Expert says Ross Harris trial will hinge on jury selection

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Experts say the fate of a Cobb County father accused of killing his toddler son by leaving him in a hot car could hinge on what kind of jury is seated.

Jury selection began Monday in the trial for Justin Ross Harris. Harris’ son, Cooper, died in June 2014 after being left in the back of Harris’ SUV for nearly seven hours. %

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More than 300 potential jurors were summoned to the courthouse because of high publicity surrounding the case.

One expert told Channel 2’s Richard Elliot that she believes the potential jurors will know about the case, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be jurors.

“That's going to be the difficult part, but it's not whether or not they've heard anything about this case, it's whether or not they've formed some type of opinion before they hear the evidence in the case,” said legal expert Ashley Merchant.

Merchant says Harris’ legal team has their work cut out for them.

“It's very hard to get jurors to actually open up and be honest about whether or not they've prejudged a case,” Merchant said. “I think most people who have heard about this case probably do have an opinion, and so what you're going to see the lawyers asking is whether or not they can set that opinion aside.”

She says finding the right kind of jurors, for both defense and prosecution, will probably take a while.

“The hardest part is going to be getting a jury, so that's actually going to take up a lot of time,” Merchant said.

Harris was

after investigators say they discovered he had researched hot-car deaths and a child-free life online.

Merchant says that evidence may shock a jury. %

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“Cobb County jurors are very conservative, extremely conservative jurors,” Merchant said. “The jurors that I’ve been questioning the last couple of years, they're all grandparents. They love their children. They love their spouses, and so they're going to be particularly affected by hearing the type of testimony they're going to hear.”

Merchant believes defense attorneys will ask a lot of questions about the potential jurors' families, and even if they've ever had extramarital affairs themselves.

“They're going to make the cheating and sexting a very large part of this trial, so that's going to be the most important aspect of jurors, whether or not they've ever been cheated on, whether or not they've ever cheated, more so than whether or not they have a child,” she said.

Jury selection is expected to last most of the week.

Cox Media Group