Trial - Ross Harris #5

[SuperTmo]

Ugh I have so much to do but can't tear myself away

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

I had to stop listening and get my kid up and ready for school. I'm not ashamed to admit that I considered letting her be tardy today so I could keep watching. :laughing:

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

At the risk of repeating myself yet again, I simply don't like Ross or Leanna. They are just not likeable people. Hard for me to garner sympathy for either of these self-absorbed "parents". :moo:

 

[JerseyGirl]

On the day of Cooper's death, Taylor says she was working in Conyers. She says she and Harris discussed his plans to go to a movie that afternoon and agreed that she would be the one to pick up Cooper from daycare.

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore shows her an exhibit -- a printout of text messages between her and Harris. It said:

"Get to work OK?"
"Yup yup."

"We're going to go to an early movie, so I should be home close to 7.

(I responded about an hour and half later) "OK."

At 3:16 p.m., he texted: 'When are you getting my buddy?"

"He referred to Cooper a lot as his little buddy. We both did, but I think Ross used it more often than I did. I probably picked it up from him,.

Kilgore: You showed up at Little Aprons. Do you remember what time it was?

I really don't. Probably sometime between 4:30 and 5. I think Ieft Conyers about 4, and it would have taken me about 50 mimutes to get there.

Kilgore: What happened when you got there?

I walked into daycare just like any other day. They have a computer system you used to check the child in and out. I checked him out, but he hadn't been checked in for the day. That had happened before, so I didn't think anything of it.

The teacher looked at me and said, "What are you doing here?"
I said, "I'm here to get Cooper."
She said, "Cooper's not here."

I didn't understand. I thought she was joking. I even said, "Are you joking?" and kept looking around for him.

She said, "He didn't come today."

I just went into a panic. I didn't know what to do. I left the room and ran down to the front desk. They're telling me Cooper wasn't checked in today. Where's Cooper I can't find Cooper. I don't remember the exact words I said. I was starting to lose my ability to understand what was going on. I was -- it didn't make sense.

Ross must've left him in the car. That was the only thing that made sense. The only thing that clicked in my mind as a remote possibility. She begins weeping. He was never checked in.

They tried to get me to stay. I said, I'm not staying anywhere. I need to find my son and I need to find my husband.

A daycare worker joined her to drive over to the Treehouse, Harris's office building where he worked in IT for Home Depot.

She said she was calling Ross every two or three minutes and believed that ultimately he would answer and explain everything

 

[Magdalyn]

Cognitive dissonance is painful. Confirmation bias isn't. All that matters is what the jury thinks.

If the third sentence here is about the jurors, are the first two sentences snarky commentary on other posters here on the forum to poster you are responding to? Respectfully, isn't that more PM territory?

 

[JerseyGirl]

Taylor says she finally called police. They told her to stay where she was and said they would come to her.

Ultimately, she says:

They told me that my son was deceased. I can't remember exactly. I didn't know what had happened. I didn't know if Ross was OK. I didn't know anything. I just wanted them to tell me what happened. I needed more information . . . It just wasn't real.

Kilgore: Were you aware that conversation was being recorded.

I'm aware now, I wasn't aware then. .... I didn't even recognize myself (on the tape). It was like another person took over my body. It was like I wasn't even there. I didn't understand. It was like it wasn't real.

They just told me this, and I can't even cry, and I didn't understand why. (She is sobbing now. Harris has his head bowed and appears to be weeping as well.)

Police told her they were getting a search warrant for our apartment and asked her for the key, which she turned over. When she arrived home, she says, she wanted to speak to a neighbor -- to someone, anyone she knew. But the police wouldn't let her.

The police then took her to headquarters. They took her through a side door.

"Things get very fuzzy. There are things that stick out in my memory. There are things I've completely lost. They sat me down in a chair ... and said I would get to see Ross and basically sit there."

She had no one with her. "A couple of daycare teachers were in the lobby. She says she asked whether she could be with him. They said no."

The judge calls the midmorning break.

 

[Hope4More]

Maybe between the time that has passed and her faith, it is easier for her to talk about without crying? In addition to that, she might know if she becomes too upset that the pros. or judge could say she is too upset to continue?

I felt like how she described how she was feeling as she was in the daycare and the time just after made sense. I know our brains and bodies do things in emergency situations to protect us. I did notice that there were no actual tear drops tho.

The people who actually know her have all said she is restrained by nature, always has been, and that after appearing at RH's hearing, where she didn't perform as expected and weep, she went into the hallway and collapsed.

Every last bit of today must be sheer hell for her.

 

[JerseyGirl]

She says the only thing that made sense to her, based on what she knew that day, is that her husband must have left her in the car.

Leanna says she tried to call Harris every 2-3 minutes, but never got him on the phone.

Leanna says the news was on in the lobby but she never saw what was on the TV.

Leanna says as she sat there her phone rang and it was a detective. They told her to stay put and they would come to her. "I said, 'It's bad isn't it?' And he said, 'Yeah it's bad.'"

 

[SuperTmo]

I'm now pages behind the reading but wanted to say that I was extremely uncomfortable watching LH discuss the day Cooper died. Maybe I'm a jerk but her crying didn't seem genuine. Did she have actual tears or did her voice just go up several pitches? I was watching on my phone and couldn't see! She is just so odd.

 

[Bc007]

I don't think I will participate here today. I believe her and feel awful. I think she lost everything. Her husband- what she thought she knew of him and her only child. I know people here want someone to pay but to pick on or allude this women's tears are fake feels wrong. I lost my fiancé very suddenly very close to our wedding day. This was years ago. I was in complete shock and had a 45 min drive back to my apartment where my parents would meet me. I had cried Intitially but not as much as one would expect. The whole car ride I sat there in disbelief thinking my phone would ring again and they would tell me they had gotten it wrong. I was in complete shock on and off for weeks. I went into a mode where I tried to care for everyone else around me like his parents, best friends and his brother, but never focused on my own grief. There are parts of days and events that I never got back memory wise. I was there but only as a shell of myself. At the same time there are things I remember vividly. I was invited to go and see him at the funeral home immediately before we sent him home to be buried and I didn't. I wanted his mother to have that. I couldn't bare it after having to deliver the news. I wouldn't then deliver information on his appearance and what type of service to prepare for. Some of the things LH has said on the stand I remember saying and sometimes still say. I went numb. Your brain tries to protect you and shock kicks in. It's not something you know how you would handle until it happens to you San God willing you never will. Something takes over so you can walk and talk and somewhat function.

I don't know who is guilty or of what, but I do know that she is not on trial and feel she deserves respect. I respect everyone here I just don't want to spend the day defending a women who basically lost her entire world. I can not imagine the pain and cost to her mental state this testimony will take. She is brave to do it and that tells me she believes in her heart this was an awful mistake. She may be wrong but I think that is what she believes.

 

[arkansasmimi]

contradicting info r.e. divorce. He stated in texts to other women that he wanted a divorce and she wouldn't leave him. Now she says she would have divorced him.

When did RH say that LH would not leave HIM? TIA never heard that myself. I heard he wouldn't leave her and hurt Cooper.

 

[SuperTmo]

She forgot to mention that the first words out of her mouth were, "He must have left him in the car!"

There she goes, finally, according to her it was the only thing that made sense.

My first thought would have been that somehow our wires got crossed and he misunderstood who was picking up. That would have been the only thing that made sense.

 

[Gardenista]

Kind of behind and just finished watching Leanna. So sad--I feel bad for her. She seems like a great person.

 

[Hope4More]

I'm all the way off the fence. IMO Cooper's death was an accident, and Ross Harris had no idea his baby was in the car until he saw him when making that right hand turned.

The only fog here is the fog of confirmation bias that clouded Stoddard's mind from the first hour of his investigation all the way through his turn on the stand, when he still maintained that RH spoke with during that 6 minute butt dialed call was a mystery to him, and when he didn't even have the decency to stop insinuating Leanna was involved, despite being cleared by LE.

Shameful.

 

[Hope4More]

When did RH say that LH would not leave HIM? TIA never heard that myself. I heard he wouldn't leave her and hurt Cooper.

You didn't hear it because he didn't say it.

 

[watergirl62]

I lost my son 10 years ago and I am still pretty robotic at times. I truly believe its an artifact of PTSD. I have years of practice of pushing away/compartmentalizing the pain. I still will breakdown and cry when I Ieast expect it, but that's grief. Better to remember than forget!!!!

She seems genuine enough to me. I cant believe she put up with him as long as she did.

 

[Beccalynne]

I don't know who is guilty or of what, but I do know that she is not on trial and feel she deserves respect. I respect everyone here I just don't want to spend the day defending a women who basically lost her entire world. I can not imagine the pain and cost to her mental state this testimony will take. She is brave to do it and that tells me she believes in her heart this was an awful mistake. She may be wrong but I think that is what she believes.

RSBM

This is my thought as well, i was crying at my desk watching her testimony.

I am so very sorry for your loss.

 

[Inthedetails]

I am very stoic. I might cry over Hallmark commercials, but in a real-life emergency, I'm calm and collected. I don't cry over personal things - though I've cried over some WS cases -and I rarely, rarely cry where someone could see me. I just don't do it. It's the culture I was raised in - it's admirable and expected to be strong and that includes not crying in emergencies. If you need someone reliable and disconnected in an emergency, you want me around - and I mean disconnected in that I don't wring my hands, but face the situation squarely and handle it.

I can picture myself being calm on the witness stand, and then fall apart privately when I'm alone. Instead of tears and hysterics, I'm more prone to withdraw and be silent, which can be (and has been) misinterpreted in my life as being cold.

I am not watching the case on video and am only going by what I read here, but I can't discount a witness' account due to lack of tears or because her voice is steady.

jmo

 

[Hope4More]

I don't think I will participate here today. I believe her and feel awful. I think she lost everything. Her husband- what she thought she knew of him and her only child. I know people here want someone to pay but to pick on or allude this women's tears are fake feels wrong. I lost my fiancé very suddenly very close to our wedding day. This was years ago. I was in complete shock and had a 45 min drive back to my apartment where my parents would meet me. I had cried Intitially but not as much as one would expect. The whole car ride I sat there in disbelief thinking my phone would ring again and they would tell me they had gotten it wrong. I was in complete shock on and off for weeks. I went into a mode where I tried to care for everyone else around me like his parents, best friends and his brother, but never focused on my own grief. There are parts of days and events that I never got back memory wise. I was there but only as a shell of myself. At the same time there are things I remember vividly. I was invited to go and see him at the funeral home immediately before we sent him home to be buried and I didn't. I wanted his mother to have that. I couldn't bare it after having to deliver the news. I wouldn't then deliver information on his appearance and what type of service to prepare for. Some of the things LH has said on the stand I remember saying and sometimes still say. I went numb. Your brain tries to protect you and shock kicks in. It's not something you know how you would handle until it happens to you San God willing you never will. Something takes over so you can walk and talk and somewhat function.

I don't know who is guilty or of what, but I do know that she is not on trial and feel she deserves respect. I respect everyone here I just don't want to spend the day defending a women who basically lost her entire world. I can not imagine the pain and cost to her mental state this testimony will take. She is brave to do it and that tells me she believes in her heart this was an awful mistake. She may be wrong but I think that is what she believes.

((Bc007))

 

[arkansasmimi]

Quote Originally Posted by arkansasmimi View Post
JMHO lots of other people "never" saw, heard, smelled or thought of either, or even put in a report... yet testified different. Again JMHO from watching testimony, taking notes and rewatching to make sure.

In fairness, none of those people were in the car transporting Cooper.

LH has been significantly more well-spoken than I anticipated. Back to listening...

RBBM, Yep Peach I realize that. I was talking about LEO.

 

[Bc007]

I lost my son 10 years ago and I am still pretty robotic at times. I truly believe its an artifact of PTSD. I have years of practice of pushing away/compartmentalizing the pain. I still will breakdown and cry when I Ieast expect it, but that's grief. Better to remember than forget!!!!

She seems genuine enough to me. I cant believe she put up with him as long as she did.

I'm so sorry for your loss!

Agree! I can repeat everything that he went through that day like I'm emotionally unattached from it. My mother is currently extremely ill and doesn't have long to live. I think I have gotten so practiced over the years that I now do the same thing when people ask me for an update. A lot of people find it strange and constantly ask me if I'm ok and how can I discuss this without crying. Again, I think I'm practiced at separating the information as a form of protection. I break down all the time it's just when I discuss it some other part of me takes over and you would think I'm 100% unaffected by the words coming out of my mouth.