Georgia Supreme Court overturns Justin Ross Harris’ murder conviction in his son’s hot-car death
Jun 22, 2022, 10:25 AM | Updated: Jun 25, 2022, 8:52 pm
Georgia's highest court has overturned the murder conviction of Justin Ross Harris, the father sentenced to life without parole for the 2014 hot car death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. (Kelly Huff /Pool/Reuters via CNN)
(Kelly Huff /Pool/Reuters via CNN)
(CNN) — Georgia’s highest court has overturned the murder conviction of Justin Ross Harris, the father sentenced to life without parole for the 2014 hot car death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper.
In an opinion issued on Wednesday, the Georgia Supreme Court stated that evidence submitted by the state during Ross’ trial regarding his “numerous sexual dalliances and escapades and his desire to act on ongoing sexual communications and solicitations with other women” as the driving force behind his decision to kill his son had unfair prejudicial impact on the jury.
On the day Harris was accused of intentionally leaving his son inside a hot car for seven hours, he was sexting with six women, including a minor, according to phone records.
“Because the properly admitted evidence that Appellant maliciously and intentionally left Cooper to die was far from overwhelming,” the court’s opinion said, “we cannot say that it is highly probable that the erroneously admitted sexual evidence did not contribute to the jury’s guilty verdicts.”
In addition to three counts of murder, Harris was found guilty of two counts of cruelty to children for Cooper’s death, and guilty of three counts related to his electronic exchanges of lewd material with minors.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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