She explained the latter incident in her ABC News interview, telling Robach in the GMA clip that she asked that question because she knew Harris tended to ramble. The couple married on May 27, 2006. Justin Ross Harris' Ex-Wife Leanna Taylor Speaks - People I think he just was having less and less time with the family to be able to do as much as he wanted and to live the life he wanted.. WSB. Justin Ross Harris Trial: Ex-Wife Leanna Was 'Strange' After Son Died Justin Ross Harris' conviction for murder and other crimes is related to the death of his toddler son, Cooper. But he was also engaged in online sexual communication with multiple women including two underage girls while also carrying on extramarital sexual encounters in public. sexual crimes involving a 16-year-old girl. Harris is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 5, according to ABC Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV. To support this theory, they presented extensive evidence of extramarital sexual activities that he engaged in, including exchanging sexually explicit messages and graphic photos with women and girls and meeting some of them for sex. For him to be in that state was very hard to see.. But they have been apart since June 18, 2014 the day their 22-month-old son Cooper was found dead and his dad was arrested. Its scary when youve experienced every parents worst nightmare to think about having another child, and that fear of something happening again and that constant worry of wanting to keep them safe.. Taylor said she recalls seeing her now ex-husband in police custody after Coopers death. This was never about me defending Ross, she told 20/20. When you get on the stand and you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, thats what youre supposed to do, and thats what I did., I couldnt get up there and say he was a bad father because it wasnt true, Taylor continued. He knew those steps, but he didn't take them.". She said every single day is hard, but especially the summertime., Every time she has to open her car door in the Alabama heat, and feels the inside of her vehicle, its a constant reminder of her son. Justin Ross Harris Trial: Ex-Wife Leanna Was 'Strange' After Son Died, Police Say Crime Hot Car Murder Trial Reveals Why Victim's Mom Was a Suspect But Never Arrested In court on. Despite the accusations against her ex-husband, Taylor took the stand to testify in his defense. She told Petchenik she made the statement out of anger, but has considered meeting Harris if he ever gets out of prison to seek closure. Justin Ross Harris, 41, left his son named Cooper in his car in June 2014. Obviously if I had found them, I could have left him and I could still have my son.. ATLANTA Justin Ross Harris is seeking a new trial in the murder of his 22-month-old son, Cooper. 6 on Clayton County sheriffs top 10 most wanted list arrested while picking kids up, Mistrial declared in case of man accused of killing teen, dumped her body in Gwinnett park. Boring told Petchenik police nor prosecutors owe Taylor any kind of apology. Ross Harris sent wife text about son as toddler died in hot car I dont have peace about what happened at all. Stoddard testified during Justin Ross Harris murder trial about the night his young son, Cooper Harris, died in 2014, after spending hours trapped in his dads hot car. Justin Ross Harris' ex-wife told the court on Tuesday that her former husband was treated for low levels of testosterone. And she just looked me dead in the face and got my attention. It has happened to other families and it has been proven to be an accident in other cases, she said. Justin Ross Harris' murder conviction overturned by high court A Warner Bros. I dont think he deserves to be in prison for the rest of his life., On Thursday, Taylor called the Georgia Supreme Courts decision reversing Harris murder conviction big news for Ross and his family. The Georgia Supreme . Attorney Lawrence Zimmerman who represents Harris ex-wife and Coopers mother, Leanna Harris Taylor, told WSB-TV2 about how his client felt post-conviction. Justin Ross Harris' wife Leanna visits him in jail as she continues to Juror No. A judge sentenced him to life without the possibility of parole plus 32 years for other offenses among them sexual crimes involving a 16-year-old girl. She stood by him on the. She has never been accused of any wrongdoing. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? This story has been shared 174,099 times. I know that. Hes seen as a child that wasnt loved and wasnt wanted. The answer is no. Since 1998, an average of 37 U.S. children have died annually from heatstroke after being trapped inside vehicles, according to the Department of Meteorology and Climate Sciences at San Jose State University, which tracks heatstroke deaths of children in vehicles. Its hard enough to lose your child, but then to have people think that you didnt love him and that you didnt want him, thats something that should never be added to the equation of having to bury your baby.. Discovery Company. There was no evidence in our relationship that suggested that he would harm anyone, much less his own son.. There was evidence in our relationship that would suggest that he would be capable of being unfaithful to me, she said. Justin Ross Harris' wife reveals her husband was treated for low levels The state convincingly demonstrated that (Harris) was a philanderer, a pervert, and even a sexual predator, Nahmias wrote. The ruling means that Harris is entitled to a new trial on the murder and child cruelty charges against him. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. Also on Wednesday, Cobb police detective David Raissi took the stand to discuss Justins odd use of specific legal terms during questioning soon after his son died. Nothing will ever take that pain away. Leanna Taylor cries as defense attorney Maddox Kilgore shows the jury a picture of her son Cooper during a murder trial for her ex-husband Justin Ross Harris who is accused of intentionally killing Cooper in June 2014 by leaving him in the car in suburban Atlanta, Oct. 31, 2016, in Brunswick, Georgia. She was in no way involved in a conspiracy with her husband.. Justin Ross Harris' Ex Says He Was 'Terrible Husband' But 'Loving' Father Who Didn't Intentionally Kill Son, Ga. Dad Who 'Sexted' with Women as Young Son Died in Hot Car Gets Murder Conviction Overturned, Justin Ross Harris' Parents Say Son 'Accidentally' Killed Their Grandson by Leaving Him in Hot Car, Justin Ross Harris, Who Left His Son in Hot Car While Sexting Multiple Women, Seeks New Trial, See All of the Celebrity Babies Born in 2020, Jared Bridegan Case: Ex-Wife's Husband Charged with Murdering Man in Front of His Toddler, 2-Year-Old Alabama Boy Dies in Car, Father Charged with Reckless Murder, Minnesota Mom Convicted of Murdering Her 6-Year-Old Son After Going to Gun Range for Shooting Practice, Another Suspicious Murdaugh Family Death Comes to Light This One in 1940, Murdaugh Murders: A Complete Timeline of Alex Murdaugh's Trial, Suspect in Death of Pregnant Mom Found Next to Car with Son Inside Was Recently Acquitted of Unrelated Murder, Inside the Mysterious Death of a Pregnant Fla. READ: Georgia Supreme Court overturns hot car death conviction, Because the properly admitted evidence that Appellant maliciously and intentionally left Cooper to die was far from overwhelming, the courts opinion said, we cannot say that it is highly probable that the erroneously admitted sexual evidence did not contribute to the jurys guilty verdicts.. Petchenik asked Taylor what she would say to Harris if she had the chance. The going back to the car part actually for me solidifies that it wasnt intentional, she said. He emphasized that detectives had found more than 30,000 photos of Cooper on Leannas laptop, undercutting the idea that she was out to cause him harm. Its a horrible thing to try to accept as a parent that you could forget your child in your car and bring harm to them., RELATED:Brian Laundries Parents Knew Where Her Body Was, According To Lawyer In Gabby Petito Case. Justin then said he didnt understand why he would be charged because his sons death was an accident, according to Raissi, and he calmly argued, There was no malicious intent., I thought it was strange, said Raissi, whose testimony has not been cross-examined. So, when you have something like that and you have the things we encountered as far as her behaviors and things wed found in the investigation, of course were also going to investigate that because weve got the death of a 22-month-old child in the most horrific way, he said. Leanna Taylor told the jury how doctors discovered Harris had. Among other oddities, Stoddard said Coopers mother, Leanna, never asked to see his body. I didnt see Ross sad a lot. The Georgia Supreme Court voted to overturn the murder conviction of Justin Ross Harris, the father who left his toddler son in a hot car for hours in 2014. Georgia Supreme Court overturns murder conviction against Justin Ross It was an accident.. Raissi testified that detectives told Justin of the charges he was facing. Trial Begins for Georgia Dad Accused of Murder in Son's Hot-Car Death, Justin Ross Harris' Ex-Wife Gives Emotional Testimony in Hot-Car Murder Trial. However, little did Leanna know that Ross would be responsible for Cooper's death just 22 months later, on June 18, 2014. This evidence did little if anything to answer the key question of (Harris) intent when he walked away from Cooper, but it was likely to lead the jurors to conclude that (Harris) was the kind of man who would engage in other morally repulsive conduct (like leaving his child to die painfully in a hot car) and who deserved punishment, even if the jurors were not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that he purposefully killed Cooper., The evidence admitted was far from overwhelming, the opinion read. Defense attorneys had maintained Cooper's death was an accident and Harris, a web developer for Home Depot, had forgotten that his son was in the car. Authorities said she did not ask to see her sons body on the night of his death which they called strange and she was heard asking Harris, Did you say too much?. The wording he was using, the vernacular, the language was not from a layperson., Certainly as a police officer or lawyer, you understand what malice is, Raissi said. Her 22-month-old son, Cooper, was left in a hot car for seven hours in 2014. Bill Rankin has been an AJC reporter for more than 30 years. Taylor, who was never arrested or charged in the case, said she was just trying to process what had happened. Nia Tipton is a writer living in Brooklyn. EAMON MCNIFF, JENNIFER JOSEPH and LAUREN EFFRON, Leanna Taylor sat down for an exclusive interview with ABC's Amy Robach for "Good Morning America" and "20/20. To me, it said the opposite, that he didnt have a clue Cooper was there.. Per its ruling, the Georgia Supreme Court only reversed Harris convictions regarding the crimes against his son; Harris had not challenged the others in his appeal, the ruling said, and they remain in place. See additional information. Theres some of him in it and that may seem weird and nobody touches it. In the same testimony where he revealed this, Cobb County police detective Phil Stoddard detailed the ex-wifes odd behavior soon after her son was killed. He was first elected to the House in 2002 to represent District 22, which covers Prince George's County.. Ross retired from the House of Delegates in November 2012. At this very moment, there is a sippy cup on my kitchen table that still has the water in it that he had drank the day before or the morning of, and I just cant wash it, she said. Declaring their marriage "irretrievably broken," Leanna Harris submitted the paperwork to sever her nearly 10 year marriage to Justin Ross Harris on Wednesday in Cobb County Superior Court in Marietta, Georgia, according to records obtained by NBC News. Leanna believes the evidence of Ross being a horrible husband does not have anything to do with what type of father he was, Robach says, adding, She says the truth is that he was an incredibly loving father who would never harm his son., Robach continues, Shes also concerned that making [Harris] out to be a monster actually puts other children at risk, because it makes people believe that only a bad person could leave a child behind., Taylor wants the world to know that Cooper was loved by both of his parents, Robach says.