The Latest: Mom in hot car death pushed on dad’s double life

BRUNSWICK, Ga. – The Latest on the murder trial of a Georgia man whose son died after being left in a hot SUV (all times local):

5 p.m.

A prosecutor is pressing the ex-wife of a Georgia man about how well she really knew him before their toddler son died in a hot SUV.

Justin Ross Harris is charged with murder in the 2014 death of his 22 -month-old son, Cooper. His ex-wife, Leanna Taylor, testified Monday as a defence witness that Harris wouldn’t have left the child to die intentionally.

But prosecutor Chuck Boring pressed Taylor on cross-examination about how little she knew of her then-husband’s “double life.” Evidence has shown that around the time of the boy’s death, Harris had met a prostitute for sex and was sending sexual text messages to a teenage girl.

Taylor said she and Harris had been in counselling for sex-related problems but she didn’t know “the depth” of his deceptive behaviour.

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10:50 a.m.

The ex-wife of a Georgia man charged with murder after their toddler son died in a hot car says her former husband was an involved father who “wanted to enjoy every second he could” with the child.

Leanna Taylor began testifying Monday morning as a defence witness for Justin Ross Harris, as the trial enters its fifth week. He is charged with murder in the June 2014 death of their 22-month-old son, Cooper.

Prosecutors say Harris killed his son intentionally to escape the responsibilities of family life. Defence attorneys say the death was a tragic accident.

Taylor told jurors she and Harris had problems with their sex life. But she says when it came to Cooper, Harris “wanted to be the one to push him on swings” and the one “to slide down the slide with him.”