Clara Harris to fix computers, not teeth, in prison

Associated Press ^ | March 20, 2003 | Associated Press Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

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HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Front page

March 20, 2003, 12:12PM

Clara Harris to fix computers, not teeth, in prison

Associated Press

RESOURCES

Clara Harris was found guilty of murdering her husband by running over him in her Mercedes again and again.

• The story of Clara Harris
Video: Pre-trial interview with Harris
(Video courtesy of KHOU, Ch. 11. Requires Real Player. )

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THE TRIAL
• The indictment:
State of Texas vs. Clara Harris
•
Key testimony from the trial

Video
Jury delivers verdict
Jury delivers sentence
Interview with forewoman

Day by day:
• Day 1: Hotel employees tell what they saw
• Day 2: Grainy videotape reveals little The tape
• 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
• Closing arguments: Jurors get option of a conviction less than murder
• The verdict: Harris found guilty of murder
• The punishment: Harris gets 20 years in prison
• The jury: One says it was just about evidence
• Sounding Board: Chronicle readers react - with audio

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AUDIO
Defense attorney
George Parnham
Reaction
The appeal
The sentence

Prosecutor Mia Magness
The verdict
Emotions during closing arguments
Why tape wasn't used

Family and friends
Statement by Jim Shank, Lindsey Harris' stepfather
Dr. Shelley Canada, friend of Clara Harris

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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

After a month at a prison psychiatric hospital, the Friendwood woman convicted of killing her cheating husband by running him over with her car has been assigned to a women's prison to serve her 20-year murder sentence.

Clara Harris arrived late Wednesday at the Mountain View Prison at Gatesville, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Larry Todd said.

"She is cooperative and had a brief interview with the warden and indicated she would be serving her time without incident," Todd said Thursday. "She will live in dormitory-style housing and will mix and work with other inmates."

Harris, a dentist, also would be given a job at the prison's computer repair and maintenance shop, where inmates rebuild computers for school districts, he said. She is not allowed to practice dentistry.

Harris, 45, had been locked up -- first in the Harris County Jail and then in prison -- since Feb. 13, the day before her 11th wedding anniversary. That's when a jury in Houston sentenced her to 20 years and a $10,000 fine for killing her orthodontist husband, David, 44, after finding him with his mistress at the same hotel where she married him a decade earlier.

The first month of her incarceration was spent at the Skyview Unit near Rusk in East Texas.

At Mountain View in Gatesville, about 35 miles west of Waco, she'll be among up to 650 female convicts. The prison includes Texas' female death row, although the condemned inmates are isolated from general population prisoners like Harris.

Besides computer repair work, prisoners there also have agricultural and livestock handling jobs.

"She has computer knowledge, and that job seems to be one well suited for her," Todd said, adding that inmates have no Internet access.

Harris becomes eligible for parole after 10 years in prison. She could have received a life sentence but drew a lesser penalty after jurors decided she was driven by "sudden passion" to repeatedly run over her husband in a suburban Houston hotel parking lot July 24.

[MeekOneGOP]

She didn't cry hard enough in court. Now she has to fix 'puters !

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

[MeekOneGOP]

fyi. . .

[The Red Zone]

Why should she put some poor IT schmoe on the outside, out of a job?

[Servant of the Nine]

How stupid. The prison system is full of people in desperate need of dental care, so they will have her fix computers.

So9

[No Truce With Kings]

It was her victory laps that nailed her coffin.

Otherwise the failure to get a cheatin' husband tag for her licence would have been just a misdemeanor.

[Enterprise]

Fixin bytes instead of bites.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yep. When she was convicted of murdering her hubby via Mercedes Benz, she lost her license to practice dentistry is what I heard . . .

[mountaineer]

*groan*

[MeekOneGOP]

At Mountain View in Gatesville, about 35 miles west of Waco, she'll be among up to 650 female convicts. The prison includes Texas' female death row, although the condemned inmates are isolated from general population prisoners like Harris.

So she now has my former coworker and neighbor for her neighbor:

State's highest criminal court hears Darlie Routier's appeal - Baby killer may get off?

ABC News’ Sylvia Chase interviewed Darlie
Routier on Death Row. (ABCNEWS.com)

http://abcnews.go.com/media/OnAir/images/abc_routier2_000918_h.jpg

Darlie Routier maintains her innocence in the deaths of Devon, 6, and
Damon, 5. (ABCNEWS.com)

http://abcnews.go.com/media/OnAir/images/abc_routier_000918_t.jpg

[MAWG]

Hey Clara, hope you like SPAM.

[dennisw]

She'll "grow" in prison. She'll become like an older sister to the younger, less educated, females. Their helpful lesbian mentor. Yeah, she'll fit in just fine.

[tomswiftjr]

You need a license to practice dentistry. Commit a felony involving moral turpitude (like Murder) and you loose your dentistry license.

[unixfox]

Harris, a dentist, also would be given a job at the prison's computer repair and maintenance shop, where inmates rebuild computers for school districts, he said.

This kinda pisses me off, giving these FELONS jobs that are supposed to be bid on by people like myself.

[MAWG]

She'll have lots of time to " grow " in prison. When convicted of murder in Texas, the average length of stay is 85% of the sentence. Clara should do 17 years.

[Harleys Mom]

I wonder why they didn't give her a job of fixin Mercedes! She seems to do a good job of re-aligning cars.