Trial - Ross Harris #3

PaperDoll said:

I don't think many parents are going to tell others they don't love their child. I think he did love Cooper but I also think he loved himself more and Cooper became a hindrance to his lifestyle. JMO of course

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I am thinking of all the daycare workers who would see them everyday. He would come in extra to see Cooper many times, not just once or twice. My concern is about the car seat, whether he recently changed to the rear facing or did he have that one all along? I haven't gotten to anything about that yet in the trial. Bad character traits and weird reactions to his son's death is not enough to find someone guilty of first degree. I would find him guilty of manslaughter so far.

Evidence admitted into court supporting the prosecution's case JRH premeditated Cooper's murder:

1. Physical dimensions of the crime scene: The car was a small SUV and the car seat was snugly positioned right between the driver and passenger seats. Cooper would have been mere inches from JRH's shoulder (if that), and JRH was certainly tall enough see over the top and sides of the car seat even when merely glancing to the right. The car seat Cooper was riding in was too small for him, and Cooper's head would be clearly visible at the top of the car seat.

2. Cooper's behavior and disposition: All of Cooper's teachers testified that Cooper was a very outgoing and talkative child. Footage at Chik-Fil-A shows Cooper as very alert, active, and squirming around so much that JRH kept having to switch sides when holding him. Cooper was almost two years old, and at that age was unlikely to have fallen asleep or stayed quiet in the very short ride from Chik-Fil-A to the Treehouse.

3. The timing: JRH could remember Cooper after a 20 minute car ride from home to Chik-Fil-A, but claims to have forgotten Cooper after a mere 3-6 minute drive to the Treehouse, and this was after JRH had been holding Cooper in his arms, strapping him into his car seat, telling Cooper he loved him, and hearing Cooper say "school."

4. The texts: At around the time JRH shut Cooper in the car for the last time, he was having a conversation with a woman he didn't know about "taking a break" from his family. He texts "I love my son and all but we all need escapes." When the woman said she needed a break from love he responded "Agreed. We both need that."

5. The lightbulbs and other odd things: JRH did not want to go to lunch unless someone else was driving. JRH claimed he wanted to leave work to get to the movies on time. JRH agreed to go out to lunch with his friends, and then took an even longer car ride to Home Depot where he picked up light bulbs. He asked friends to drop him off at his car. He opened the car door and tossed the light bulbs in. While walking back in to work, he paused when another pedestrian was walking behind his car. When leaving work, he was walking in small faltering steps. On the way out, he shared his afternoon plans with the Home Depot security door greeter, something he had never done before in his employment there.

6. Behavior after work: JRH squealed his tires into a shopping center complex and started yelling and freaking out. Eyewitnesses at the scene, including LE have all testified that they agree that there is a range of responses that parents show when finding out that their child is dead, but that JRH's behavior fell outside of that. They testified in different ways that his behavior appeared forced and unusual. Other witnesses such as Smith and JM testify that JRH has had a history of exhaggeration before. JRH only acts out loudly when being put into custody by LE, but changes to sobbing and grief when talking about being officially charged with child cruelty (shows concern for his reputation, his job, pretty much everything other than his firstborn son).

Putting aside JRH's series of sordid and disturbing activities with teenagers, there's enough evidence from the day Cooper died to logically conclude that JRH intentionally left him in the car. I haven't even listed every incriminating detail, either.

From where I'm sitting, in order to believe JRH is innocent I would have to ignore the laws of physics, abandon the same logic and reason I would apply to other suspects, and create an entirely different version of reality just for JRH to conclude he didn't do this.

This is how much Ross 'loved' his son. The night before his tragic death, the son was laying next to his dad in the bed. And Dad stayed awake until around 3 am, sexting women. When his son woke up around 5 am, Ross resumed his sexting habit. And throughout the morning, and throughout all of his 'father/son' quality time before work, he continued to message random women instead.

So although everyone keeps attesting to this great love he had for his son, I have my doubts. He may have bragged about him, spoken about him adoringly, taken pix of him, posted about him etc. But when it came time for him to be there for his boy and spend time together,he did not seem all that interested. As he said, moments before he 'forgot about him' ---" I love my son and all, but we both need escapes."

colette said:

I am thinking of all the daycare workers who would see them everyday. He would come in extra to see Cooper many times, not just once or twice. My concern is about the car seat, whether he recently changed to the rear facing or did he have that one all along? I haven't gotten to anything about that yet in the trial. Bad character traits and weird reactions to his son's death is not enough to find someone guilty of first degree. I would find him guilty of manslaughter so far.

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From what I gathered from the interview with LE, the rear facing seat was the original seat (the smaller one). They bought another one but Leanna had it in her car (larger one), can't remember if it too was rear facing, may have been :waitasec:

just the facts pls said:

That's a good question.

To be clear, LH is not a suspect to LE in as far as Cooper's death is concerned. However according to Cobb County Court records, it was only about two and a half months after Cooper's death that LE had enough evidence to charge JRH with murder.

Interesting fact: LH filed for divorce from JRH only two months before the original jury selection was set to begin April 11 2016. The divorce filing was February 11 2016 according to Cobb County Court records, reported by media February 12 2016 by media outlets:

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/hot-car-death-dads-pending-divorce-unlikely-to-imp/nqNx6/

The divorce was finalized March 28 2016 per Cobb County Court records, reported on March 30 2016:

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/wife-of-man-in-hot-car-death-finalizes-divorce-pre/nqwbK/

Why did she stay married to JRH for so long after Cooper died, and why did she wait until the eleventh hour before his trial to finally file for divorce? Hopefully these questions will be answered when LH takes the stand.

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Maybe she was trying to legally financially drain him via any separation money that he was entitled to from his job.

Or maybe she was draining the joint accounts to pay bills. Idk. But good question though.

katydid23 said:

This is how much Ross 'loved' his son. The night before his tragic death, the son was laying next to his dad in the bed. And Dad stayed awake until around 3 am, sexting women. When his son woke up around 5 am, Ross resumed his sexting habit. And throughout the morning, and throughout all of his 'father/son' quality time before work, he continued to message random women instead.

So although everyone keeps attesting to this great love he had for his son, I have my doubts. He may have bragged about him, spoken about him adoringly, taken pix of him, posted about him etc. But when it came time for him to be there for his boy and spend time together,he did not seem all that interested. As he said, moments before he 'forgot about him' ---" I love my son and all, but we both need escapes."

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I believe Ross was able to put on the "family" act around others, but they certainly didn't know the other side of him AND they also didn't know how he acted with Cooper when they were alone. I'm sure there was a part of him that loved his son but I also believe Cooper got in the way of his other life that I think he really wanted.

colette said:

I am thinking of all the daycare workers who would see them everyday. He would come in extra to see Cooper many times, not just once or twice. My concern is about the car seat, whether he recently changed to the rear facing or did he have that one all along? I haven't gotten to anything about that yet in the trial. Bad character traits and weird reactions to his son's death is not enough to find someone guilty of first degree. I would find him guilty of manslaughter so far.

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Yes, I used to believe that bolded portion above, meant that he loved seeing Cooper during the day. But after hearing that he was texting 5 or 6 women that day Cooper died, I now have a different theory for why he loved going to the day care. I think he liked the female attention he received for being such a 'great dad.'

If he really loved spending time with Cooper, then he would have spent quality time with him the morning he died. But while he sat at the tiny breakfast table at CFA, with his son, he was pursuing his WHISPER app, hoping to set up sexual trysts with random strangers. So it is hard of me to take seriously the notion that he loved his son so much that he went there during the work day. I amy be wrong but it feels kind of correct.

PaperDoll said:

From what I gathered from the interview with LE, the rear facing seat was the original seat (the smaller one). They bought another one but Leanna had it in her car (larger one), can't remember if it too was rear facing, may have been :waitasec:

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Hi, from what I know they had two car seats - the infant car seat and the forward facing car seat. For some reason, two weeks before Cooper died the car seats were switched where the infant car seat was installed into JRH's vehicle. This has never made sense to me since JRH was the one who took Cooper to day care most of the time. Wouldn't it be easier to keep the forward facing one in JRH's car full time or just buy a new car seat all together?

Coincidence of timing: around the same time the car seats were switched, JRH stopped taking pictures of Cooper on his phone when he took him to day care. JRH said Cooper was too old for pictures but was still putting him in an infant car seat. Yet more behavior in this case that simply does not make sense.

I thought I heard that Leanna got advice (attorney maybe?) to not divorce Ross until things settled, I could be wrong on this. So much to remember :crazy:

just the facts pls said:

That's a good question.

To be clear, LH is not a suspect to LE in as far as Cooper's death is concerned. However according to Cobb County Court records, it was only about two and a half months after Cooper's death that LE had enough evidence to charge JRH with murder.

Interesting fact: LH filed for divorce from JRH only two months before the original jury selection was set to begin April 11 2016. The divorce filing was February 11 2016 according to Cobb County Court records, reported by media February 12 2016 by media outlets:

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/hot-car-death-dads-pending-divorce-unlikely-to-imp/nqNx6/

The divorce was finalized March 28 2016 per Cobb County Court records, reported on March 30 2016:

http://www.myajc.com/news/news/crime-law/wife-of-man-in-hot-car-death-finalizes-divorce-pre/nqwbK/

Why did she stay married to JRH for so long after Cooper died, and why did she wait until the eleventh hour before his trial to finally file for divorce? Hopefully these questions will be answered when LH takes the stand.

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I think there is a very legal reason why she divorced him and I truly believe they still communicate...and in their own very strange world intend to have another child.

DexterMorgan said:

Maybe she was trying to legally financially drain him via any separation money that he was entitled to from his job.

Or maybe she was draining the joint accounts to pay bills. Idk. But good question though.

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Hi... no this is not the case at all. I got nosy and snooped in their divorce records and the only thing she requested was the car that I would assume she had been making payments on. The Hyundai would remain JRH's car. The rest of the property was settled according to what each party already had in their possession. Even the debt accrued within the marriage was split by whomever name was on the account.

just the facts pls said:

Hi, from what I know they had two car seats - the infant car seat and the forward facing car seat. For some reason, two weeks before Cooper died the car seats were switched where the infant car seat was installed into JRH's vehicle. This has never made sense to me since JRH was the one who took Cooper to day care most of the time. Wouldn't it be easier to keep the forward facing one in JRH's car full time or just buy a new car seat all together?

Coincidence of timing: around the same time the car seats were switched, JRH stopped taking pictures of Cooper on his phone when he took him to day care. JRH said Cooper was too old for pictures but was still putting him in an infant car seat. Yet more behavior in this case that simply does not make sense.

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The reason Ross gave LE regarding the car seat in his car, was Leanna needed the bigger one for she was taking Cooper (work related) for a week and the seat was more comfortable for him. They just didn't bother to switch it out.

All these things on their own are not a wow factor to me, but when everything else pieces together it makes one wonder??? But I believe he's guilty on all accounts just by leaving CFA and less than a minute he forgets... UGH!

GA_Peach said:

I just timed it - 27 seconds from the Treehouse to the intersection by CFA. It was an additional 8 seconds (once the light turned green) from tbe intersection to CFA. I tried to video the drive but will see how it turned out. Hopefully I can upload video tonight.

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I so wish the jury could do that trip themselves...to me it is a smoking gun. maybe they will do a video.

matou said:

RH was on androgel and injections for years according to his wife (youtube video response). The fact they had a baby at all was lucky IMO. I wonder if the medications increased his sex drive and whether he had been messing around for a lot longer than the phone records show, like 6-7 years ago.

[video=youtube;17mdhICUqVQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mdhICUqVQ[/video]

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Here are the side effects AndroGel:
https://www.drugs.com/sfx/androgel-side-effects.html

katydid23 said:

Yes, I used to believe that bolded portion above, meant that he loved seeing Cooper during the day. But after hearing that he was texting 5 or 6 women that day Cooper died, I now have a different theory for why he loved going to the day care. I think he liked the female attention he received for being such a 'great dad.'

If he really loved spending time with Cooper, then he would have spent quality time with him the morning he died. But while he sat at the tiny breakfast table at CFA, with his son, he was pursuing his WHISPER app, hoping to set up sexual trysts with random strangers. So it is hard of me to take seriously the notion that he loved his son so much that he went there during the work day. I amy be wrong but it feels kind of correct.

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If I remember correctly - I would have to rewatch to confirm - didn't he tell LH how he and Cooper had enjoyed themselves so much at CFA that morning? What a great time they had together! I guess he means in between the ladies he was messaging....




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turaj said:

I so wish the jury could do that trip themselves...to me it is a smoking gun. maybe they will do a video.

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I also wish the jury could get inside the same type vehicle with the same type Car seat with same size doll in the seat. I think that would be enlightening.


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turaj said:

I think there is a very legal reason why she divorced him and I truly believe they still communicate...and in their own very strange world intend to have another child.

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Hi, I agree there had to be a reason she divorced JRH right before the trial was set to begin. It doesn't surprise me that they were talking about having more kids. I know from studying phenomenon in adoption, it is not unusual for birth mothers to have another child shortly after giving one up for adoption. Grief from the loss of a child can result in people having more children.

Although, just knowing what I know of JRH, I doubt that wanting to have another child would last for very long for him. I do not take what he is saying at the moment to be what he would actually do in the future. I think in right then, being under arrest and seeing his life falling a part, he said a lot of things that reflected his temporary feelings. However, if the police had dropped the charges I'm sure JRH would have been back texting and sexting in no time, and probably with the young woman he fell in love with.

I found the interview tapes to be most instructive. If you are reading here, interested in the trial, and have not watched them yet - I highly recommend taking the time.

One thing that I noticed over and over again was his over explaining things and asking questions of law enforcement. Ex: during the discussion of the car seat, he asks the detective, "Do you have kids? Right then you know blah, blah, blah...." I can't explain other than to say it sounds too flippant and casual for the life-changing, horrific circumstance he found himself in. Someone who is distraught to the point of screaming, pulling on their hair, asking why, why, why cannot (in my opinion) turn on a dime and talk in a chit-chat manner as he was doing.

As for the officers on the scene -I would want their first,over-riding motivation to be whatever it takes for Cooper to have justice. Who else is going to do that for him? Would you be ok with letting JRH just go home with LH and tell him to be more careful with their next baby? It was a horrible, horrible scene, a weird acting father, puzzle pieces that didn't fit... and then the "other women" element.

I will say, regardless of the jury's ruling and the judge's sentence, I am grateful that he was arrested and that for Cooper's sake, this was looked at with great scrutiny. It's the very least he deserves ( imho.)

katydid23 said:

Yes, I used to believe that bolded portion above, meant that he loved seeing Cooper during the day. But after hearing that he was texting 5 or 6 women that day Cooper died, I now have a different theory for why he loved going to the day care. I think he liked the female attention he received for being such a 'great dad.'

If he really loved spending time with Cooper, then he would have spent quality time with him the morning he died. But while he sat at the tiny breakfast table at CFA, with his son, he was pursuing his WHISPER app, hoping to set up sexual trysts with random strangers. So it is hard of me to take seriously the notion that he loved his son so much that he went there during the work day. I amy be wrong but it feels kind of correct.

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To add to this thought, about WHY Ross would often go visit Cooper at day care---I do have to wonder if he was trying to flirt with the day care employees.

If I found out that women from my kids preschool were calling my husband's cell, and asking him to pick up breakfast for them that morning,on his way to drop off, I'd be a bit miffed. That is kind of a close personal connection that I wouldn't expect someone to have with him, unless we were all very close friends. I can't really imagine a situation where I'd expect someone to do that. So it seems to me that he got pretty close and personal with some of the ladies.

PaperDoll said:

From what I gathered from the interview with LE, the rear facing seat was the original seat (the smaller one). They bought another one but Leanna had it in her car (larger one), can't remember if it too was rear facing, may have been :waitasec:

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I think the new one was front-facing and had been in Ross' car but was switched out for the old one just prior to Cooper's death. Here's a photo of him in the Chicco Keyfit 30:


http://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/i-team/121080400-story

There's no indication of Cooper's age at the time of the photo.

ETA: What a little cutie he was. :tears: