Change-of-venue motion filed in Ross Harris trial

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — After nearly three weeks of jury selection, Ross Harris' attorneys filed a change-of-venue motion Friday afternoon.

It came during day 13 of questioning individual jurors.

Judge Mary Staley qualified four more potential jurors for the jury pool on Friday, bringing the total to 41. That’s just one potential juror shy of the 42 needed before the trial can move forward.

Harris is accused of intentionally leaving his 2-year-old son, Cooper, to die in a hot car for more than seven hours in June 2014. %

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Finding an impartial jury has been a difficult task because of the high-profile nature of the case.

Lawyers have individually questioned nearly 90 potential jurors out of the 250 initially summoned for the trial. They’ve been doing it in groups of 12 and then eliminating jurors they didn’t feel could be impartial.

Friday, Staley qualified just four of the most recent group of 12 jurors.

As they prepared to question the 90^th potential juror in the case, the defense filed the motion and the judge called a time out.

“I don’t see any more reason to talk to any more jurors,” Staley said.

Defense attorney Scott Semrau, who is not involved in the case, says the fact that more potential jurors have been disqualified than qualified at this point likely prompted the late day filing.

“That’s an extraordinarily high number and it’s clear that number, at this point, affected the choice,” he said. So far, 43 have been disqualified compared to the 41 qualified.

Semrau says he can't recall a case in which such a high percentage has been dismissed and the trial was not moved.

He believes Harris' defense team wanted the case kept in Cobb County near their homes, offices and resources, and this filing only came out of a sense of frustration.

“It’s gotten to a point now where you’ve had enough jurors come in where you can get a fair idea of the number. If you had filed this motion after 10 or even 20 or 30 or maybe even 40 jurors, you’d say well that’s really just 40 of the 250 that we originally summoned, but now you’re at 80 and I think you’ve got a really good clear consensus of where this thing is headed,” Semrau said.

The motion goes into detail about what jurors have said about coming into the courthouse with the idea that Ross Harris is guilty. Many said they could set their opinions aside in trial but defense attorneys say that’s not good enough. They want the trial moved out of Cobb County now.

The court will hear arguments on the motion Monday morning.

Cox Media Group