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New Details in Georgia Toddler Death; Casey Anthony Three Years Later

Aired July 04, 2014 - 15:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin hour two here on CNN, I'm Brooke Baldwin with this story in California.

Bus is bearing more Latin American migrants detained at the U.S. border. They are set to arrive today, somewhere in Southern California. There is a border patrol station in the town of Murrieta.

But after the chaos there on Tuesday, when buses were turned away by these anti-immigration protesters, authorities aren't saying exactly why and where these new migrants might be headed in a matter of minutes, as we're watching for the bus.

Kyung Lah is with us now from Murrieta, California.

Any sign of the bus yet, Kyung?

KYUNG LAH, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: No. And we don't know. We should stress that we do not know if they're arriving today, because Immigration and Customs Enforcement is stressing that they don't want to reveal movements because of safety.

And the safety that they're talking about specifically, the safety of the police officers, as well as the people in the crowd. This crowd that you're looking at, and you can see they have been cordoned off in this one area. This is a group of pro-migrant-rights protesters as well as anti-immigration people.

But take a look at our other camera as it points down the roadway. The reason that they have separated them is they want to keep the roadway clear in case the migrants come.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Attention, U.S. Border Patrol.

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A lone Internet radio host and his sidekick continue to protest outside the border patrol station in Murrieta, California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are bringing this in.

LAH: He and others promise they will be out in force for an anticipated Fourth of July arrival for more undocumented immigrants to this facility, a move dividing and polarizing this once quiet bedroom community in southern California. CROWD: USA!

LAH: After this, a blockade by protesters forcing three buses of 140 undocumented migrants from Central America, many of them women and children, to leave.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use the word illegal aliens.

LAH: Then, a heated town hall, pitting resident against resident along cultural lines. Murrieta is this week's ground zero for U.S. immigration policy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think that the city is prepared for this. I don't think so.

LAH: What's driving these two sides? Murrieta resident Steve Hesson who runs a plumbing company and never took a political stand before has gone from a bus protest to verbal sparring at the town hall and promised to keep the heat on.

STEVE HESSON, MURRIETA RESIDENT: These people are probably so excited to be here, and all of a sudden they look out their windows going oh, my gosh, what's happening?

LAH (on camera): You are blocking their way in.

HESSON: Not because of them, because of standing firm, letting the officials know this is not the right way to handle this.

LAH (voice-over): On the other side, Murrieta resident Lupillo Rivera, better known for his partying Mexican music has suddenly become for the migrant side a new hero.

CROWD: Lupillo! Lupillo!

LAH: After this protester spit in his face and other slung visual and verbal slurs at him.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(CROSSTALK)

LUPILLO RIVERA, MURRIETA RESIDENT: Completely uncalled for. We are here in a protest. In a protest, we act like adults. We're not here to fight.

LAH: Mirroring the national fight, both sides digging in and refusing to back down on this Independence Day.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAH: And back here live Murrieta, we should underscore that today is July 4, both of these sides invoking the themes of the Fourth of July, one saying this is a country of immigrants, another saying that this is also a nation of laws -- Brooke. BALDWIN: Kyung, obviously, I see the crowds behind you. I'm hearing

some of the shouting back and forth. You were explaining earlier how they tried to keep these two different sides on this issue separated.

People show their true colors when it comes to immigration. What have you seen as far as any clashes today there in Murrieta?

LAH: There haven't been direct clashes, nothing physical. But there has been quite a bit of yelling back and forth.

Part of the problem has been is that they're really right on top each other. Now, the police have penned them away from the roadway, but they're right on top of each other. So, there has been some pushing and shoving, there has been some words back and forth.

But we haven't seen the racial slurs that we saw earlier in the week. That appears to have at least been tamped down. So it is still tense. But as far as any of that sort of ugliness, we haven't seen too much of that.

BALDWIN: And again, just quickly, we don't know yet -- so much focus has been on these children who have come across. Do we know if children will be arriving on this bus any minute?

LAH: We know virtually nothing about where they land, where they're going to go, if they're going to come here, and who is aboard.

What we do know is that the original plan from the government that we heard is, because of the overcrowding in Texas, because of the number of children in Texas, they are forced to try to find them a place to go.

This is one of the places that they have pinpointed. And so this is a spot that we are expecting some of those children from Texas to come to.

BALDWIN: Kyung Lah, we know you're watching for it. We will come back to you as soon as we start seeing that bus roll through there, Murrieta, California. Thank you.

Now to the story everyone is talking about, bond denied for a father accused of killing his 22-month-old son by leaving him to bake to death for seven hours in a car in the broiling hot Georgia heat.

It was a jaw-dropping preliminary court hearing yesterday. It was shocking detail after shocking detail. I'm talking about texting, sexting, disturbing Internet searches, chilling testimony against this man. Here he is in that orange jumpsuit crying at times in court. This is Justin Ross Harris, 33 years of age. He has pleaded not guilty, saying this whole thing was just a tragic accident.

But prosecutors say he wanted a child-free life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK BORING, COBB COUNTY, GEORGIA, PROSECUTOR: When she showed up, according to witnesses at the day care, did she make any comments that were -- seemed out of the ordinary?

DET. PHIL STODDARD, COBB COUNTY, GEORGIA, POLICE: She did. Once she walked into the day care, she walked back to Cooper's classroom, where she ran into Michelle. And she asked, you know, what are you doing here?

And Leanna is like, well, I'm here to pick up Cooper. And they're like, Ross never dropped Cooper off. And she is like -- just got really calm. And she's like, well, I don't know what to do. They walked back out into the lobby, and in front of several witnesses, all of a sudden she states, Ross must have left him in the car.

And they're like, what? There's no other reason. Ross must have -- no other explanation. Excuse me. Ross must have left him in the car. And they tried to console her. And they're like, no, there's 1,000 reasons. He could have taken him to lunch or something. We don't know yet. And she's like, no.

BORING: Did you uncover anything in what he was doing during that day while his child was out in the car?

STODDARD: Yes.

BORING: OK. What did you uncover?

STODDARD: He was having up to six different conversations with different women, it appeared, from the messages from Kik, mostly, which is a messaging service.

BORING: Is that a computer-related messaging service?

STODDARD: It is.

BORING: And these conversations he was having with these females, were these -- of what nature were they?

STODDARD: The most common term would be sexting.

BORING: Were photos being sent back and forth between these women and the defendant during this day while the child is out in the car?

STODDARD: Yes. There were photos of his exposed penis, erect penis, being sent. There were also photos of women's breasts being sent back to him.

BORING: I'm going to turn your attention. Was there also another girl that you met and that you have spoken with?

STODDARD: I have.

BORING: And how old is that girl?

STODDARD: She is 17 at this time.

BORING: Were these chats of the -- or now 17 -- they started when she was 16. STODDARD: Correct.

BORING: Did these -- were these sexually involved as well?

STODDARD: They were.

BORING: Did he discuss the issue of being afraid of children -- his child dying in a car?

STODDARD: Yes.

BORING: What did he tell you about that?

STODDARD: He said it was a fear of his.

BORING: Did he explain further things he did about this fear that he had?

STODDARD: Yes. He had researched or watched Web sites on this fear. He visited several sites, and these subreddits, it was people who die.

Once again, may not be the perfect -- but it's like people who die, and it shows videos of people dying. And it's in all sorts of ways, from suicides to Iraq, executions, those type of videos.

BORING: Now, anything, in looking at these subreddits, turning your attention to less than two months before this child's death, did he go to any topics pertinent to this case and motive of what was in his mind?

STODDARD: He did.

BORING: Tell the judge about what subreddit he went to pertinent to that.

STODDARD: He went to a subreddit. It was called child-free. And child-free is a -- people who advocate living child-free. They advocate not having any more children and adding to the biomass, I guess is the best way they put it.

BORING: And when he went to this subreddit, did he actually view and read articles, or did he access articles in that topic?

STODDARD: He did, over four of them. Or four.

BORING: Was there anything about prison or anything like that you noticed in the Web searches?

STODDARD: He also did a search how to survive prison.

BORING: What was the main thing he was crying about or sobbing about or whatever he was doing?

STODDARD: It was all about him. "I can't believe this is happening to me. I can't believe, you know, this happened to me. Why am I being punished for this?" and continued. It was all very one-sided. BORING: Did he talk about losing his job?

STODDARD: He talked about losing his job. "What are we going to do? I'm going to lose my job. I will be charged with a felony."

BORING: Did his wife ever say anything to him about what he said to police?

STODDARD: She asked him -- she had him sit down and he starts going through this, and she looks at him and she's like, well, did you say too much?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Nick Valencia.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow.

BALDWIN: Wow. Wow doesn't even cover it, in my opinion. You have following this case. You were in Tuscaloosa over the weekend for this funeral, media invited.

VALENCIA: A hundred showed up.

BALDWIN: Father calls in. Standing ovation. Everyone is all in support of this father.

VALENCIA: Yes.

BALDWIN: Then we have this hearing play out yesterday and the news about these two different life insurance policies that they had taken out.

VALENCIA: That's correct.

BALDWIN: One for I think $2,000, one for $25,000. What more have you learned?

VALENCIA: Well, we got new search warrants that we obtained earlier this morning and it lays out kind of the same narrative that the prosecutors laid out yesterday during this bond hearing and pretrial hearing.

We also get into a little bit about Ross -- I'm sorry -- Justin Ross Harris' finances and that he had recently accrued a $4,000 debt on a credit card. He had also recently taken over his family's finances.

And his wife was a little bit upset at his spending habits. We know that he had also recently started a business with friends. He said he had no intention -- and he told police that he had no intention of leaving his job. He was just looking it to make a little more money on the side. And then there was this new nugget information about the life insurance policies.

Through the investigation, Harris had made comments to family members regarding a life insurance policy that he says on Cooper -- that he has on Cooper and what they need to do in order to file for it.

Now, as you mentioned, there was a $2,000 policy through Home Depot, through his employer, and then a separate policy taken out in November of 2012 for $25,000 for little Cooper Harris, $27,000 in all.

BALDWIN: OK. This is just the beginning.

VALENCIA: Just the beginning.

BALDWIN: Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

VALENCIA: You bet.

BALDWIN: Coming up next here on CNN, we will take a look at the shocking new details in this case against this father. We will stay on this. Could his wife be charged after some of this -- the new details were revealed in that probable cause and bond hearing yesterday? Our legal experts will weigh in on that.

Also ahead, Hurricane Arthur lashing the East Coast, causing heavy rains, flooding in some areas. We will talk to Chad Myers about what's in store as it travels northward along the Eastern Seaboard.

And it has been three years since the trial of this woman, Casey Anthony, took the country by storm. CNN has some exclusive new photos of her and details that were revealed at the trial. Stay right here. You're watching CNN on this Fourth of July.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: All right. Let's pick up where we left off before that commercial break. Let's back to this Georgia father facing felony murder, accused of leaving his son to die in a hot car in Georgia in June.

So, for all of that police say Justin Ross Harris did, it is what he did not do that seemed to clinch it for the judge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDGE FRANK COX, COBB COUNTY MAGISTRATE COURT: And then for him to enter the car later that day after 4:00 in the afternoon, when the child had been dead, and rigor mortis had set in, and the testimony is the stench in the car was overwhelming at that point in time, that he, in spite of that, got in the car and drove it for some distance before he took any action to check on the welfare of his child.

So I find there's probable cause for the two charges contained in the warrant.

BALDWIN: Probable cause, bond denied. Prosecutors can now continue pursue the charges against Harris of second-degree child cruelty and felony murder.

So, let me bring my legal analysts back in, Sunny Hostin and Danny Cevallos back in. And, Danny, let me begin with you this time, with your defense

attorney hat on. Watching that defense attorney question those different witnesses, where did defense really score? Where did they do the best job here?

DANNY CEVALLOS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, you start with the idea behind a preliminary hearing. It's not a trial. The odds are skewed against the defendant.

So with the idea that most preliminary hearings result in a judge holding the case over for trial, because the prosecution's burden is light, the defense attorney here did a terrific job of obtaining what we call discovery.

He was able to question the lead detective, who did a good job testifying on the stand, but the defense attorney was able to lock him into his testimony, which, because it's under oath, can be used later on.

And the defense attorney did a textbook example of locking him into his testimony and putting a cap on the facts for later on at trial. On the other hand, the prosecution did a terrific job of introducing motive evidence in this case, and, also, as we're hearing, probably introduced just enough evidence to hold the case over without showing the prosecution's whole hand.

I expect we're going to be seeing much more damning evidence about this defendant in the days to come.

BALDWIN: The sexting revelations, the financial issues, the sex issues between this husband and wife, the searches on the Internet.

Sunny, what was the biggest takeaway for you on the prosecutorial side?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Certainly it was motive. It's evidence of motive.

We all, I think in watching this case, Brooke, have been wondering, why would a father do something like this? If you're going to kill your child, which is such a rare thing to do, why would you do it in this manner. Baking your child is an especially heinous and cruel manner.

And I think, to many people, it's just unfathomable. Once we now know about the life insurance policy, once we now know about the Internet searches about child-free living, and we also now know about the fact that the judge highlighted, wow, he gets into a car with an overwhelming stench of death, and still drives several minutes without opening up the windows, without stopping.

If that didn't kick something in his head as a reminder that his child was in there, that is really significant. As a former prosecutor, I have smelled the smell of death. I can tell you, Brooke, it is something that you never forget. It's just -- it's overwhelming. It's nausea-inducing. And so I think his behavior now on that day, that clarity that we --

those details we know, that is a really significant, significant piece of evidence.

BALDWIN: Knowing that he got away for lunch and that the smell of death would have been in his car, he put those light bulbs back in and left and then of course, as you mentioned, drove a couple of minutes before stopping.

Let's talk about the wife. Right? So she is sitting in the courtroom, a lot of people watching her face and any emotion there. And one bombshell I guess that came out that elicited a gasp was when the detective was describing when Leanna Harris went to the day care, assuming her husband had dropped off this baby at the day care, discovers the baby wasn't there, and her -- basically her initial reaction is, oh, well, Ross must have left him in the car.

Danny, I mean, at what point can investigators -- I mean, I know they have been talking to her. But could she face charges?

CEVALLOS: Not only could she. I think we can absolutely expect it, based on what we heard at the preliminary hearing. After all, the only defendant at the preliminary hearing was supposed to be the father. But yet we heard some damning evidence against the wife elicited at this preliminary hearing.

I think that's a flag, a signal, that we can expect in the next weeks that the investigation will shift not only from the defendant, but to the wife. As it stands right now, the felony murder charge, I also expect will be amended or changed, or he will be indicted on something more malicious, more malice-type murder.

That way, it makes it easier to charge the wife, possibly as a co- conspirator, possibly independently. But as it stands right now, I think that felony murder charge is going to change. I think they're going to go after the wife.

(CROSSTALK)

BALDWIN: Just quickly, just quickly, Sunny, here's what I'm also wondering, because we don't even know definitively. If this goes to trial in Georgia, you have the death penalty. That's something that the prosecution could seek.

Do you think that this would go to trial, or could there be something that could happen ahead of time?

HOSTIN: Well, you know, a plea is always a possibility. But I think with a case of this nature, this sort of heinous case, the death penalty is very much on the table. The judge mentioned yesterday that this could be a death penalty case. That was no accident that the magistrate judge noted that.

And so I think we will see a death penalty case. And when you see a death penalty case, once death is on the table, you know, it's rare that anyone pleads guilty. And so I think we will see a trial here. I just want to say very quickly about the wife, what's interesting to me is she has sort of stood by her man, right, by all accounts.

But if I'm the prosecutor in this case, I'm bringing her into my office every single day and I'm getting much more information about their lives, I'm getting much more information about her. And in Georgia, because -- a lot of people are saying, but she can never testify against her husband. In Georgia, because this involves the death of a child, she very well may be compelled to testify, get on the witness stand, and even if not charged, she's got to testify against her husband.

BALDWIN: How about that?

Sunny Hostin and Danny Cevallos, we will continue this conversation, I know, weeks and possibly months ahead.

HOSTIN: Yes.

BALDWIN: Thank you both very much.

Later this hour, we will ask the question, has the verdict here basically already been decided by you, by the public, by such early critical media exposure? What happens if there are potential jurors who have to be picked? We will talk about that a little later.

Coming up next here on CNN, it has been three years since the trial of Casey Anthony. CNN has some exclusive new photos of this woman and details that were actually never revealed at the trial.

Also ahead, Hurricane Arthur still making his way up the East Coast, already caused a lot of flooding, as you can see, in North Carolina. What is next for those of you a little further north? Chad Myers joins me live next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Welcome back. You're watching CNN.

Hurricane Arthur finally made landfall on the U.S. late last night, roaring ashore the Carolina coastline as a Category 2 hurricane. But nearly nine hours later, it did drop back down to a Category 1.

But in the thick of it, at the height of it, I want you to look at just -- you can see just by the palm trees, and maybe those almost look like fireworks -- it's not fireworks. It's sparks from the power lines because of the wind and the rain.

Now that Arthur has moved on, homeowners are spending their July 4 cleaning up. But for some, the crackling of those electrical lines were pretty frightening.

And here is today's look at the eye of Arthur from the ISS, from the International Space Station. NOAA says Arthur was the first Category 2 hurricane to hit the U.S. since 2008.

CNN meteorologist Chad Myers is watching all night long into the wee hours. And you have some pictures now from this outer banks cam of - CHAD MYERS, METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, that's North Carolina. That's what it looks like right now. That's just north of Rodanthe on the curb as you come down oat 12, and you can see still water on the road. But front loaders trying to get all of the beach off the road because this looks like a snow storm, at least a couple of feet of sand here. We do know that a couple of bridges are being inspected. I saw one that didn't look very good. They're gonna have to inspect that for a while.

So yes, there was damage, and it always happens this way. That - the first day you go, "Oh, that wasn't much," and then the second day you start getting video from footage and you go, "Oh," and then the third day you go, "Whoa, this is worse than we thought." So we're gonna get the video in. It just takes some time to get it.

Rain all the way up into Boston and Connecticut today, even into New York City. I don't believe that that will still be there for fireworks later today. This is moving very quickly now at about 25 mph, so trying to get an outer band back to D.C. seems significantly unlikely as the storm is moving so weakly to the north and to the northeast. Get it out of here. We don't need it.

Unfortunately, we're gonna get a little bit of weather here on up toward the Cape and also into Halifax, Nova Scotia, maybe pouring some water into the Bay of Fundy, which will increase the tides that they already have there. The good news is that by the time the low is there, we're gonna be pushing water this way and maybe pulling water out of the Bay of Fundy. You know the tides there are phenomenal, like 25 to 45 feet depending on the mood.

You know, you think about the tide that we have, like, in America, "Oh, it's up two feet, lower two feet," you gotta loosen the lines on the boat. Think about those guys going up and down 25 feet.

And there you go, Halifax, you still have tropical storm warning for you to our friends to the north, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Coming up, a truly inspiring story. This young man born with only one leg becomes a soccer superstar. He's down at the World Cup just taking it in, in Rio. We will talk to them. Don't miss that interview coming up, pretty inspirational.

And next, it has been three years since the Casey Anthony trial. CNN has some new exclusive photos of her. And her attorney reveals information about her family, her daily routine. What is she up to now? You will find out coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)