The Georgia dad whose 22-month-old son died after being left for several hours in a hot car was indicted for murder by a Cobb County grand jury on Thursday.
Justin Ross Harris, 33, was charged with two counts felony murder, malice murder, cruelty to children and four other charges, CNN reported. He remains held without bond.
Harris claims his son Cooper's death was accidental when he left him in the car for seven hours while he worked at Home Depot on June 18. The temperature outside that day was a high of 92 degrees.
The indictment, however, alleges that Harris planned his son's murder. Harris "did unlawfully, and with malice aforethought, cause the death of Cooper Harris...by placing said Cooper Harris into a child car seat and leaving him alone in a hot motor vehicle."
Prosecutors say Harris killed his son because he was an unhappy husband who wanted to live a "child-free life," according to NBC News. Investigators found evidence that Harris searched child hot car-related deaths on the Internet.
Authorities also learned that while Cooper was inside his father's SUV, Harris was at work sending sexually explicit text messages to six other women. He sent one underage female a picture of his erect penis, a Cobb County detective testified according to CNN.
At lunchtime Harris returned to his vehicle to put something inside the SUV then went back to work. Harris allegedly realized his son was in the car a little after 4 p.m., seven hours after he arrived at work.
Harris' wife, Leanna Harris, asked the public not to rush to conclusions about her husband.
"The rush to judgment by the public and mainstream media has left me with little confidence in our legal system and our society," the wife said according to NBC News.
Other charges against Harris are criminal attempt to commit a felony (sexual exploitation of a minor), second-degree cruelty to children and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.
Harris pleaded not guilty to the murder and child cruelty charges in June, CNN reported.
