Father Found Guilty Of Murder After Leaving Toddler In Hot Car

John Bazemore / AP

A jury in Georgia found Justin Ross Harris guilty of murdering his 22-month-old son by leaving him inside a hot car for seven hours.

Harris, 35, was found guilty of eight charges, including murder and cruelty to a child, WSBTV reported. He has yet to be sentenced, but prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.

In June 2014, Harris left his son, Cooper, inside his SUV while he was at work for seven hours. Temperatures that day climbed up to 92 degrees in the area, and the boy died as a result of the heat.

Defense attorneys described the toddler's death as an accident after his father forgot to drop him off at daycare, but prosecutors said Harris had known his son was in the car.

Evidence included surveillance video of the parking lot, which showed Harris returning to his car at lunchtime while the boy was still inside. During the hours Cooper was in the car, Harris sexted six women and a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors argued he wanted to be rid of his child so he could leave his wife and pursue other women.

He and his wife divorced before the trial, and she went on to testify that he had destroyed her life.

Harris' Google search history before his son's death included how long it would take an animal to die in a hot car, as well as "how to survive in prison," prosecutors said.

"Of course, this child was a burden and in the way,” prosecutor Chuck Boring said in closing arguments, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Harris murdered his son, Boring continued, so "he doesn’t have to worry about his child anymore.”

LINK: Georgia Dad Won’t Face The Death Penalty For Leaving Son In Hot Car

LINK: Detective Says Georgia Dad Was Sexting Multiple Women While Toddler Died In Hot Car

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