Minute-by-minute: Day 20 of the Ross Harris hot car death trial

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — It’s been more than two years since 22-month-old Cooper Harris died in the back seat of a hot SUV outside a Cobb County office building.

His father, Ross Harris, is now on trial for his death.

Follow minute-by-minute coverage of the case below:

1:16 p.m. Defense tells the judge they do not have any more witnesses for the day. They will bring one more witness tomorrow and will likely rest. The state plans to call one rebuttal witness. Closing arguments will likely take place on Monday.

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11:50 a.m. Court recesses for lunch. Will resume around 1 p.m.

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11:35 a.m. Brewer says he is not an expert on stress but knows that stress does impact memory.

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11:30 a.m. Brewer says smart people aren't immune to memory failure.

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11:23 a.m. Prosecutors say Harris got more sleep the night before Cooper's death than he had the previous four days.

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11:08 a.m. Prosecutors say Harris never made comments about being stressed that day or getting a lack of sleep.

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11:06 a.m. Brewer agrees that all of Harris cues that day would make it less likely that he forgot his child. "All of these things that we're talking about could be reminders," Brewer said.

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10:50 a.m. Prosecutor cross-examines Brewer about what he did and didn't know about the case. Brewer agrees that there are differences in this case and other cases of children left in hot cars.

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10:45 a.m. Brewer says in most cases where parents forget their children in the car, the car seat is out of view. He also says he is not familiar with any other cases with a drive as short as the one Harris took.

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10:40 a.m. Brewer says he is not there to give jurors an opinion on the case. If it is proved that Harris intentionally killed Cooper, then what he is telling them is not relevant.

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10:39 a.m. Court resumes. Prosecutors begin cross-examining Brewer.

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10:09 a.m. Court breaks for morning recess.

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10:07 a.m. Defense says Harris was concerned about a project at work. Brewer says that could have been a distraction.

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10:02 a.m. Brewer says the U-turn would be an external distraction on Harris' route.

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9:58 a.m. Brewer says more often than not, when Harris is on the Cumberland Blvd, he is used to going straight to work, so it became his routine.

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9:54 a.m. Brewer says Harris likely believed his son was at day care. He says Harris comments to officers about thinking he dropped his son at day care prove that.

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9:47 a.m. Brewer says it is absolutely possible that Harris forgot his child in less than 40 seconds.

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9:40 a.m. Brewer talks about intentional vs. indirect cues. He says the things Harris did that day were mostly indirect cues.

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9:33 a.m. Brewer suggests taking shoe off when you put your child in a car seat and putting it in the back seat with the child. He calls this an intentional cue.

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9:29 a.m. Brewer compares Harris leaving his kid in the car to surgeons leaving instruments inside patients or airplane pilots forgetting to put the landing gear down.

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9:28 a.m. Brewer said in Harris' situation, because of how important it is and the fatal consequences, it would be less likely that there would be memory failure, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. "Our systems are prone to error and even under the best situations and the best circumstances there's still gonna be failure."

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9:27 a.m. "When you have an important intention, you remember to do it more,' Brewer says.

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9:23 a.m. Fatigue is another factor that can cause prospective memory failures.

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9:22 a.m. Brewer says daydreaming can be an internal distraction.

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9:21 a.m. Brewer says, while in the car, a phone call can be an external distraction. The radio could be or couldn't be depending on what is playing.

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9:17 a.m. Brewer says internal and external distractions can lead to memory failure. "We do know that when people are distracted, they have more prospective memory failures."

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9:16 a.m. Brewer says if you aren't concentrating or paying extra attention, basically going into autopilot, its very easy to slip into routine behavior.

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9:10 a.m. Brewer says his primary research areas are working memory, episodic memory vs. semantic memory, and prospective memory.

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8:55 a.m. Court resumes. Defense calls Dr. Gene Brewer, an expert in human memory and attention, to the stand.

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