The defense began their case last week and it would appear that there are several inconsistencies that they are focusing on. Maddox Kilgore got his opportunity to question lead detective Phil Stoddard about many of the bombshell allegations he made during the July 2014 Probable Cause Hearing:
Refuting Stoddardâs claim that Harris Googled the phrase âhow long it takes a dog to die in a car,â lead defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said the veteran investigator knew it wasnât true but swore under oath that it was.
Stoddard accused Harris of visiting a âchild-freeâ website less than two months before his sonâs death; this initially was introduced by the prosecution as evidence of a motive.
Boring didnât mention the child-free site during his opening statement, suggesting the state had backed off one of its most explosive claims. But last week one of Harrisâ co-workers, called by the prosecution, revealed he had directed Harris to that subreddit as a joke. Harris had not sought out the group, as implied by Stoddard.
âIt was made up by the Cobb police department,â Kilgore said in his opening statement earlier this month.
Stoddardâs claim that Harris showed no emotion after his sonâs death was among the potential contradictions that were addressed.
âThatâs just not true,â Kilgore said in his opening, which included dashboard cam footage of Harris wailing in the parking lot of Akers Mill Square just moments after he said he found Cooperâs lifeless body.
On Friday, the state showed police video of Harris before, during and after heâs interviewed by Stoddard. He is calm and somewhat chatty during the interview. While alone, he can be seen alternately pacing, wailing and taking deep, sustained breaths.
Whether the grief is real or manufactured is a call the jurors will have to make. Kilgore has already said Stoddard presented an incomplete account of Harrisâ behavior that day.
Stoddard was also grilled on his claim that the âstench of deathâ emanated from Harrisâ SUV. The implication being that Harris knew his son was dead but ignored the smell.
Two other Cobb police officers testified they also smelled an odor they associated with decomposition. But neither made note of the stench until they filed supplemental reports about a year later after consulting with Stoddard.
Cobbâs former chief medical examiner previously testified that Cooper had not been dead long enough for there to be a smell of decomposition. Instead, there would have been a stale smell mixed with urine.
Stoddard has walked back one incriminating claim at a pre-trial hearing in August, though not by choice. Stoddard had testified that, when he returned to his car at lunchtime on the day he left Cooper strapped inside, Harris was âall the way inside the frame. ⊠Heâs in there. He has a clear view.â If true, Harris must have known at the time that his dead son was inside the car.
But surveillance footage from the Home Depot Treehouse parking lot, where Harris worked, showed that he could not have looked inside the SUV because his eyes remained above the roof line. At the August hearing Stoddard acknowledged that Harrisâ head âwas above the car.â
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