Ross Harris trial: Georgia father sentenced in son's hot car death

A judge sentenced a Georgia father to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday after a jury found him guilty last month of leaving his young son to die in a hot car.

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Prosecutors argued that the nature of the case left no sentence fair for Justin Ross Harris, 36, save for life without parole. Harris' defense attorneys did not offer any testimony during Monday's sentencing hearing.

"The state's recommendation is the very least that anyone could deem just under the circumstances of this case," Superior Court Judge Mary Staley said before handing down the sentence of life without parole plus 34 years. He will get credit for the two years he has already served.

Last month, a jury convicted Harris in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper.

Harris was found guilty on eight counts: malice murder, two counts of felony murder, firsts-degree cruelty to children, second-degree cruelty to children, criminal attempt to commit a felony, to wit; sexual exploitation of children and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.

Harris left Cooper inside his car for nearly seven hours outside his Cobb County office building in June 2014. The toddler died of hyperthermia.

Police were suspicious from the start and took Harris into custody in a strip mall parking lot after he stopped and removed his son's lifeless body from the SUV. Harris' defense attorneys argued that he was a loving father and that, while he was responsible for the boy's death, it was a tragic accident.

Harris' defense team vowed to appeal the verdict and to seek a new trial.

Here are some things to know:

THE DEATH

Cooper died after sitting for about seven hours in the back seat of his father's vehicle outside the office where Harris worked in suburban Atlanta. On that day, temperatures reached into the high 80s.

Harris said he forgot to drop his son off at daycare that morning and drove straight to his job as a web developer for Home Depot without realizing that his son was still in his car seat.

Investigators found evidence that Harris engaged in online flirting and in-person affairs with numerous women other than his wife, including a prostitute and an underage teenager. They concluded that Harris intentionally killed his son to escape the responsibilities of family life.

Harris had moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Georgia for work in 2012.

THE TRIAL

Harris' case received an enormous amount of media attention from the very beginning.

After determining during nearly three weeks of jury selection in April that pretrial publicity had made it too difficult to find a fair jury in Cobb County, where the boy died, Staley granted a defense request to relocate the trial.

Jury selection began in Glynn County, located on the Georgia coast about 60 miles south of Savannah, in September and a jury was seated in less than two weeks. The trial began on Oct. 3.

After 22 days of testimony and 70 witnesses, 52 for the state and 18 for the defense, the jury began its deliberations.

After four days, jurors found Harris guilty of all eight counts against him.

In addition to malice murder and felony murder charges, Harris also was found guilty of sending sexual text messages to a teenage girl and sending her nude photos.

LIFE WITH OR WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE

Jurors found Harris guilty of malice murder, which means they believed not only that he should be held criminally responsible for his son's death, but that he left the young boy to die on purpose. Malice murder carries a sentence of life in prison, which meant the main question at sentencing was whether he would have the opportunity to seek parole.

In 2014, the state announced it would not seek the death penalty against Harris.

"After reviewing Georgia's death penalty statute and considering other factors, the State will not seek the death penalty in this case at this time. I cannot and will not elaborate at this juncture of the case," Cobb District Attorney Vic Reynolds said in a statement.

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