Current:Home > StocksGeorgia father freed from prison 10 years after his toddler died in hot car, leading to murder case -FundPrime
Georgia father freed from prison 10 years after his toddler died in hot car, leading to murder case
View
Date:2025-04-16 06:36:18
MACON, Ga. (AP) — A father from Georgia has been released from prison 10 years after his toddler died in a hot car, a case that made global headlines after prosecutors accused him of murder.
Justin Ross Harris was freed on Sunday — Father’s Day — from the Macon State Prison, Georgia Department of Corrections records show. He began serving his sentence on Dec. 6, 2016.
Harris had moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the Atlanta area for work in 2012. He told police that on the morning of June 18, 2014, he forgot to drop off his 22-month-old son Cooper at day care. Instead, he drove straight to his job as a web developer for The Home Depot and left the child in his car seat, he told investigators.
Cooper died after sitting for about seven hours in the back seat of the Hyundai Tucson SUV outside his father’s office in suburban Atlanta, where temperatures that day reached at least into the high 80s.
At trial, prosecutors put forth a theory that Harris was miserable in his marriage and killed his son so he could be free. They presented evidence of his extramarital sexual activities, including exchanging sexually explicit messages and graphic photos with women and girls and meeting some of them for sex.
Harris was found guilty in November 2016 on eight counts including malice murder. A judge sentenced him to life without parole, as well as 32 more years in prison for other crimes.
But the Georgia Supreme Court voted 6-3 to overturn his murder and child cruelty convictions in June 2022, saying the jury saw evidence that was “extremely and unfairly prejudicial.”
Prosecutors said at the time that he would not face another trial over Cooper’s death. The Cobb County district attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, said in a statement that it disagreed with the majority’s decision. But because of that ruling, prosecutors said crucial evidence about Harris’ motive was no longer available for them to use.
Harris’ lawyers have always maintained that he was a loving father and that the boy’s death was a tragic accident.
Though it dismissed the murder conviction, the state Supreme Court upheld Harris’ convictions on three sex crimes committed against a 16-year-old girl that Harris had not appealed. He continued serving time on those crimes until Sunday, when he was released from prison.
Harris’ case drew an extraordinary amount of attention, making headlines around the world and sparking debates online and on cable news shows. After determining that pretrial publicity had made it too hard to find a fair jury in Cobb County in suburban Atlanta, the presiding judge agreed to relocate the trial to Brunswick on the Georgia coast.
veryGood! (12)
Related
- Highlights from Trump’s interview with Time magazine
- Hamas gunmen open fire on hundreds at music festival in southern Israel
- Simone Biles wins 2 more gold medals at 2023 Gymnastics World Championships
- Lawsuit alleges famous child-trafficking opponent sexually abused women who posed as his wife
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- Mast snaps aboard historic Maine schooner, killing 1 and injuring 3
- Bachelorette's Michelle Young Seemingly Debuts New Romance After Nayte Olukoya Breakup
- 43 Malaysians freed from phone scam syndicate in Peru were young people who arrived a week earlier
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- Russia claims `neo-Nazis’ were at wake for Ukrainian soldier in village struck by missile killing 52
Ranking
- Krispy Kreme offers a free dozen Grinch green doughnuts: When to get the deal
- Beyond X: Twitter's changed a lot under Elon Musk, here are some notable moves
- Free condoms for high school students rejected: California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoes bill
- WEOWNCOIN: Top Five Emerging Companies in the Cryptocurrency Industry That May Potentially Replace Some of the Larger Trading Companies
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- 2 Pakistani soldiers and 5 insurgents are killed in a shootout on the border with Afghanistan
- Biden interviewed as part of special counsel investigation into handling of classified documents
- Afghans still hope to find survivors from quake that killed over 2,000 in western Herat province
Recommendation
Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
How Trump’s MAGA movement helped a 29-year-old activist become a millionaire
Video of traffic stop that led to Atlanta deacon’s death will be released, family’s attorney says
What to know about the Psyche mission, NASA's long-awaited trip to a strange metal asteroid
Retirement planning: 3 crucial moves everyone should make before 2025
Publishing executive found guilty in Tokyo Olympics bribery scandal, but avoids jail time
Indigenous land acknowledgments are everywhere in Arizona. Do they accomplish anything?
Priscilla's Cailee Spaeny Reveals How Magic Helped With Her and Jacob Elordi's Height Difference