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Creator Commentary: Hot Seat - The Case of Justin Ross Harris

🕑 Added 2023-02-27 00:02:10 +0000 UTC

Comments

n3bulazer

I’m not an expert, by any means, but I have a not insignificant amount of knowledge about psychology as I’ve just completed my first year of a master’s in the subject, and in my civilian opinion: hell no. There’s absolutely no way that he didn’t see Cooper, didn’t hear Cooper, didn’t remember at any point in his day when he made reference to Cooper, and I ESPECIALLY don’t believe that he could’ve accidentally left his son in a hot car when he had so much apparent knowledge about hot car deaths - the vet’s video, in particular, should’ve essentially primed him to take care to avoid such a thing. If the defense were to contend that Harris were just extremely stupid, that might give me pause, but seeing as he only seems slightly stupid, I’m comfortable maintaining that he’s guilty as sin. His returning to the car is especially sickening, because regardless whether he looked inside or not, unless he had no sense of smell, there’s no way he couldn’t have detected that something was amiss.

Anna Francis Dimka

New patreon subscriber here! JCS is gone, and you're definitely my favorite true crime channel, no competition. I've watched everything on your regular channel so I treated myself to all your extra stuff, and it's excellent. I really enjoy these commentary videos. JRH is absolutely guilty, and I'm confused and angry that he isn't facing a new trial. I understand the prosecution's rationale but it's most definitely a miscarriage of justice for that poor baby's horrific murder.

Big B

And he was acquitted just as you predicted

Matt Orchard

In broadcasting school I basically avoided "production" things wherever I could as I was more into the "creative" stuff like writing and preforming. When I fell into this line of work, one of the things I was struck by was how much art and creativity there is on the editing side of things :)

Dylan Pemberton

I became a patron in hopes I would hear things about editing. When I was in film school, editing was my favorite part of making short films.

Andrew

Love the commentary. Def miss dvd commentaries

m.j.j. Schuurbiers

Sometimes it's good to keep in longer sections . I personally would have thought it was cherry picked if i haven't seen it like that. He looked like an overweight toddler playing it up, wich he probably is. Sometimes all the circumstancual evidence should be enough and It was overwhelming in this case. I hate that he's of the hook and I also believe his wife was in on it , precisely becouse she keeps defending him, it would be very unwise of her to stoke the fire if he can drag her with him. They both seem extremely selfish and immature.

J West

Wow I just read this dude not only had his conviction overturned but that the state isn’t pursuing a retrial. He’ll essentially serve max 12 yrs and then walk after killing his son (allegedly). His defense is dodgy as sh*t. I don’t buy any of it

Henry McGowan

Revisiting this episode today in light of this dudes recent not guilty verdict.

John Mckay

I like this format. I miss DVD commentaries in general, never understood why the likes of Netflix doesn't have it as an option.

Vicki Edge

As above suggested and if you haven’t already Dave’s Lemonade is fantastic :)

Noelle R

I’ve adopted Explore With Us as my newest obsession but yes everything you’ve listed here is gold

Rob

I'm in the same boat, I find dreading has become too gruesome lately as well. Everything is so horrific. You might enjoy "That Chapter" I imagine you know Stephanie, Explore with Us, Red Tree Crime, True Crime Loser

Matthew (Zei)

Good video I’m just glad to hear your voice

Noelle R

I’ve reached a weird spot in my true crime youtuber journey where I’ve watched through every video you’ve put out, including these on Patreon, and I’ve developed a NEED to see more. I listen to them on my long commutes, and your witty remarks coupled with thoroughly researched crime and society cases is everything I’ve been looking for and more. And now I’ve exhausted it ! Do you (or anyone, for that matter) have a suggestion for who I might enjoy watching next ? I like dreading ok, but they’re kind of long winded and more to the point than witty, and I’ve already watched everything JCS has put out (though I think I prefer Matt’s videos). Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated !!

Snupaboo

Would like to see more, especially the polygraph video, love that one

Kaleb Milam

I really like the idea/format for this sort of thing! Super look forward to other commentary videos.

Daniel Huslig

I think the video I'd most like to see one of these retrospectives on, though it's probably not first on the list, is David Bain. Would love to hear more insights on that boondoggle of a case, and if your opinions on it have changed at all. Also reflection on the New Zealand memes

rascaltime

Also, not sure how much you appreciate suggestions from your audience for future cases, but I would love to watch your take on the Staudte murders. I find it a fascinating case, but unfortunately the available coverage is pretty weak.

rascaltime

Hey Matt - just signed up and was delighted to see this video as the first in my feed. This case is one of my favourites of yours from YT. I’m probably in the minority here, but I was left completely unconvinced that the the father was guilty, mainly because the evidence didn’t account for the fact that if somebody specifically chose this as the method of killing their child, they would need to be genuinely psychopathic. If you want a quick exit from your marriage (the supposed motive, which in itself was shaky at best) via the route of killing your child, you don’t opt to carry it out in the most tortuous way possible unless you’re really sick. By all accounts, those around him were convinced of his love for his son. All the circumstantial evidence in the world can’t justify that conclusion without something giving an indication that he’s capable of not only committing the murder, but doing so in a way that would have knowingly caused the maximum amount of pain and distress.

sloched plays

I appreciate this video, because I do like you clarifying your opinions. When the rubber meets the road, what do you think actually happened? In that vein, I’d be most interested in a Daniel holtzclaw commentary. And to a lesser extent a John benet commentary. The latter video is how I found you so it is still a favorite

Rileigh

I loved this so much, I really hope you can do it with other videos! Also so happy to hear the reference to Dave’s Lemonade, y’all are the absolute top of YouTube 💚

Sharma

It’s a brave thing to go back and rewatch/comment, especially with such a rough case. Taking a bit of a pivot from this case, I often wonder why we consider malice so heavily, as if moments or weeks of forethought makes a life lost more tragic. It’s such a difficult ask to 12 of your peers, with their own environmental bias or personal wounds, to use context clues presented by outside parties and backwards engineer the thought process of violence. I work in psychiatry and have found that it’s much easier to accept those as they present themselves, as even an unreliable narrator knows their story better than me.

Samuel Hayden

I really quite liked this, it was cool to see your behind the scene insights. I’d love to see a behind the scenes on the Holtzclaw video, but I could definitely appreciate it if you chose to the abridge video for commentary

Reiken Kayzer

I very much enjoyed this, getting your perspective on the video as a whole is really interesting, I hope to see more videos like this. Especially looking forward to the videos you really come into your own style. Great job as always.

Matt Orchard

Thanks Steve - Yeah, I know it definitely is like that all across the US but I'mnot sure if it goes like that in many/all other countries. I'll try to look it up at some point. My thing is - and this isn't supposed to be an academic legal argument, just how I'd set things up in Matt world - if the state has a the burden of proof, they should have the burden of making a case strong enough without having the last word. I mean, I can imagine many times a prosecutor must say something during rebuttal where the defense lawyer must be going "arrrgh, I wish I could counter that point before the jury go back." It just doesn't seem like the sort of situation you should be in at the end of a trial if the system is supposed to be slanted in your favor.

Matt Orchard

Thanks Elisabeth - lol, like I say it isn't actually *that* much work. I just thought it would be at the time.

Matt Orchard

One thing I've wondered is if for some non-sociopaths, is it easier to do horrible things if there is a lie you can tell *yourself.* Like could a person who otherwise has what you might call a conscience do something like that if they have a way of telling themselves it was an accident. I dunno.

Matt Orchard

Cheers Alex - The listening in is more for my benefit tbh. Like I gave it a rewatch in advance of recording but you still run out of stuff to say and need to listen in for a bit to think of something else. I know it went a little while especially toward the end which is why you hear me come back quickly at one point and go "I am gonna say stuff soon"

Elise Kallenbach

Sure! Happy to do it.

Matt Orchard

Thanks Elise, will keep you in mind :)

Lenora Karenbauer

I liked this. I look forward to more commentary videos. I am from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Around here, route is pronounced either way. I never noticed it, but tends to be pronounced like root in the context of “turn on to Route 422.” The other way tends to be “take the scenic route.” I have no idea if one is linguistically correct. Anyway, good job.

Elise Kallenbach

Matt, I'd be happy to volunteer to transcribe footage for you. Let me know oasismirror at gmail. :) I have lots of free time and good headphones.

Steve Chippendale

This was great! More like it please. One quick note about prosecutors getting the final word: The party carrying the burden of persuasion--i.e., responsibility for showing the existence of a fact/element--ALWAYS gets to go last. In all courts--from lowest trial to highest appeal--a case/issue is presented in three acts: opening/counter/rebuttal. Importantly, the rebuttal is much shorter than the opening and must be confined to to points already raised.

Elisabeth Villoutreix

This was good, thanks Matt. I have to say, as a non-native English speaker I do appreciate the fully subtitled interrogation footage. Sorry that it’s more work for you though. Looking forward to the next commentary!

John M

In the moment crimes of “passion” are one thing, but I’ll always have some level of dumbfound-ery when run of the mill people pull off the most heinous premeditated acts of violence. Leaving your kid to suffer terribly in the car while you are steps away? Mudering your entire family so you can continue your affair without them in the way? Hard to wrap your head around. Even some of the most vicious serial killers in the world managed to have “normal” family lives. That kind of narcissistic BPD I can understand on a psychological level, but the inverse really throws me.

Alex

I really enjoyed this. I'd like to have a little less of us listening in on the video and a little more commentary, though. I don't mean it has to be really insightful commentary or hot takes or anything -- I appreciated the aside about the pronunciation of "route" hahah (by the way I'm 90% sure that's just regional pronunciation differences which have blended together because of TV/movies)

Joel Dellavalle

yeah this was great, 100% works

Katie Fortner

I LOVE this idea. Would love to see this for all vids

Matt Orchard

Yeaaaah, there's stuff I didn't know with that case too I might need to give myself a refresher on.

Bex McKenna

For what it's worth, I enjoyed this and would like to see more commentary videos! :) Always interesting to get further perspectives and hear "behind the scenes" stuff.

Peach

The original video is what got me into your channel and still, to this day, is one of my favorites of yours. I appreciate this new commentary on it, but I also feel like the original commentary needs no defense. Thank you for all the work that you do!

Ross Batchelor

Great stuff, like the idea. If this sticks then I'll be looking forward to the Sandra Melgar commentary as it is the one video that definitely made me rethink the opinion I had before watching, always loved that ending rant bathed in Jingle Bells. I'd have to assume that sentiment would be spread and more detailed through one of these.

Kyle

Awesome stuff, really hope you continue with commentary on other episodes. I was never sure about this case, I'm glad he's getting a re-trial. I'm not sure he's innocent, but it never felt like his guilt was really proven, I just think it's too possible that he didn't do it on purpose. I think his wife's testimony tips it for me.