Judge says jury can convict Clara Harris of something less than murder

Houston Chronicle ^ | February 12, 2003 | Houston Chronicle Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Top Story

Feb. 12, 2003, 12:27PM

Judge says jury can convict Clara Harris of something less than murder

Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

RESOURCES

Clara Harris is accused of running over her husband after catching him with his former receptionist at a hotel.

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• From the arrest to the trial

Video:
Private investigator catches incident on tape
(Video courtesy of KHOU, Ch. 11. Video requires Real Player)

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The trial:
• The indictment
• What we know about them
• The experts: Why they're split over jurors
Preparing for the trial: Video report from Jan. 19.

The testimony:
• Day 1: Hotel employees tell what they saw
• Day 2: Grainy videotape reveals little
• Day 3: What the private eye learned
• Day 4: Defendant's sobs halt trial twice
• Day 5: Stepdaughter says Clara Harris 'went straight for him'
• Day 6: Defense expert says Mercedes only hit him once
• Day 7: Physical evidence vs. eyewitnesses
• Day 8: David Harris' employees say affair disrupted workplace
• Day 9: Mistress testifies of 'open marriage'
• Day 10: Clara Harris takes the stand
• Day 11: She doesn't remember hitting her husband
• Day 12: David Harris' mom says marriage "made in heaven"
• Day 13: Witnesses say car hit victim three times

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From the Chronicle's archives:
• The story of Clara and David Harris: They epitomized success and happiness, but underneath the facade... - Jan. 19
• The wife: Mother of twins kept to herself - Aug. 4
• The mistress: Mistress not a stranger to the spotlight - Aug. 4
• The married couple: Victim wanted to end marriage - July 27

Jurors in the Clara Harris trial began deliberations today after prosecutors warned that sympathy is irrelevant to her guilt and the defense argued that the Friendswood dentist would never have let her teen-age stepdaughter in her car if her intent had been to run over her philandering husband.

Judge Carol Davies opened today's proceedings by telling jurors they can find her guilty of something less than murder for running over her husband after catching him at a Clear Lake hotel with the receptionist she'd fired just days earlier.

In her instructions to the jury, Davies said jurors can acquit the 45-year-old mother of two if they have a reasonable doubt, or they can convict her of murder, which can bring a life sentence. The two other options jurors received today are convicting her of manslaughter, which can mean two to 20 years in prison, or criminally negligent homicide, which carries as little as 180 days in jail or as much as 10 years in prison, depending on whether the jury finds she used the car as a deadly weapon. Any punishment less than 10 years means probation is possible.

Clara Harris was charged with murder July 24 after she drove her Mercedes-Benz into David Harris outside the Nassau Bay Hilton Inn on Nasa Road 1.

In their closing arguments, prosecutors attempted to convince jurors Clara Harris intended to murder her husband by running over her husband repeatedly with her 4,000 pound Mercedes-Benz.

Prosecutor Mia Magness acknowledged that some jurors' hearts may go out to Harris, who was lied to and cheated on. Sympathy, however, is irrelevant to deciding guilt, she said.

"You can't help but feel sympathy," she said, "But you know? The solution is to get a divorce. David's bad judgment, his bad choices, shouldn't result in his death.

"For heaven's sake, a man is cheating on you, you do what every wife in this county does: Take him to the cleaners.... You can make him wish he were dead, but you don't get to kill him."

Magness told jurors that since the main facts of the case are not in dispute, "The question is her intent: What did she mean to do?"

"Was it intentional and knowing, or was it all just an accident, reckless?"

Magness tried to show that David Harris' death could not have been an accident because eyewitness after eyewitness testified that Clara Harris ran over him again and again. Some saw her circle around and run right over his body at least twice, and most testified it was at least three times.

She recalled testimony by her star witness, David Harris' daughter, who said her stepmother had said, "I'm going to hit him," then stomped on the gas. Lindsey Harris, who had been struggling to get out of the Mercedes, testified she could feel the difference between going over the curb and her father's body.

Magness also brought up testimony by an accident investigator who contradicted the defense's expert, saying tire marks and blood on the Mercedes' undercarriage showed that David Harris was run over at least twice. A medical examiner also testified that his injuries confirmed that.

For the past two weeks, however, defense attorney George Parnham has been arguing Clara Harris was a devoted but mistreated wife who was only trying to damage the other woman's SUV when she accidentally hit her husband just once. She testified she doesn't even remember striking him.

As Harris intermittently cried silently at the defense table, Parnham told jurors today that it was "homewrecker" receptionist Gail Bridges who put a tragic chain events into motion and even David Harris himself. Bridges "enticed and seduced him into a relationship that shouldn't happen." David Harris broke his vows and arranged secret trysts with his lover while his wife visited her family in Columbia, then neglected his family, Parnham said.

Humiliated and devastated, Clara Harris nonethless attempted to fix their marriage by dying her hair, making an appointment for liposuction and vowing to pay more attention to her husband, Parnham said.

On July 24, the attorney said, Harris believed that her husband was breaking off the affair, and she was shaken when private investigators told her he was at the Hilton with his mistress.

Parnham argued that it's key to consider that Clara Harris did not rush to the hotel alone: She took her stepdaughter with her. That shows murder was not on her mind, he said.

"Do you really think she would have her daughter in her car if that was her intent?" Parnham said.

Parnham reviewed testimony by an accident reconstructionist who said tire marks and blood on Harris' Mercedes suggested that Clara Harris only hit her husband once. He noted that the expert said that Harris had been driving so fast that she would have had only a split second to turn the car away from her husband as she approached the vehicle she said she had been aiming for.

Considering that she had just seen her smiling husband strolling out of the hotel hand and hand with mistress, Parnham asked, could Clara Harris have been in the right frame of mind to make a split-second maneuver?

In trying to show that Harris acted out of character while her mind was confused, Parnham also made a point of recalling testimony by David Harris' parents. Mildred Harris testified that she still considers her daughter-in-law more like a daughter and the marriage was "a match made in heaven." Mildred and Gerald Harris both testified she was a law-abiding citizen, and they have often accompanied the defendant to court and expressed their continued support for her.

Earlier this morning, Magness went over the judge's instructions step by step. The state does not have to prove that Clara Harris went to the hotel with the intent to kill in order to prove murder, she said. Magness told jurors they could find Harris guilty of murder even if they just believe she killed him knowing that what she was doing was dangerous to human life, such as firing a gun into a crowd.

The lesser charge of manslaughter can't be considered unless the jury decides Harris is not guilty of murder. Magness said recklessness was the key to manslaughter, such as firing a gun into an apartment wall, knowing that people lived next door.

Magness declined to discuss the least serious charge of criminally negligent homicide -- an option only if manslaughter is ruled out -- saying she didn't want the jury to get that far.

The judge, however, defined criminally negligent homicide as a death that was the "result of conduct with substantial and unjustifiable risk." One example of criminally negligent homicide would be spooning rat poison into a sugar bowl and putting it back on a shelf.

[MeekOneGOP]

I will be posting the article when a verdict on this trial is out, as well as sentencing (possibly, any updates in between as well).

If you want to see the articles (be 'pinged'), let me know.

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Stay tuned for the next episode of...'As the World Turns'…

AP 2-7-2003
Defendant Clara Harris reacts as she
testifies about her husband's affair.

Associated Press photos 2-10-2003 Defense lawyers for murder defendant Clara Harris, right, rested their case today after her mother-in-law, Mildred Harris, left, testified that the woman who drove over her son with a Mercedes-Benz is still "like a daughter." Prosecutors, however, immediately called an Houston police officer to the stand to rebut her lawyers' claims that David Harris was hit only once.

[MeekOneGOP]

I will be posting the article when a verdict on this trial is out, as well as sentencing, and possibly any updates in between as well.

I will ping you to these articles and updates only if you ask to be on this list. Please let me know if you want on.

Please let me know if you want ON or OFF my Clara Harris murder trial ping list!. . .don't be shy.

[MeekOneGOP]

The A/P version from the Dallas Morning News...

Final arguments begin in Houston murder case

02/12/2003

Associated Press

HOUSTON - Defense attorneys say it was an accident but prosecutors say a wife turned her Mercedes-Benz into a 4,000-pound murder weapon when she ran over her husband after finding him with another woman.

Lawyers Wednesday delivered closing arguments in the four-week trial, after which jurors were to begin deliberations in the case against Clara Harris, 45.

Harris ran over her 44-year-old orthodontist husband, David Harris, in a suburban hotel parking lot last summer after confronting him with his lover. She says the death was an accident and that she ran over her husband just once.

Prosecutors say the attack was intentional and David Harris was run over at least twice. At the very least, prosecutor Mia Magness said Clara Harris' reckless driving resulted in her husband's death, so she should be held accountable for at least manslaughter.

Defense attorney George Parnham called David Harris' extramarital lover, Gail Bridges, a "homewrecker" who should share blame for what happened the evening of July 24 after Bridges and David Harris had a tryst at a hotel.

"I'm not up here to vilify the memory of David Harris ... but there were some bad choices, folks," Parnham said. "There were some bad decisions made here."

Various witnesses in the case testified the husband was run over three times -- or as many as five times. A defense expert testified David Harris only was hit once, though he did not interview any witnesses.

In addition to murder and manslaughter, the jury also could consider the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide if they decide against the other two charges.

If convicted of murder, Clara Harris could face life in prison -- but her lawyers have indicated they would then lodge a "sudden passion" argument that could reduce the sentencing guidelines to two to 20 years in prison.

A manslaughter conviction carries the same sentencing guidelines, while a criminally negligent homicide conviction would bring a sentence ranging from six months to two years in prison. Sentencing severity also could be affected if the jury decides Clara Harris used her car as a deadly weapon.

As she began her closing argument, Magness urged jurors to strongly consider murder and not to even consider the lesser charges.

"As a group if you believe it's murder and two of you think it's a lesser offense, you do not have to compromise to accommodate them," she said.

Among witnesses who took the stand during 13 days of testimony were Lindsey Harris, the victim's daughter who was a passenger in the $70,000 luxury sedan when he was run over. David Harris' receptionist and girlfriend, Gail Bridges, also took the stand.

The victim's mother, father and brother testified on behalf of Clara Harris, who took the stand in her own defense, telling jurors she loved her husband and did everything possible to save their marriage.

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Online at: http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/021203dntexharris.8ba2b8.html

[dirtboy]

Judge says jury can convict Clara Harris of something less than murder

Like what? Illegal parking?

[isthisnickcool]

Judge Carol Davies opened today's proceedings by telling jurors they can find her guilty of something less than murder for running over her husband after catching him at a Clear Lake hotel with the receptionist she'd fired just days earlier.

Like I said on the other thread here.: I'd expect that when it gets down to it the DA will submit lesser charges as options for the jury to consider besides the current charge. And that she will be convicted on a lesser charge then receive some kind of probation.

Put me on your ping list.

[BenLurkin]

She murdered him alright but the jury understands why. Maybe for punishment we can fix her up with Scott Peterson.

[MeekOneGOP]

AP If convicted of murder,
Clara Harris could face
life in prison.

[SerpentDove]

Meek,

Please include me on your Clara Harris ping list.

Thanks!

SD

[BenLurkin]

Caption:

"That's right y'all. You jus' let little missy go, an mah fam'ly will take care of the justice doin'. Ah can hardly wait!"

[Wolfie]

Quite a difference in the judge's instructions from the Rosenthal case, eh?

[connectthedots]

My guess is manslaughter with a slight possibility of criminally negligent homicide. Doubt it will be murder since she could not have known she would see him in the garage of the hotel or planned in advance to run him over with the car.

[cherry]

maybe mommy and daddy Harris know something about their son that makes them stand behind their dtr in law.....one wonders....

[MeekOneGOP]

You're on, thanks !

Did you see the closing arguments? Magness was very convincing to me.

I bet she she gets a murder conviction and does time.

[MeekOneGOP]

...Maybe for punishment we can fix her up with Scott Peterson.

LOL ! Hmm? I'm trying to figure out which one's getting the worse deal...

[isthisnickcool]

maybe mommy and daddy Harris know something about their son that makes them stand behind their dtr in law.....one wonders....

Ya think? Mercedes beats man with temper?

[MeekOneGOP]

You're on. Thanks...

[connectthedots]

Why did the witnesses not pull him out of the way after hewas run over the first time, or certainly by the second time?

[BartMan1]

death by Mercedes .....wow....the video footage that the private investigator shot of her circling over and over to hit him again and again is worth a look...

[Hermann the Cherusker]

Sympathy, however, is irrelevant to deciding guilt, she said.

I thought "He needed killun'" was a valid defense in Texas?

Seriously, I'd vote not guilty though. There'd be a lot less adultery and divorce if more of these type of events happened.

[isthisnickcool]

death by Mercedes .....wow....the video footage that the private investigator shot of her circling over and over to hit him again and again is worth a look...

The PI firm, Blue Moon is likely to have some problems over all of this....