Michael King

WXIA-TV, Atlanta

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A father on Monday was found guilty of murder in the death of his toddler son left inside a hot car more than two years ago.

Justin Ross Harris, 35, had been indicted on eight counts in connection with the June 18, 2014, heat-stroke death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. After more than a month of testimony and four days of deliberations, a Glynn County jury found Harris guilty on all charges.

Three of the counts — malice murder and two charges of felony murder — carry mandatory life sentences. With the malice murder charge, prosecutors accused Harris of intentionally killed his son to escape the responsibilities of family life; the felony murder charges required no proof of intent to kill.

Prosecutors argued Harris must have known Cooper sweltered in his sport-utility vehicle for about seven hours. He drove less than 2 minutes to work after strapping the child into his car seat when they finished breakfast at a Chick-fil-A restaurant about a half mile from Harris’ office where he was a Web developer for Home Depot.

Jury gets murder case of Ga. dad who left son in hot car

Parking lot surveillance video showed Harris went to his car after lunch and tossed in some light bulbs he had purchased though he never got inside.

Prosecutors accused Harris of deliberately leaving Cooper in the back seat of his SUV and said Harris told others that he wanted to live a child-free life. They gathered videos, photographs, cellphone records, emails, texts, and other data to support their case.

Harris, who was married at the time, also was having sexual relationships — both online banter and in-person affairs — with numerous women, including a prostitute and a teenager. They maintained that contributed to his desire to live a child-free life.

Prosecutor: Georgia dad let son die in hot SUV to ‘escape,' sext with women

Harris and his defense team contended that Cooper's death was a tragic accident. The case was moved from Marietta to Brunswick, more than 300 miles southeast, because of pretrial publicity.

Friends and family members testified that Harris was a devoted and loving father, and the jury watched video clips of Harris trying to teach Cooper to say “banana” and letting the boy strum his guitar. The joyous moments had some jurors laughing aloud.

Harris’ ex-wife, Leanna Taylor, also came to his defense. She divorced him in March and bitterly told the jury that Harris “destroyed my life.”

Georgia judge agrees to move trial in hot-car death

But she testified he was a loving father who, regardless of how unhappy he may have been in their marriage, would not have harmed their son on purpose.

Also testifying in Harris’ defense was Gene Brewer, an Arizona State University psychology professor who specializes in memory and attention. He said it would have been possible for Harris to forget about Cooper in a matter of seconds.

Harris was also found guilty of sending sexual text messages to a teenage girl and asked for nude photos of her pubic area. The girl testified Harris knew she was in high school the months they swapped sexual banter when she was 16 and 17, and Harris several times sent her photos of his penis. He was asking for a photo of her breasts the day Cooper died.

In 2012, Harris moved to Georgia from Tuscaloosa, Ala. He had lived in suburban Atlanta, which is also where Cooper died.

Contributing: The Associated Press. ​Follow Michael King on Twitter: @mhking

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