Prosecutors want SUV, 3-D images used as evidence in Ross Harris trial

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Ross Harris, the man accused of leaving his son to die in a hot SUV, was back in Cobb County court Friday for a hearing.

Attorneys brought up motions in the case in front of the judge.

Earlier this year, a judge moved the trial five hours away to find jurors who did not already believe Harris killed his son, Cooper, in June 2014.

Prosecutors want jurors to be able to see Harris' SUV in person, but the defense says that is highly prejudicial.

[READ: Minute-by-minute: The day Cooper Harris died]

“It’s asking each and every juror to substitute their vision for Mr. Harris,” defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said. “What if it’s a particularly hot day? Are we going to invite jurors to sit in that vehicle and see how it is?”

Prosecutors say the SUV is the “murder weapon” and it is the same as showing jurors a gun or knife used in a typical murder case.

“Maybe they will cross-examine the crime scene techs about the photographs and maybe they had bias about how they took them and maybe they didn’t get all the correct angles. That’s why we’re introducing the murder weapon in this case,” Assistant District Attorney Chuck Boring said.

Legal experts say it’s a tough call on what to do with the SUV.

“They want to literally put the jury inside of it to turn around and see if they would have behaved the exact same way Ross Harris did or not, and it’s a fine line. The judge is going to have to make a tough call,” legal expert Esther Panitch said.

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Judge Mary Staley Clark said prosecutors can bring the SUV to Brunswick, but it is unclear what jurors will be able to do with it once it gets there.

Prosecutors also presented the judge with a 3-D map of the crime scene that includes the ability to have prosecutors peer down into the SUV to show where Cooper was strapped in the car. The images were generated by a company that specializes in the technology.

They want jurors to be able to see the new high-tech evidence. Harris' attorneys call the images cartoons.
"This evidence is nothing more than created evidence. It is a creation," Kilgore said.

“In the old days, we had chalk outlines and now we have tools to show things better now and we should not be prohibited from doing that when it is to demonstrate to the jury the actual crime scenes and things of that nature,” Boring said.

The judge said she will rule on the use of the images before trial.

Court officials in Glynn County plan to send out between 200 and 250 jury summonses for the case. That’s 100 jurors less than they called in Cobb County earlier this year.

Jury selection is set for Sept. 12 in Brunswick.

Cox Media Group