BRUNSWICK, Ga. - Judge Mary Staley Clark told jurors their safety was her top priority.
Governor Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency for 30 Georgia counties including Glynn County, where the trial was moved. The judge canceled court Thursday and Friday out of an abundance of caution.
Prosecutors called new witnesses Wednesday in the murder trial of Ross Harris, a Cobb County father accused of killing his 22-month-old son, Cooper, by leaving him inside a sweltering SUV to die in June 2014.
The fourth witness, Cobb County Police Department's Brad Shumpert, a crime scene detective, took pictures of the scene that day. Those pictures including graphic photos of little Cooper as rigor mortis was setting in.
Harris buried his head in his hands and appeared to cry. Several of the jurors closed their eyes as well.
The state called a string of witnesses who observed Harris behavior on the scene. Some described it as odd and insincere, while others said he appeared to be distraught.
App users: Click here to watch the YouTube clip
Tuesday, the prosecution called three witnesses after defense attorneys gave opening statements.
Cobb County detective Jacquelyn Piper was the first responding officer on the scene and the first person to testify. She told jurors Harris used profanity when addressing another officer and was constantly on the phone right after little Cooper died.
Detective Piper says Harris was yelling and his so called screams of distress seemed forced.
Jurors also heard from James Hawkins and Anthony Pantano who were working in the area and heard Harris yelling.
Hawkins and Pantano tried to perform CPR on Cooper. Hawkins, broke down when he thought about Cooper's body on the asphalt.
"He was pale yellow, his eyes were blood-red, his tongue was sticking out and his hands were clenched," the Kennesaw man sobbed.
Defense Attorney Maddox Kilgore told jurors Harris was responsible for Cooper's death, but he insisted the death was an accident. Kilgore conceded Harris has a flawed character and was a cheating husband.
"You are going to hear a lot of bad things about Ross and he earned every bit of the shame, but his sex life, no matter how vulgar, is unrelated to this death," Kilgore told jurors.
The defense attorney called Cooper's death the biggest mistake of Harris' life. Mr. Kilgore also took aim at Cobb County police, saying they lied under oath when they claimed Harris searched for hot car deaths and had no emotion at the scene.
App users: Click here to watch the YouTube clip
Harris broke down in tears in court as the defense described the day Cooper died.
The defense concluded their 1:20 presentation saying that Leanna Harris, the person who should hate Harris the most, will be a star witness for the defense.
"He cheated on her, humiliated her, and is responsible for the death of her only child, but she will come in here and tell you this was an accident. Police got it wrong." Kilgore concluded.
On Monday, opening statements began in the afternoon with prosecutors laying out their case against Harris, stating he wanted to escape his role as a husband and father.
Prosecutor Chuck Boring told jurors this case is about death, deception and the double life that Ross Harris was leading. Attorney Boring told the six women and six men from Glynn County that Harris communicated with 30 people while his son was dying in his SUV in the Home Depot tree house parking lot.
"Not only was he dealing with underage girls and teenage girls, but prostitutes," prosecutor Boring told the court.
The 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.