Is there anyone that believes Ross is innocent?

Harry Seaward said:

So you believe he's guilty because he did things that day that he would have done any other day?

And for the record, I'm not convinced this was a horrible accident. Just that he's not guilty of malice/felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt. I think people don't realize there is a difference.

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katydid23 said:

12 jurors heard all the witnesses, saw the evidence offered by both sides, and listened to opening and closing arguments. They saw the totality of the evidence, and found him GUILTY as charged. I think that is important to keep in mind.

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katydid23 said:

12 jurors heard all the witnesses, saw the evidence offered by both sides, and listened to opening and closing arguments. They saw the totality of the evidence, and found him GUILTY as charged. I think that is important to keep in mind.

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caribou_birdie said:

I absolutely do not believe that he couldn't see nor smell his deceased child when he went to the car at lunch time.

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katydid23 said:

12 jurors heard all the witnesses, saw the evidence offered by both sides, and listened to opening and closing arguments. They saw the totality of the evidence, and found him GUILTY as charged. I think that is important to keep in mind.

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crayon said:

Hello - as my introductory post to WS... I wanted to comment on this case. I've been following closely since day 1 when it happened. I have a child who is 3 year old and I'm a single, full time working mom. I used to be one of those "It would never happen to me... who forgets a child in a car?" type of thinkers.

Until last summer I had an incident that shook me and my beliefs about forgetting to my very core.

I have a medical alert service dog. We've been partnered for 4 years and she saves my life every day. She is with me 24/7/365. The only place I wouldn't take her is into an operating room. Otherwise, she is with me by my side 24 hours a day and even went to the hospital with me when I was in labor and gave birth. That's even MORE than a baby. We are PARTNERS. She gets in/out of the car multiple times per day.

Last summer I picked up a friend for lunch. My friend was in a cast and was having a hard time getting in/out of the car. When I got to where we were going there were three spots along the curb to choose from. Two of the spots had a tree or a large trash can blocking the passenger area and the middle spot was free of any obstruction so I picked the middle spot. My friend needed to be able to open the door all the way to get out. I got out of the car and was about to open the back door to put on my dog's service vest and bring her out of the car... Well, this woman in a big SUV didn't like it that we weren't pulling up to the front spot and started having a hissy fit that she would have to parallel park. She came up to me and was screaming and shouting that I was rude, and I need to pull up, etc.. and it was an awful scene for a couple mins. We eventually told her to pound sand and then left to go to the restaurant. We talked about this silly woman, then had lunch. We were in there about an hour and I have to tell you it was a very hot day, around 91 degrees.

It wasn't until I got back in the car and heard panting that I realized I'd left my service dog in the car. The electric shock of realization that went through me was something I'll never forget. I have tinted windows in the back and of course the windows were all the way up. My god, I didn't even think about her ONE TIME. I didn't even think of her as I was getting back TO the car. I was so upset with the lady yelling at us, then we had lunch and... it just slipped my mind.

But here's the thing -- It slipped my mind when I had my HAND ON THE DOOR to open it about 10 seconds before! That's how fast it happened.

I quickly got my dog some water and some shade. I let her back in the car once the air conditioning made the car cool. And luckily she didn't suffer any ill effects. My dog was OK, but jesus, I could have killed her.

This is a dog that's by my side at ALL times: Trains, planes, automobiles, labor & Delivery, restaurants, theatre, concerts, movies, you name it! This is a dog that I take in and out of the car multiple times per day. This is a dog I NEED to keep me safe and alive.

And yet I forgot her. How could I have done that? I've thought it over and played it over in my head about a million times.

I was distracted by this awful, screaming woman in my face and worried about getting friend out of the car in her cast and I simply forgot my service dog. Never thought about her a single time while we ate on that very hot day. What kind of person does that?

I'm the kind of person, apparently.

It still haunts me what I did - because even if she suffered no long term effects, it was animal cruelty.

My point is that, until it happens to you, it's very difficult to believe in or understand the "Swiss Cheese" memory thing that happens. It's a brain fart, not a deliberate act. No one wants to believe it could happen to them so it's so much more comforting to think THEY are just bad people. Those OTHER people are bad/evil/bad parents/whatever, NOT ME. That's exactly how I thought until this happened to me.

Anyway, I don't presume to know if he is innocent or not, only he knows what was in his heart that day, but I do now understand how it could happen - even when the drive was just a few minutes long.

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Harry Seaward said:

There is no evidence he looked in the car. There is no evidence there was a smell when he went to the car at lunch. In fact, the coroner testified that there could have been no smell of "death" since decomposition doesn't happen until several hours after death.

There was a big deal made about the soiled diaper. I have kids. That's not an unusual smell at all to a parent of small kids. If someone not used to that smell walks up to a car with that smell in it, it's going to be noticeable. Otherwise I could see myself thinking, as I was rushing off to go see a movie with some friends, "geez, did I leave a dirty diaper in here?"

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caribou_birdie said:

Not buying it. No way he didn't see into the car. No way he didn't smell something out of the ordinary.

I have my opinions, as you have yours. The jury has already made the decision. I believe they got it right, you believe they got it wrong. We can leave it at that.

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fedfan4life said:

Folks, this man drove his car w/a dead child in it who passed due to heat exposure. It is IMPOSSIBLE that he did not do this intentionally.

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Harry Seaward said:

And yet here's a guy with very similar circumstances that didn't do it intentionally.
http://www.fox16.com/news/local-news/judge-naramore-charged-in-hot-car-death
http://www.arkansasmatters.com/news/local-news/new-info-in-ar-hot-car-death-case

In fact, if "drove the car with a dead child in it" is the standard of guilt, Mr. Naramore is twice as guilty since he drove home with the dead child and didn't discover him until he was back in his car driving again.

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caribou_birdie said:

I know he didn't try to erase anything. He knew those things would make him look distracted, he wanted a jury to think exactly as everyone else does that believes it was a horrible accident. I am not using any of those things to determine his guilt. Those things don't even matter in this case, in my opinion.

1- He sent his wife a text message asking her when she would be picking up the child. I believe he did this in an attempt to make it look like a normal day.

2- The email from the school he received that he glossed over. Again, like any other normal day.

3- Placing the light bulbs in his car after lunch. Again, like any other day.

Hearing some of the jury members discuss why they chose the guilty verdict solidified it for me.

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fedfan4life said:

Folks, this man drove his car w/a dead child in it who passed due to heat exposure. It is IMPOSSIBLE that he did not do this intentionally.

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Rayemonde said:

There are a lot of cases where the parent has driven around with the dead child withoit realising the child was there. Do you think that all of them are guilty of premeditated murder?

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Harry Seaward said:

That's fine that you don't want to buy it but please understand that I'm not expressing an opinion. I'm using facts presented at the trial to rebut your opinions that appear to be based on gut feelings.

I'm also not clear why you're bringing up the jury's findings of guilt in a thread titled "Is there anyone that believes Ross is innocent?".

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Rayemonde said:

There are a lot of cases where the parent has driven around with the dead child withoit realising the child was there. Do you think that all of them are guilty of premeditated murder?

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caribou_birdie said:

I know he didn't try to erase anything. He knew those things would make him look distracted, he wanted a jury to think exactly as everyone else does that believes it was a horrible accident. I am not using any of those things to determine his guilt. Those things don't even matter in this case, in my opinion.

1- He sent his wife a text message asking her when she would be picking up the child. I believe he did this in an attempt to make it look like a normal day.

2- The email from the school he received that he glossed over. Again, like any other normal day.

3- Placing the light bulbs in his car after lunch. Again, like any other day.

Hearing some of the jury members discuss why they chose the guilty verdict solidified it for me.

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