TRIAL - Ross Harris #1

arkansasmimi said:

I would tend to agree, just that no one else has noted that (or in their orig reporting)

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If I were on a jury, I would think it's common sense that there would be smell. Unless the defense has a tactic to prove there wasn't smell, I don't think documentation issues with play a huge part. JMO

Hope4More said:

Which, imo, they would have noted, if not in the chaotic and awful minutes of seeing Cooper the baby's dead body and what came next, then afterwards, when each replayed that scene again and again in their minds, each time processing and remembering a few more details.

IMO there is little possibility that anyone who was within a few feet of that car, much less inside it, could possibly have not noticed the totally unique and extremely strong smell of decomp, even if they didn't know immediately what label to put on it.

This is one of the points I believe is most hinky about LE's account. (Expecting stones to be thrown here, but....) IMO the "smell of death" is a detail LE likely added after the fact to bolster their case of malice murder.

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Sorry, Hope4More but the Websleuth software only allows me to "Thanks" once per post. Wish I could double-dip on this post

blue22 said:

If I were on a jury, I would think it's common sense that there would be smell. Unless the defense has a tactic to prove there wasn't smell, I don't think documentation issues with play a huge part. JMO

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I guess my question about decomp odor would be the "time" factor. How long after death does it take for the horrible smell to become noticeable? Not to mention that, with a toddler in diapers, urine and/or feces would probably be excreted during the death process.

BetteDavisEyes said:

I guess my question about decomp odor would be the "time" factor. How long after death does it take for the horrible smell to become noticeable? Not to mention that, with a toddler in diapers, urine and/or feces would probably be excreted during the death process.

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These will be points that are very important to both sides, IMO especially the defense.

Showing photos of vehicle at crime scene inspection.

Photograph from the front of the car, you can see the seat. From the driver side, you can see the seat.

1:59 p.m. State calls [today's] last witness, Carey Grimstead, to the stand. Grimstead is a detective at the Cobb County Police Department.

2:03 p.m. Grimstead explains how 3D crime scene mapping works. Grimstead says they are always actively trying to improve their technology.

2:12 p.m. Grimstead testified that when he looked into the car where Cooper Harris' body was found there was a sickly sweat smell. "It's an odor that I normally associate with death," Grimstead said. "It's a sickly sweat smell."

2:15 p.m. Grimstead says his role was executing a search warrant on Harris' car.

2:19 p.m. From the exterior of the drivers side of the vehicle, Grimstead says you can clearly see the child safety seat through the windshield.

2:26 p.m. "I could see a computer bag, a Home Depot bag in the passenger seat and a child safety seat with my naked eye as I was I opened the driver's door," Grimstead stated.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/ross-harr...nute-day-4-of-the-ross-harris-trial/456365088

Jen's Trial Diaries ‏@TrialDiariesJ 2m2 minutes ago
If he grabbed his computer bag when going to work he saw the car seat...it's clear as day in pictures.

Ross Harris Trial ‏@RossHarrisTrial 1m1 minute ago
Grimstead says Home Depot receipt found in Harris' car shows light bulbs were purchased June 18, 2014 at 12:35 pm

JerseyGirl said:

10:26 a.m. Redmon, who was the general manager of the store, says he was familiar with Harris from his visits to Chick-fil-A. He considered Harris a regular there. He says he had met Harris about a dozen times in the past year.

10:30 a.m. Redmon says he said hello to Harris and Cooper that morning when they walked up to the register. He says he had never met Cooper before so he asked Harris about him. Harris said his name was Cooper and Redmon said, 'Hey Coop,' before continuing with his work.
Redmon says he had a quick interaction with Harris at Chick-fil-A the morning of his son's death. #HotCarDeath pic.twitter.com/czKFQAz9pw — Ross Harris Trial (@RossHarrisTrial) October 12, 2016

10:36 a.m. Redmon says Harris, who usually appeared clean shaven, had a bit of a 5 o'clock shadow that day, something he called "unusual." Says he didn't notice anything else out of the ordinary.

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/ross-harr...nute-day-4-of-the-ross-harris-trial/456365088

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I wonder if this is the first and only time RH took CH into Chick-fil-A instead of the drive through?

:happydance: Finally got two screens opened! Since we started using Edge browser, I hadn't experimented with having more than one window open and wasn't sure how it would work.

These pictures are really bad for he defense, IMO. Really, really bad. If you cant' watch the live feed, I encourage you to go back and watch this testimony. This guy is a very good witness for the state, so far. Interested to see how the defense will cross.

Noticed the prosecutor has noted the crime scene investigator's height several times. He is 6 feet tall. Do we know how toll RH is? Are they of similar heights?

JerseyGirl said:

I wonder if this is the first and only time RH took CH into Chick-fil-A instead of the drive through?

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Redmon testified he recognized Harris, estimating he had witnessed him in the restaurant around a dozen times. That morning was the first time he had seen him with Cooper, he said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/breaking-ne...death-ross-harris-suv/k9xzfCdWGUOJt6gaGz5fFL/

Hope4More said:

IMO the defense is making a strong case that LE mishandled the initial "crime" scene; for possible collusion (for lack of a more neutral term) between responding/reporting LE; for an unsupported assumption from the get go of RH's guilt, and that witness accounts seem to have been tailored after the fact to support LE's assertions about RH's behavior.

If LE's conduct was the subject of this trial, imo an impartial jury would be hung or would vote to convict. Sadly for RH, no matter how successfully the defense destroys LE's credibility (if it does), this isn't a whodunnit or any other kind of case in which LE's conduct is integral to disproving (at least) some of the charges against RH.

What the defense must understandably be most concerned about refuting is the State's charge of malice murder, and imo, impeaching LE's narrative about RH's behavior, etc. contributes to that goal.

That said, nothing LE did or said changes the indisputable fact that Ross Harris is responsible for leaving Cooper, his barely a toddler son, in a hot car for 7 hours, to die a terrible death. IMO, the felony charge of 2nd degree cruelty to children is unaffected by anything the defense has or can do to destroy the credibility of LE.

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I still think there is a big problem with the felony murder charge, which relies on 2nd degree cruelty to children. I do not think they will be able to prove cruelty to children because it requires criminal negligence - and that requires gross negligence - they would essentially have to prove that Ross knew Cooper was in the car and left him there all day, disregarding the risk of serious injury or death.

Have you listened to the AJC Breakdown podcast? They have a defense attorney and a prosecutor talking about this charge, and it sheds some light on this IMO

Note the "Little Aprons" sticker on the windshield.

blue22 said:

If I were on a jury, I would think it's common sense that there would be smell. Unless the defense has a tactic to prove there wasn't smell, I don't think documentation issues with play a huge part. JMO

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I think there is already enough reasonable doubt about the smell and the state's theory that there's no way Ross did not notice the smell for 2 miles. There have been a number of witnesses who said there was no smell, including one of the police on the scene who actually went in the car. If other witnesses didn't smell a strong decamp smell, you can't logically conclude that Ross MUST have smelled strong decomp smell.

Cathy ‏@courtchatter 14s14 seconds ago
#RossHarris - Many in our chat room who were on the fence in this trial are now leaning Guilty after seeing details of inside SUV.

The Daily Mail put up images of RH and CH in Chik-Fil-A:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...dad-Ross-Harris-spent-day-working-office.html

Here's one:

Seeing that picture is so sad.

Richard Elliot ‏@RElliotWSB [video=twitter;786277144565612544]https://twitter.com/RElliotWSB/status/786277144565612544[/video]
Video of the inside of Ross Harris' SUV including shots of the child safety seat in the back.

Richard Elliot ‏@RElliotWSB [video=twitter;786277761518362624]https://twitter.com/RElliotWSB/status/786277761518362624[/video]
Police video of Cooper Harris' car seat in the back of Ross Harris' SUV.

Paramedic Peyton Barwick told jurors he saw no emotion from Harris while questioning the dad as he sat in the rear of a patrol car. Barwick needed information about his son for his report and noted that Harris seemed 'very dry and emotionless'. 'He told me he ate breakfast about 8:45 and arrived at work at 9. He rolled up the windows and locked the car,' before walking into his office,' Barwick said. 'Harris asked, "Is he dead?" I said, "Yes sir, he is deceased",' Barwick testified. 'There were no tears.'

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Cobb Police Capt James Ferrell told jurors he arrived on the scene and crawled close to Cooper as he lay on the ground to examine the body. He noticed a distinct odor, describing it as 'a combination of sweat, a diaper and something that's deceased'. Ferrell said he noticed the same smell inside the SUV, 'a unique odor of death'. 'It was an odor I only associate with death,' he added. He told jurors he noticed the odor from the open driver's door frame as well as from the child's body on the ground. 'Gases that permeate from a dead body,' he told the jury.

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The Cobb County Police crime scene technician Brad Shumpert also described the graphic pictures and videos that showed the young boy's body on the asphalt outside his father's silver SUV.

Shumpert's graphic images showed Cooper's legs that seemed frozen in a bent position from sitting in a car seat inside the hot and locked car, the result of rigor mortis that had set in.

Cooper's eyes were open. His face showed the scratches from his attempts to claw his way out of the car seat as he slowly baked to his death for more than seven hours while his father worked.

Shumpert's pictures also documented the interior of the SUV and showed the proximity of Cooper's red and black car seat, only inches behind and to the side of the driver's seat. One image also showed an outside temperature indicator on the dashboard at the time, which showed 95 degrees at the time he made the pictures. Temperatures inside the car were estimated to have reached 120 degrees, according to medical examiner reports.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...dad-Ross-Harris-spent-day-working-office.html