkway. Cooper’s daycare is about 2 miles away.

At 9 a.m., the temperature outside was 78 degrees and fair, as recorded at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Harris, who had worked as a Home Depot web developer for almost two years, went into his office, with Cooper still in his car seat. The Hyundai’s windows were rolled up.

Harris left his office at 4:16 p.m. but not before police say he texted an underage girl shortly before he left work. Harris “sexted” with six different women during the day while his son was dying in his vehicle. One of those alleged texts included a photo of Harris’ penis, sent to a 16-year-old girl.

At 4:23 p.m., Harris turned into an Uncle Maddio’s pizza parking lot on Akers Mill Road and got Cooper out of the car. He told police that it was then, when he was driving home, that he realized the boy was still in the car.

A minute later, witnesses at the shopping center watched Harris as he tried to revive his son. Bystanders started CPR on the boy, while Harris was reportedly frantic and screaming, “What have I done?”

Includes reporting by Tim Darnell and Chris Gaudet