Day 3: Slow process to fill Ross Harris jury pool

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — It could take weeks to seat a jury to try a Cobb County father accused of leaving his son in a hot car to die.

Only a dozen of the original pool of 250 have been interviewed in-depth so far.

Justin Ross Harris entered the courtroom Friday with a fist bump for his lead attorney even after hearing a line of potential jurors indicate they thought he was guilty of his son's death.

It was an opinion that would not necessary get them disqualified.

"Could you be a fair juror? Could you be an impartial juror? And I think on each question you answered yes, you could be fair and impartial,” Assistant District Attorney Jesse Evans said to one potential juror.

And if a juror answered yes to that, they could likely stay in the jury pool.

For the lawyers, it is a tedious and sometimes awkward task of asking intrusive questions in a case that involves murder, infidelity and sexting.

“Has he indicted to you whether or not he shares with his girlfriend or fiancé that he looks at pornographic material?” Harris’ attorney Maddox Kilgore asked another juror.

“You said you’d known somebody or have known somebody who’s had somebody that was a victim of a homicide?” Evans asked a juror.

That question about the murder of the brother of a young potential juror prompted her to break down and the court to take a recess.

It is a sometimes painful task that will go on for a while.

"Weeks. It does look like weeks because its 30 minutes a juror," said attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who is not affiliated with the Harris case.

The judge removed four of the first 12 potential jurors Thursday. It's a long, tedious, repetitive process. But it's looking more and more likely a jury can be found.

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Merchant said figuring out exactly how many jurors they have to qualify depends on how many alternates the judge wants and how many strikes each side will end up with.

"If they want six alternates, which usually what they want in a case like this, then they need to qualify 48 people, so that means they need to get 48 folks in the pool so the lawyers can then make their strikes," Merchant said.

The judge has not said how many alternates will be seated in this case and how many jurors they want to qualify before each side gets their strikes. That number will determine how long the jury selection process will go.

Cox Media Group