Ross Harris prosecution and defense make closing arguments as jury prepares to discuss verdict

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The Justin ​Ross Harris ​story is one​ of sexual obsession and a double life.

Or ​a​ 'cockamamie', implausible story cooked up by the police and prosecutors to fit their theory of why Cooper Harris died in his dad's hot car on a hot June day​ in 2014.​

Jurors in the Ross Harris murder trial, in Brunswick, Georgia, heard closing arguments Monday. 

They must decide if Ross Harris wanted a life free from children, deliberately abandoning his 22-month-old toddler son to 'burn to death' in his SUV while he worked for seven hours -- or if his death was accidental and the result of a memory lapse that could happen to anyone.

The six-men and six-women jury listened as Chuck Boring, assistant Cobb County prosecutor, reminded the court of the eight counts against Harris, 35, including sexual exploitation of minors as well as felony murder and cruelty to children. 

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Jurors in the Ross Harris murder trial, in Brunswick, Georgia, heard closing arguments Monday

Chuck Boring, assistant Cobb County prosecutor, reminded the court of the eight counts against Harris, 35, including sexual exploitation of minors as well as felony murder and cruelty to children

''Now that you've heard all the evidence, there is no doubt that Cooper was burned to death in that car,' Boring told the court.

Harris with Cooper and his wife Leanna

Cooper's death was a matter of a 0.6 mile, four-minute ride and the few inches between Harris and his son in the back seat. The father drove straight to his job after breakfast - instead of dropping the infant at a company-owned daycare center.

He parked his car and 'closed the door to his son's life,' Boring said.

Harris admitted he was responsible for his son's death, and his defense attorney said as much when the trial began in early October, he reminded the court. 

The high profile case at first looked like a tragic accident. But investigators cast doubt on Cooper's deaths when they found Harris had researched child deaths inside vehicles before his son perished. 

An expert in digital forensics and data recovery, called as a defense witness, said that his research of Harris' computers did not reveal any searches by him about 'hot car deaths' or 'how hot a vehicle must be for a child to die inside it'. 

Harris did not testify in his case

Among the witnesses called by both sides have been Harris' ex-wife, computer experts, ex-colleagues, a former prostitute, and several women who were teenagers when they embarked on affairs with Harris.

Harris himself declined to testify.  

'Responsibility is guilty in this case. There is no doubt that Harris is guilty of all of the charges,' Boring said in his closing argument Monday.

'This isn't a case about an adult hating a child,' Boring told the jury. 'It's just that he loves himself and his other obsession more than that little boy.'

Boring was referring to court revelations that Harris was obsessed with pornography and conducted a string of affairs with other women while married to his wife Leanna. 

'Killing a young child, there is no excuse for it,' Boring said. That Harris was a good dad on other occasions does not excuse what he did, he continued.

Boring called Harris an expert in hot car deaths.

'He thought he was smarter than anybody else. He didn't think anyone was going to call his bluff' and get away with it,' Boring said.

Harris faces life in prison if found guilty. His defense are arguing that his son's death was an accident.  

'If it's an accident, it's not a crime,' defense attorney Maddox Kilgore said as he begain his summation.

'If it's an accident, it's not a crime,' said defense attorney Maddox Kilgore

Kilgore said Harris has 'been buried in a mountain of his own sin'

'Ross Harris failed to take Cooper to daycare. He failed. He left him in that car. There was never a question about it. He is responsible. Nobody else.'

'But responsible is not criminal,' he stressed. 

Acknowledging his client's history of multiple sexting, encounters with prostitutes and 'hooking up' with other women, Kilgore said, 'if he had a double life, there was a constant in both lives. He loved this little boy.'

'Was this investigation a search for the truth, or was it police wanting to make the facts fit their theory? ' he asked. 'You've been misled throughout this trial.'

The state's case is all about 'demeanor and dirt,' he said. His client has earned the shame.

'He's been buried in a mountain of his own sin,' Kilgore admitted.

'His adultery and sexting is reprehensible. But none of it has anything to do with Cooper's death. The state wants to bury him in filth and dirt,' he said, calling the 'state's desperation' in this case and calling their accusations a 'cockamamie story'.

'To find Ross guilty of murder ignores that he was planning a cruise for a family vacation,' Kilgore said, referring to testimony previously heard in court. 'He had no reason to kill him.'

Video of Ross Harris and his son Cooper were shown to the jury in an often emotionally fraught trial

'There's no doubt he wanted to go on vacation,' Boring countered to Kilgore in his final address to the jury. 'He talked big and he thought big, absolutely.'

When Harris looked into vacations he asked if kids can go on cruises for free, Boring conceded. 

But Harris 'didn't search for how awesome cruises are for kids. He was concerned about money and had complained about how expensive kids are,' Boring explained.

'Even if Harris loved Cooper,' he said, 'humans are capable of awful things - especially selfish humans who are obsessed.'

'Many people said Harris was a good dad and loved his son. They didn't know about his double life.'

'He thought all along that he was going to be an advocate for preventing leaving kids in hot cars...He thought this was going to work out just peachy,' Boring said. 

'He never thought the police were going to get onto his act.'

'What was most important to him in his life?' Boring asked. 'Do you really think he was going to delete all of the lewd text messages and photos he saved on his phone?'

'Absolutely not,' he said. Those texts 'meant more to him than that child,' he said.

'Harris knew the dangers of leaving a child in a hot car more than anybody. This was no negligence. This was intentional.'

'This case is about justice. Today that little boy would be four years old, maybe learning how to play t-ball. But he's not - because that defendant took his life for his own selfish, obsessed reasons,' Boring said.

Harris may have 'vacillated back and forth until he had the opportunity to kill Cooper,' Boring added.

'What does he stand to gain? He doesn't have to worry about taking care of his child anymore,' Boring concluded.

After an hour-long verbal instruction from Judge Mary Staley Clark, the jury were sent home for the day.

They will get their written charges from judge on Tuesday morning and can begin deliberations.