Detective: Ross Harris' wife is not a suspect in son's hot car death

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — The lead detective in the Ross Harris hot car death trial says Harris' now ex-wife is not a suspect in their son's death.

• Lead detective Phil Stoddard returned to the stand
• Stoddard said Harris' ex-wife Leanna Harris is not a suspect
• Defense argues detectives had conspiracy theory from the beginning
• Stoddard said Harris got emotional after arrest, complained about his cell
• Detective said he became suspicious when Harris used the term "malicious intent"
• Jurors will view Harris' car with car seat and doll inside tomorrow

Harris is accused of killing his 22-month-old son, Cooper, by intentionally leaving him inside a hot car for nearly seven hours. He is facing eight charges, including malice murder.

Since the beginning, Leanna Harris' demeanor and statements to detectives have put her under an umbrella of suspicion, but Detective Phil Stoddard said Wednesday that they have found no evidence that she was involved.

"No evidence has come forward to bring us up to a level of probable cause that you need to arrest Leanna Harris. We never reached that point," Stoddard said.

Channel 2’s Ross Cavitt and Carl Willis are in Brunswick, where the trial is being held. They will have updates from inside the courtroom on Channel 2 Action News.

He said Leanna Harris has been a suspect since day one, but she is no longer being actively investigated.

The defense argued that Stoddard has had a theory from the beginning that Ross and Leanna Harris conspired to kill their son.

"You're looking for a conspiracy. You're looking for nefarious motive so you're seeing what you want to see," defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said.

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Defense attorneys wanted to show the jury detectives initial thoughts about the case were wrong, and that Leanna became a suspect for the same reason detectives considered Ross suspicious.

"That's why you considered her a suspect, because you don't think she reacted the way she should," Kilgore said. "That's a small part. It's the whole picture, you have to know the whole picture, to know why she was a suspect," Stoddard replied.

Kilgore wanted jurors to get the impression they were looking for something that wasn't there.

"Fact of the matter is you were dead wrong about Leanna Harris. She was in no way involved in a conspiracy with her husband," Kilgore said.

The defense made a point to tell jurors that detectives seized Leanna Harris' laptop with more than 30,000 photos of Cooper and did not return it to her before Cooper's funeral.

Stoddard said it was discussed but it was still an active investigation so they couldn't tamper with evidence. He said they did try to extract as many photos of Cooper as they could off Leanna's computer and gave them to her attorney before the funeral.

Kilgore said despite Stoddard's prior statements, Ross Harris did get upset and cry real tears when meeting with his wife at police headquarters. Stoddard said that was only after Harris found out he was being arrested. Stoddard said Harris complained to them about the hard cot and metal toilet.

The prosecution's redirect got heated as the defense continually objected to Stoddard reading the testimony he gave during a prior hearing in 2014. After lots of arguments and sustained objections, both sides completed their questioning and Stoddard was allowed to step down. He had been on the stand since Friday.

The state then called Detective David Raissi to the stand. Raissi was working in the crimes against children unit in June 2014 when he responded to the scene of Cooper Harris' death.

Raissi said he was in the room when Stoddard told Harris he was being charged with child cruelty and murder. Raissi said Harris said there was no malicious intent which made him suspicious so he began recording the interview on his department issued camera. That interview was played in court Monday.

Kilgore pointed out that Harris' brother is a police officer in Alabama, which is why Harris may use police terms, but Raissi said the state of Alabama does not have the terms malice or malicious intent in its laws. That is specific to Georgia.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys continued to disagree about the decision to allow jurors to view Harris' car with the car seat inside.

Just before lunch Wednesday, Judge Mary Staley set the ground rules for the jury view, which will happen Thursday morning.

Staley decided that the jurors will be able to walk around twice with the door closed, walk around twice with the doors open and then observe the car freely for up to five minutes. They are not to sit inside the vehicle or touch the vehicle at any time.

After lunch, lawyers spent the afternoon arguing about the positioning of the car seat. The defense says the position is not exact so jurors will not be getting an accurate view.

Detective Carey Grimstead, who placed the car seat into the car, testified that the measurements are very close to where the car seat was originally placed. He said he took measurements before the car seat was taken out the first time and used those measurements and photos to make it as exact as possible.

You can watch the entire trial LIVE on WSBTV.com/Ross-Harris-Trial. We will have minute-by-minute coverage as well as a daily summary from the courtroom each day. Like Ross Harris Updates on Facebook and follow @RossHarrisTrial on Twitter for updates throughout the trial.

Cox Media Group