This week, Georgia’s Supreme Court issued a ruling that has stunned conservatives and liberals alike.
The charges against 41-year-old Justin Harris have been reversed.
Harris had been convicted on charges related to the death of his 22-month-old son.
Horrifying Ruling
Harris was serving a life sentence after leaving his toddler son inside a hot car.
The boy died in 2014, and Harris was convicted on eight counts in 2016, which included malice murder.
He was given life without parole, plus 32 years, which were assigned for other charges.
Those charges included crimes of a sexual nature against a teenage girl.
While the judges agreed there was enough evidence to convict Harris, the majority also agreed that the sex charges should never have been admitted in the case.
They also believed those charges may have swayed the jury in the murder case.
The 134-page majority opinion was issued by Chief Justice David Nahmias, with a vote falling 6-3 in favor of reversing the charges.
Harris will now get a new trial, facing only the murder and child cruelty charges.
His attorney stated, “We are very appreciative and grateful that we’ll have a new trial.”
Of the additional years that Harris had been sentenced to, 12 were for the sexual crimes, which were not being appealed.
Harris will remain behind bars while the new trial takes place.
Prosecutors used the sexual charges against Harris to support the idea that he was unhappy in his marriage and wanted to kill the child to free himself of his wife.
The majority opinion, in my opinion, made no sense because it stated that the prosecutor, while introducing the sexual charges, was painting a picture to the jury as to “what kind of man is [Harris]?”
I would think that exact point is very relevant to the type of man that would lock a toddler in a hot car and leave him to die.
The boy was in the car for roughly seven hours in temperatures that reached the high 80s that day.
The opinion also stated that even though he left the child in the car, perhaps he did not do so “intentionally and maliciously.”
What kind of person leaves a small child locked in a hot car for seven hours unless the intent is malicious?
Source: New York Post
