Testimony to begin today in trial of man charged with killing boy, 3

Staff report

WARREN

Jury selection will wrap up this morning, and testimony in the Arthur Harper murder trial will begin in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Before the attorneys in Judge Peter Kontos’ courtroom questioned potential jurors Monday afternoon, the judge had officials indicate for the record that prosecutors had offered Harper, 45, of High Street Northeast, a plea bargain in the case.

Harper was offered to plead guilty to all charges – murder, child endangering and felonious assault – and get a prison sentence of 15 years to life. Harper refused the offer.

The judge also overruled a request by Harper’s attorney, John Juhasz, that would have prevented prosecutors from showing jurors a photograph of the victim, Russell Cottrill, 3, in a normal pose before the day of the injury.

Police say Harper used a wrestling move on the boy that caused severe head trauma and killed Russell on Nov. 28, 2015.

Russell was Harper’s common-law wife’s son, and Harper was watching the boy the day he was injured while she went to work.

Judge Kontos ruled earlier that a detective with the Warren Police Department did not “overreach” in the tactics he used to persuade Harper to tell the detective what transpired at their home on High Street that left Russell with his head injury.