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Maddox Kilgore, defense attorney for Justin Ross Harris gives a statement on the indictment against Harris at the Cobb County Courthouse Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 in Marietta, Ga. More than two months after his son's death in a hot car, Justin Ross Harris, who prosecutors say sat in his office exchanging nude photos with women while his son languished for hours was charged with murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson)  MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT
Maddox Kilgore, defense attorney for Justin Ross Harris gives a statement on the indictment against Harris at the Cobb County Courthouse Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014 in Marietta, Ga. More than two months after his son's death in a hot car, Justin Ross Harris, who prosecutors say sat in his office exchanging nude photos with women while his son languished for hours was charged with murder on Thursday. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT; LOCAL TELEVISION OUT; WXIA-TV OUT; WGCL-TV OUT

Dad's charge murder in hot-car death

ATLANTA -- A grand jury Thursday indicted a suburban Atlanta father on murder charges in the June death of his 22-month-old son, who was left in a hot car for seven hours.

Justin Ross Harris, who has been in jail since he was arrested soon after the death of his son, Cooper, was charged in an eight-count indictment in Cobb County Superior Court, just northwest of Atlanta.

In addition to the murder counts, Harris was charged with cruelty to children, criminal attempt to commit a felony and dissemination of material harmful to minors.

Not all of the charges were connected to Cooper's death; three were linked to communications that authorities said Harris had with a girl.

Authorities said that he had reviewed online materials about living a "child free" lifestyle and had exchanged explicit messages with a number of women during his workday. Surveillance video shows that at one point in the day, he returned to his vehicle, where he had strapped Cooper in a rear-facing car seat. He did not tell police about that visit.

Oklahoma faults IV for execution woe

An official report released Thursday about a flawed execution in Oklahoma in April says that an improperly placed intravenous line in the prisoner's groin allowed the drugs to perforate into surrounding tissue rather than to flow directly into his bloodstream.

The report was ordered by Republican Gov. Mary Fallin after the prolonged writhing and gasping of the prisoner, Clayton Lockett, during the execution that drew attention to death penalty procedures and problems associated with lethal injections.

Because the groin area was covered with a sheet as the injections began -- first a sedative intended to render Lockett unconscious, and then paralyzing and heart-stopping agents -- the doctor and paramedic on the scene did not see the golf-ball-size bulge indicating a procedure gone awry, said the report by Michael Thompson, the commissioner of public safety.

The report, which described prison officials as ill-prepared for unusual circumstances during an execution, recommended keeping injection sites visible at all times and improving the training of prison officials who inject the lethal drugs.

Kansas GOP rips Democrat's race exit

TOPEKA, Kan. -- The Kansas Republican Party on Thursday questioned the legality of the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee's withdrawal from the race against incumbent Pat Roberts.

Democrat Chad Taylor, a northeast Kansas prosecutor, had been vying for support from some of the same moderate Republican and unaffiliated voters as independent candidate Greg Orman, a Kansas City-area businessman whose fundraising has been more successful than Taylor's.

Republicans immediately labeled the Democrat's decision a "corrupt bargain" designed to give one viable candidate a better shot at unseating Roberts, who survived a difficult GOP primary in August.

Democrats, battling to hold onto the Senate majority in President Barack Obama's final two years in the White House, saw an opportunity to help that effort and pushed Taylor to withdraw. Party officials in Washington said Missouri's Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill spoke to Taylor in recent days about abandoning his bid. The officials spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they couldn't publicly discuss the private maneuvering.

Taylor announced Wednesday that he had "terminated" his campaign. But Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican, announced that Taylor would have to remain on the Nov. 4 ballot because he had failed to declare that he would be unable to serve if elected.

2nd breach jars youth-detention center

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- At a Nashville detention center with a long history of violence, escape attempts and sexual-abuse allegations, more than two dozen teens broke out of a common area and created a large disturbance in the yard Wednesday night, roaming the area with sticks and spraying a fire extinguisher.

Officials said two staff members suffered minor injuries at Woodland Hills Youth Development Center, where just two days earlier, 32 teens escaped after finding a weak spot in the fence surrounding the yard. Six remained at large Thursday.

Late Wednesday, about 24 teens -- some of whom were part of the breakout -- kicked out metal panels underneath the windows in a common area to reach the yard. This time, police formed a ring around the center's perimeter fence to try to prevent another escape, and none of them left the premises. The disturbance lasted about four hours, ending about 3 a.m., officials said.

-- COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS

A Section on 09/05/2014

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