Dad Sentenced to Life in Prison Without Parole for Leaving Toddler Son to Die in Hot Car
The Georgia man recently convicted of murdering his toddler son by leaving him for hours in a hot car will now spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge ruled Monday.
Justin Ross Harris was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole — as well as an additional 32 years — at a hearing in Cobb County, Georgia. He was found guilty on Nov. 14 of eight felony counts, including malice murder, in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper.
Harris has always maintained Cooper’s death was a tragic accident, though prosecutors undercut that claim with evidence he visited online communities about the “child-free” lifestyle and “people who die,” searched strange phrases on Google such as “how to survive in prison” and even researched the deadly effects of being in a hot car.
The state cast Harris as a callous father and sexually deviant husband who at one point said, “I love my son, but that joker just drains my paycheck,” and, “I wish I was single.”
Describing Cooper’s murder as “basically the most aggravated killing of another individual, especially a young child,” prosecutors on Monday asked for Harris to face the maximum penalty: “There’s only one sentence that reflects the evil nature of what he did.”
Harris’ defense attorney, Maddox Kilgore, said in court he plans on appealing the guilty verdict. Harris declined to speak at his sentencing. (Kilgore has not responded to PEOPLE’s repeated requests for comment.)
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Addressing Harris from the bench, Cobb Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark made a “final observation” at the sentencing: “Mr. Harris, I went back and reviewed and thought about your statement to the police and your statement to your wife when you were taken into custody.
“And it stood out to me in both of those, you took the occasion to express your wish that you would be an advocate so that people would never do this again to their children. And I would say — perhaps not in the way you intended — you in fact have accomplished that goal.”
Harris’ arrest and conviction for Cooper’s murder, in a case that lasted more than two years, captured the attention of many in his state — perhaps the highest-profile recent example of a “hot car death.”
But while some observers quickly rejoiced at Monday’s sentencing, Harris’ ex-wife, who is Cooper’s mother, has never welcomed his imprisonment.
Leanna Taylor, who divorced Harris following his arrest and the revelation of his marital infidelities, testified on his behalf at trial. Though she said Harris “ruined my life,” she has also called him a “wonderful father.”
She defended Harris in a Facebook post last month, writing, “So now you may be saying ‘justice has been served.’ And you are allowed your right to that opinion. But guess what, you can convict every parent that this has ever happened to, and I can promise you 2 things…#1 it will never bring our children back and #2 it will not prevent this from happening in the future.”
In her ruling Monday, Judge Clark took another view: “The state’s recommendation is the very least that can be considered just.”
