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BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Jury selection in the Ross Harris murder trial finally made some progress Wednesday as 17 potential jurors moved on to the next round in the jury selection process and were asked to return October 3. Judge Mary Staley Clark said they will need between 42 and 45 potential jurors in the pool before they move on to seating the final jury.
While some progress was made on Wednesday, the fourth day of jury selection continued to be uncomfortable for some potential jurors, with one even indicating being nervous in court. Prosecutors have been running down a list of questions, establishing if any potential jurors had preconceived opinions on the case. Some of those questions included whether or not potential jurors are familiar with Cobb County, Georgia and more specifically, Home Depot headquarters in Cobb and the Akers Mill shopping center.
Wednesday morning, Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore got more personal, with questions such as “have you ever been cheated on?” The defense also wanted to know if potential jurors were familiar with the hit Netflix docu-series Making a Murderer or TV classic Law and Order.
Thursday, the potential jurors were asked a series of questions about their own criminal record and if their experiences with the law would influence their ability to come to a fair decision. Some indicated that they have felt like they have been mistreated by the criminal justice system in the past. Attorney Kilgore said he would privately speak with those people for confidentiality purposes.
Attorneys have also asked potential jurors this week whether they looked at pornography online or if they had ever been responsible for taking a child to or from daycare.
Harris, 35, is charged with murder in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper, who was found dead in the back seat of Harris's hot SUV.
Wednesday, Maddox asked a serious of questions regarding potential jurors' familiarity with car seats and forgetful behavior. Some of the questions included, “did you do any research before buying a car seat” and, “do you know anyone who has ever forgotten their purse in the backseat of their car?”
The Ross Harris murder case originally was supposed to go to trial in Cobb County in April of this year, but after three weeks of jury selection, the judge approved the defense's request to move the trial out of the county because of pretrial publicity, eventually settling on the coastal city of Brunswick.
Nearly 300 miles from Cobb County, Judge Mary Staley Clark began the second day of the estimated two-week long jury selection around 9 a.m. Despite the long-distance relocation of the trial, most potential jurors questioned by the judge said they not only had heard about the case against Harris, but had also formed opinions about his guilt or innocence.
Just over 300 jurors reported to court Monday and, so far, 50 to 70 have been dismissed. One man was dismissed Wednesday for cause after prosecutors said he had an odor of marijuana and had been asleep 60 to 70 percent of the time.
Those who will remain in the pool for possible inclusion on the final jury include a father-to-be who said he expects his child to be born this week, a man whose daughter is getting married this weekend in Virginia, and a doctor who works in the emergency room of a rural hospital that typically has just one physician working every 12-hour shift.
The judge granted each of those possible jurors time to attend to affairs away from the courthouse. But they were all ordered to return before a final jury gets seated.Harris, who moved to Georgia in 2012 from Alabama, is charged with murder. Prosecutors believe he intentionally left his son to die at a time when Harris was unhappy in his marriage and looking for relationships with other women. Defense attorneys say the death was a tragic accident.