A judge has sentenced suburban Atlanta father Justin Ross Harris to life in prison without parole for the murder of his 22-month-old son, Cooper, who died in 2014 after Harris left him in a hot car for seven hours while he went to work.
CNN reports…
Harris also received another 32 years, to be served consecutively, for convictions on four other counts.
Harris, 36, who appeared in an orange jumpsuit with his wrists shackled at his waist, cast his head slightly downward as the sentence was handed down.
He briefly closed his eyes but offered little other reaction.
In addition to the life term, Cobb County Superior Court Judge Mary Staley Clark gave Harris a 20-year sentence on a conviction for first-degree cruelty to children and another 10 years for sexual exploitation of children.
Those charges stemmed from a finding that Harris tried to convince a minor to text him photos of her genitalia.
Harris also received a year each on two misdemeanor counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors, also related to his texts.
Harris’ legal team offered no mitigating circumstances or evidence ahead of the sentencing. Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring told the court that this was a matter of the defense team’s “trial strategy.”
“There’s not much to argue or say,” Boring said. “The jury verdict basically says it all.”
The only sentence that matches the “evil nature” of Harris’ crimes, Boring said, is life in prison— Staley concurred.
The sentencing doesn’t mean the headline-grabbing case is over. Harris’ lawyers, who claimed the boy’s death was a tragic accident brought about by a lapse in memory, say they intend to file a motion for a new trial.
But prosecutors had argued that Harris intentionally locked his son inside his Hyundai Tucson that day because he wanted to be free of his family responsibilities.