Justin Ross Harris will spend the rest of his life behind bars in the death of his son, who was left for hours in the man's scorching vehicle.
The Georgia father convicted of leaving his toddler son to die inside a hot car will spend the rest of his life in prison, a judge ruled Monday.
Justin Ross Harris received the maximum sentence for his murder conviction in the agonizing death of his son, Cooper, who was 22-months-old when his dad left him strapped into his car seat in the scorching vehicle.
Harris went off to work that day in 2014, later telling investigators he had taken his son to breakfast that morning, but forgot to take him to day care and accidentally left him in the car while he went to work.
The father pulled his son’s body from the car more than seven hours later.
The prosecutor said Harris was a murderer with “a malignant heart,” who left his son to die because he wanted to be rid of the responsibility of caring for a child.
Read: Ex-Wife of 'Hot Car Dad' Speaks Out After Guilty Verdict: 'The Problem Is Not the Parent!'
Harris was sexting with women other than his wife on the day Cooper died, investigators said. His partners included a prostitute and an underage girl, according to authorities.
“It’s not a case of an adult hating his child,” prosecutor Chuck Boring told jurors. “It’s just that he loved himself and his other obsessions more than that little boy,” according to CBS affiliate WGCL-TV.
Watch: Why Prosecutor Compared Dad on Trial for Leaving Son in Hot Car to Ron Burgundy
