'Vroom-vroom-screech-bam!' - sounds of David Harris' death (Clara Harris murder trial)

Houston Chronicle ^ | February 12, 2003 | By ALLAN TURNER

[MeekOneGOP]

HoustonChronicle.com -- http://www.HoustonChronicle.com | Section: Local & State

Feb. 12, 2003, 6:46AM

'Vroom-vroom-screech-bam!'

Tennis player recalls sights, sounds of David Harris' death

By ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

RESOURCES

Clara Harris grew emotional Tuesday after hearing testimony about her husband's "mauled" body. She is accused of running over him after catching him with his former receptionist at a hotel.

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Webcast: Check back here at 9 a.m.

• 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"

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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

Prosecutors rested their murder case against Clara Harris on Tuesday after two final witnesses testified that they saw her run over her husband three times with her Mercedes-Benz outside a hotel in Clear Lake.

In contrast to the defense contention that orthodontist David Harris was run over only once, Oscar Torres and Chris Junco told jurors that the defendant circled to run over her husband repeatedly in the Nassau Bay Hilton parking lot.

"I heard vroom-vroom-screech-bam!" Torres said, smashing his fist into his hand to demonstrate the impact of the car hitting the Lincoln Navigator owned by David Harris' mistress. "After impact, I saw the car and the dentist's (David Harris') body flying."

Jurors were sent home at noon as preparations were made for final arguments today, after which the case will go to the jury.

Clara Harris, a 45-year-old dentist, is accused of deliberately running over her husband on July 24 after finding him at the hotel with his mistress.

Torres and Junco said they were playing tennis on separate courts near the hotel when they heard a commotion and witnessed the fatal incident.

Torres, who said he owns a Houston entertainment company, testified that he did not see the Mercedes sedan hit David Harris because the 6-foot-tall Navigator, a sport utility vehicle, blocked his view. But, he said, he saw Clara Harris frantically turning the steering wheel of her car to circle and hit her husband again.

On cross examination, lead defense attorney George Parnham pointed to a row of bushes illustrated on a diagram of the parking lot and asked Torres if they had obscured his view from outside the tennis court, where he had gone after hearing the noise. Torres said he did not remember any bushes and had a clear view of what occurred.

When the Mercedes stopped after running over David Harris three times, he testified, a teenage girl jumped from the vehicle and ran toward the injured man.

"She screamed, 'My dad! My dad! You've killed my dad!' " Torres said. "She screamed like an animal in excruciating pain. I watched with disbelief."

The defendant's stepdaughter, Lindsey Harris, 17, has testified that she was in the car when it struck her father.

Torres said he approached the victim.

"He was mauled," he told jurors. "I mean, he was gasping for air."

At one point, Parnham questioned Torres on his phonetic rendition of the Mercedes' acceleration, tire-screeching and crash.

"From the moment she got in the car, she was accelerating," Torres testified. "Vroom-vroom-screech-bam!"

"I noticed you stomped your foot on the floor," Parnham said. "You didn't see the defendant's feet?"

"No, I couldn't see her feet," Torres conceded.

"You couldn't hear her stomp on the accelerator?" Parnham asked.

"No," Torres said.

"You heard the car go vroom-vroom?" Parnham began.

"Is the court reporter getting all of this?" state District Judge Carol G. Davies inquired as jurors, lawyers and the audience guffawed.

Tuesday's testimony began with Junco, who also was at the tennis court across from the Hilton parking lot that night.

Junco, a Seabrook real estate agent, told jurors he heard loud quarreling in the parking lot and went to investigate.

"I saw a car running over a body," he said. "It was a big Mercedes. I believe it was gray or a shade of gray."

He said he saw the car make three counterclockwise circles, running over David Harris three times.

"I wasn't sure what I was seeing was real," he testified. "It was weird. I don't know how to describe it."

Junco, too, said he heard the injured man gasping. At one point in his testimony both Junco and the defendant began weeping.

"I never thought the car would stop," he said through his tears. "It was amazing how fast it was going and how, in such a confined space, it was just amazing what could happen."

"Did you think it was an accident?" asked Assistant District Attorney Mia Magness.

"No, ma'am," Junco answered.

On cross examination, Parnham queried Junco about statements he purportedly made to a defense investigator about what he saw. Junco disputed that he ever had said Clara Harris was not "rational" when driving the car.

"I don't like the word 'rational,' " he said, "but she wasn't thinking correctly."

On redirect questioning, he acknowledged that "I don't know what she was thinking. I can't say if she was rational or not."

"So, as she was running over David Harris, did you see her face?" Magness asked.

"Yes," Junco responded.

"What did it look like?" Magness asked.

"Pissed off," Junco answered.

It still was unclear Tuesday whether attorneys will attempt to allow jurors the option of finding Clara Harris guilty of a lesser offense.

If Davies agrees to such an arrangement, jurors could find Harris innocent of murder -- which could carry a life sentence -- but guilty of a less-serious offense such as manslaughter.

If convicted of murder, Harris still could receive a reduced sentence if jurors find that she acted in "sudden passion" rather than premeditation. If sentenced to 10 or fewer years in prison, she could be eligible for probation.

[MeekOneGOP]

Having seen Parnham's closing argument and now watching Magness' closing remarks...if I'm on that jury, Clara's doing time !

[MeekOneGOP]

Magness to the jury: If you're husband is cheating on you, you do what every other woman in this county does - you take him to the cleaners! But you don't KILL him...

[isthisnickcool]

Magness to the jury: If you're husband is cheating on you, you do what every other woman in this county does - you take him to the cleaners! But you don't KILL him...

Not only could Clara have taken him to the cleaners she could have fired him from the business. I understand she owned 51%. She was the brains behind the operation, BTW.

If she is convicted I don't she won't do a lot of time. I'm still thinking she has a shot at conviction and probation.

If she is convicted and it's appealed then all the trash on David is going to spew out. She loved the guy. Everyone that knew them knows that. And she loved him enough not to drag him thru the mud during the trial. On things besides the fooling around.

The woman lost her mind for several minutes. That does not excuse what she did but she did not plan to kill the guy.

Let's see what happens. If she gets time I suppose she won't need the house back in Polly Ranch. Nice house, I've been in it.

[MeekOneGOP]

It'll be interesting. I wonder how long they might be out?

Seeing the closing arguments, I thought that Magness nailed it. Clara once said she'd kill him and get away with it. Then she said "I'm going to hit him" and hit the accelerator. She circled around and hit him multiple times and there were multiple witnesses. I'm not taking away anything regarding David being a total jerk. He was. If everyone that was a total jerk at one time in their life had this happen to him/her, we'd all be dead I think. lol, sort of...

Polly Ranch? Is that their place in Colorado I think I heard they had? I remember they had a house in Friendswood and one near Lake Livingston. In any case, I bet it's pretty nice, huh?...

[DeFault User]

As I understand it, the defense has tried to potray the defendant's actions as a mistake, that she didn't intend to kill him. I should think the jury would be insulted by such a defense after the testimony they've heard.

Why didn't the defense potray the event as the actions of an enraged wife? Go for a manslaughter verdict.

Or is it the strategy to later claim that the defendant had an incompetent attorney?

[isthisnickcool]

Not bad. But hardly a "mansion" as described.

A total jerk? To me that would be someone that fools around on his wife and also gets physical with his wife and kids.....

[isthisnickcool]

Or is it the strategy to later claim that the defendant had an incompetent attorney?

Parnham is not incompetent. Unless you consider him to be so if he did not use all the info. he might have because his client would not allow it.

[MeekOneGOP]

Yes, the defense is claiming it was an 'accident' (and the DA called 'reckless'). And I agree, the DA did a great job and has the upper hand, imho. Very credible witnesses and good evidence to back it up, etc.

The defense has claimed 'enraged wife', but they're calling it something else. I can't remember what right now, though.

If you click on the keyword "Clara Harris" on this thread you can see the latest articles on this trial. Here is last one posted today.

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

It has now gone to the jury to render a verdict.

Here is an excerpt from this link:

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.

[MeekOneGOP]

Also, Clara took the stand against Parnham's advise...