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New trial venue for man accused of leaving son to die in hot car

Posted at 8:36 AM, Jun 16, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-16 12:54:01-04

(CNN) — The high-profile murder trial of a Georgia father who’s accused of deliberately leaving his son to die in a hot car has a new location: Brunswick, Georgia.

Judge Mary Staley agreed last month to move the trial of Justin Ross Harris, 35, from Cobb County in metro Atlanta to a South Georgia coastal county due to extensive publicity.

Charges against Harris include malice murder, two counts of felony murder and cruelty to children in the first degree. He has pleaded not guilty.

Some of the charges in Harris’ indictment stemmed not from his son’s death, but from Harris’ alleged habit of sending sexual text messages to underage girls. According to prosecutors, Harris was having these illicit chats with as many as six women on the day his son, Cooper, died.

Jury selection is set to start September 12.

The coastal city of Brunswick is about 300 miles away from the Cobb County shopping center where police found 22-month-old Cooper dead in the sweltering back seat of an SUV in June 2014.