Harris hot car death trial to move to Brunswick, start Sept. 12
MARIETTA — Cobb prosecutors and defense attorneys for Justin Ross Harris will have about three months to gear up for a move to Brunswick.
Located about 68 miles south of Savannah, the Glynn County city was announced Thursday as the new location of the trial for Harris, the Cobb father accused of murdering his 22-month-old son, Cooper, by intentionally leaving him in his car to die. The trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 12.
The announcement came just two days ahead of the two-year anniversary of Cooper’s death.
Thursday’s announcement also ended more than six weeks of uncertainty that followed Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark’s decision to move the trial. Three weeks after jury selection began, Harris’ attorneys on May 2 requested a change of venue. Staley Clark granted the request, citing in her decision constant media coverage that had led to potential jurors’ “pervasive” knowledge of the case.
Among those who will travel to the new location will be nearly every person involved in the trial, from Staley Clark — who will still preside over the case — to the attorneys on both sides of the case, court administration and staff to accommodate those involved, the lead detectives in the investigation and witnesses who will take the stand.
The Glynn County city, a five-hour drive from Marietta, was the location where another high-profile Cobb case was heard just a few years ago: the 2007 trial of Stacey Ian Humphreys for the 2003 murders of real estate agents Lori Brown and Cynthia Williams in west Cobb. Humphreys was convicted and is on death row.
Another city court watchers believed could have hosted the trial was Perry in Houston County, about 125 miles south of Marietta. It was the site of the 2004 Cobb trial of Lynn Turner, a former 911 operator accused of poisoning her husband and boyfriend with antifreeze. Turner was convicted and sentenced to life without parole for the murders of her husband, Cobb police office Glenn Turner, and her live-in boyfriend, Forsyth County firefighter Randy Thompson, both of whom died from antifreeze poisoning. Turner later killed herself in prison.
Officials in the weeks prior to Thursday’s decision had not determined how much moving the trial will cost the county, with Court Administrator Tom Charron saying the price tag will depend on a number of variables, including the length of the trial, which has been estimated at four to six weeks.
Charron previously said a cost in the six-figure range would be in line with other trials that have been moved out of Cobb. Several of Cobb’s past high-profile cases have been moved out of the county.
Harris, who has remained in the Cobb County Jail since the day his son died, was indicted Sept. 4, 2014, by a Cobb grand jury on three charges of murder, two counts of child cruelty, criminal attempt to commit a felony and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.
While murder and child cruelty charges are related to the death of his son, the remaining charges Harris faces allege that he had lewd communications with a girl under 18 by asking her to provide a sexually explicit photo, sending explicit messages to her as well as a nude photo of a man’s genitals. The incidents occurred between March 1, 2014, and the day of Cooper’s death, the indictment alleges.
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