Atlanta, GA
Metro Atlanta man accused of leaving toddler son to die in hot car released from prison
ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – A metro Atlanta man accused of leaving his 22-month-old son to die in a hot car has been released from prison.
Justin Ross Harris was released from Macon State Prison on Sunday after serving 10 years, according to the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Harris was originally given a life sentence in 2016 for the death of his son Cooper.
In 2022, the Georgia Supreme Court decided to overturn Harris’ murder conviction, but he still served time for sex crimes included in the original conviction.
Murder conviction overturned for Justin Ross Harris, who left son in hot car in 2014
Prosecutors said Harris left his son in his car in June 2014. Harris was supposed to drop Cooper off at daycare on the way to his job at Home Depot but did not do so.
Cooper was discovered seven hours later in the back seat. The temperature that day was in the 80s.
Harris claimed it was an accident and blamed sleep deprivation. Prosecutors claimed that Harris wanted to get out of his marriage because he wanted to have sex with as many women as possible.
During the trial, the state argued Harris was a sexual deviant who intentionally left Cooper to die so he could pursue women he met online – some of whom were teenagers. Harris reportedly had exchanged sexual text messages with multiple women on the day his son died. One of the text exchanges was with a 16-year-old.
The Georgia Supreme Court ruled the information should have been excluded because it was “needlessly cumulative and prejudicial.” The court also stated that the evidence used to show Harris maliciously caused his son’s death was far from “compelling” or “strong.”
The Cobb County District Attorney’s Office later said they would not retry Harris on murder charges in his son’s death.
MORE COVERAGE:
Justin Ross Harris will not be retried in son’s hot car-related death
Justin Ross Harris’ attorney: Client ‘delighted’ he will not be retried
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The small business hub is working to stay rooted in its mission to serve its community, while embracing events like the World Cup.
Views of the exterior of Pittsburgh Yards in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Natrice Miller/AJC)
Five years ago this month, an abandoned trucking terminal south of I-20 was reborn as a business and community hub called Pittsburgh Yards.
In the years since its opening, the 15-acre site has helped spur the development of the Southside Beltline and brought new businesses and visitors to a historically neglected part of Atlanta.
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Views of the exterior of Pittsburgh Yards as seen from The Beltline in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Natrice Miller/ AJC)
A catalyst
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Breaking ground
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Stephanie Flowers, a 40-year community resident and community advocate who participated in the community-led planning of Pittsburgh Yards, speaks at the initial community celebration of Pittsburgh Yards in September 2021. (Courtesy of Pittsburgh Yards)
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Views of the exterior of The Nia Building at Pittsburgh Yards in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Natrice Miller/ AJC)
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Guests check out the “We Need Love” exhibit at the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta, located in the Nia Building at Pittsburgh Yards. (Photo by Ty Peas)
2025 and beyond
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Lakeisha Jones, owner of plant company Pink Pothos, is in her shop on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Jones partnered with Tyler Cichonski, the founder of Rousseau Plant Care and created the Atlanta Plant Fest, a festival held at Pittsburgh Yards in early April. (Jenni Girtman for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
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Views of the interior of The Nia Building at Pittsburgh Yards in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (Natrice Miller/ AJC)
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Mirtha Donastorg is a reporter on The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s business team focusing on Black wealth, entrepreneurship, and minority-owned businesses as well as innovation at Atlanta’s HBCUs.
Prosecutors say he had researched the Bank of America Plaza and Delta Air Lines jobs as part of alleged plot.
The Bank of America Plaza, seen behind the Georgia Tech campus in March 2024, was the target of a terrorist plot by Cholo Abdi Abdullah, who was sentenced to life in prison Monday. (Jason Getz/AJC 2024
A Kenyan man was sentenced to life in federal prison after plotting what federal prosecutors called a Sept. 11-style plane attack on Atlanta’s tallest building on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization.
Cholo Abdi Abdullah, 35, was found guilty by a New York City jury in November 2024 on all six counts of conspiracy to hijack a U.S. airliner and crash it into an Atlanta building. He was sentenced to life in prison by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres on Monday.
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Jozsef Papp is a crime and public safety reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Walking around the streets of downtown Atlanta around 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, it looked like a gathering for the largest Kentucky quarter-zip convention in the world. If Nashville brought out all the flannels, Atlanta provided a more Southern sophistication vibe. But no matter what they were wearing, Big Blue Nation was at its finest.
In Nashville against Gonzaga, fans booed when Kentucky didn’t play well. Many debates on how appropriate that was have taken place since, but the booing wasn’t a few inebriated jerks in the corner starting trouble with others joining in out of a mob mentality. The booing in Nashville was organic and flowed from all nooks of the arena. It was the manifestation of frustration from watching Kentucky players fumble around on the court in their souls and let it be known.
When Kentucky’s offense looked once again anemic against St. John’s, fans in Atlanta hung in there. The only booing was directed at the officials for perceived bad calls, not at the players’ inability to score. Kentucky’s effort helped play a part in that, as fans could tell guys were at least trying hard (unlike against Gonzaga). But you could tell the arena accepted this group’s limitations, especially without Jaland Lowe.
So when Lowe made his unbelievable return to the game after what everyone assumed was a season-ending reinjury of his shoulder, there was a palpable shift from fans willing their offensively challenged try-hards to scrape together some points, to maybe just maybe, thinking their team might actually be kind of good.
The stagnancy that plagued Kentucky in the first half evaporated into motion with drives and cuts that made Kentucky look crisp. When Jayden Quaintence made his debut and looked every bit of the future NBA lottery pick we hoped he would, fans cheered his every move. At its heart, Big Blue Nation is a group of ball-knowers, and the collective appreciation the fans had when Quaintence would make even a routine defensive post play showed just how much fans are still into this team.
The full-throated cheers in the second half made everyone forget the woes of the first half, and most of this season, honestly. It was the first time since the Purdue exhibition that Kentucky fans cheered not just because the ‘Cats were playing well, but because they started to believe in this team again.
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