ATLANTA – Documents show that the cost of sending a Georgia man to prison for life after his son died in a hot car outside Atlanta is estimated to be about $550,000.
A judge this month sentenced 36-year-old Justin Ross Harris to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jurors had convicted him of malice murder and other charges in the June 2014 death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports (http://bit.ly/2gRM73l ) that Georgia taxpayers spent about $275,000 for the unsuccessful defense of Harris.
The newspaper reports that changing the trial's location from Marietta to Brunswick cost another $149,000, and an additional $127,000 was spent on the prosecution, such as expenses for lodging and expert witnesses.
Harris moved from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to the Atlanta area for work in 2012.