FOX News: Verdict reached in Clara Harris murder trial [Guilty of murder]

FOX News Channel | February 13, 2003 | Fox News Channel Staff

[MeekOneGOP]

FOX News: Verdict reached in Clara Harris murder trial

[WoodlandsTXFreeper]

From "The Houston Chronicle", here are reactions to today's verdict:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/1777692

[zlala]

From "The Houston Chronicle" article

"Charline R. Thompson, 58 West Houston: Ms. Harris had a fair trial. The jurors completed the difficult task of deciding her guilt or innocence. After having been a juror on a murder trial years ago, I understand the dilemma each of the jurors faced. Deciding whether one lives, dies or is incarcerated for life is an extremely hard choice to make. Ms. Harris could not handle "to love and to lose." A cheating spouse can often damage one's self-esteem, thereby distorting their thinking, which many times results in acts of violence. It is unfortunate that Ms. Harris was forced to resort to such deadly measures. She was attempting to protect and preserve her marriage. However, there are consequences for murder

Jeepers...talk about double speak & justifing. Ms. Harris was "forced to...such deadly measures." I think not! Glad this woman wasn't on the jury! Oh yeah, and "attempting to protect and preserve her marriage"...is one tried and true way of doing that. /sarcasm off.

[zlala]

oops...I meant to say...running over ones spose is a tried and true way of doing that.

[zlala]

Try this one last time... spose=spouse. I'm going home now.

[txradioguy]

Well I just heard on the 3 pm news that the daughter in the punishment phase today admitted that she tried to kill herself she was so distraught over what her step-mom had done to her dad. So this woman, instead of going to court for a divorce like "normal" people, played vigilante and not only took one life she almost made it a twofer. Prep her arm for the needle.

[ZULU]

"Oh it was such a wonderful paradise we lived in."

Yes it was.

"Unless of course you dared deviate from the "norm", as defined by people who didn't have the imagination to have their own lives so they had to poke their noses into everyone else's."

You are so wrong. More poking into one's activities and intrusive behavior occurs NOW and its from the government, not your neighbors. Back then people were more laid back, except when it came to anti-social behavior.

"Or unless you didn't care to watch "wholesome" TV, but preferred something with more edge."

Children and minors should not be exposed to the kind of suggestive, erotic, anti-social garbage portrayed on the main television channels. If you want porn - fine - go to the Cable Networks. I don't excuse the culpability of parents in being primarily repsonsible for what their children watch on TV. But when you get the kind leftist, anti-American, garbage that Spelling and Lear throw at them on the screen, masquereading as sit-coms, it effects the way they think.

"Or unless you were one of those people with the nerve to prefer to live your life according to your own standards instead of those of your neighbors. Or even :gasp: didn't think your personal life was anyone else's business."

Society has a RIGHT and a responsibility to set social norms for acceptable behavior. All the problems we are experiencing today in our own world are a result of society's failure to set boundaries and enforce them.
Liberty without responsibility is license.

"Or you were a woman whose husband beat the crap out of her.." Nothing is perfect, that was not common, and when it did occur, the beater frequently had the crap beat out of him by his inlaws.

"..way too many people considered it his perogative."

I was talking the 1950's here, not Medieval Europe. I think your perspective of earlier times in America has been warped by modern media distortion.

"Or maybe were part of a minority .." That was the main fly in the ointment, but that was something which could have been corrected without destroying the entire fabric of society. But even back then, with all those problems, most black families were intact and stable. Illegitimacy among minorities was as low as among whites. Today, more children are born without fathers in some minority groups than into a structured normal family.

"just plain getting your due as an American was. ..."

What's wrong with getting your due as an American?? If we didn't think that way, we'd still be thirteen struggling British Colonies.

"Then had advantages. Now has advantages. Personally, I'll take now.

True. But I want the advantages of BOTH periods and I think we can strive to achieve them.

[INSENSITIVE GUY]

If your a woman you get life,if your a man you get death."AND EQUAL JUSTICE FOR ALL".

[JoeSixPack1]

No problem here. It was a hate crime. She hated the SOB.

Also, a murder weapon of convience. A crime of passion. A repetative use of the murder weapon, and exclamation of intent, a deceptive court room defense and finally

a daughter needs her Mom!! (Where's Gloria Allred?)

Johnny Cochran would have had the vehicle disassembled and blue printed and proved beyond any doubt that the pedal and steering mechanizm of the murder weapon were faulty and had stuck thus preventing her from saving her husbands life.

[Ichneumon]

OJ would have been found guilty in Texas anywhere except Houston or Dallas.

What have you got against Houston or Dallas? They're not known for touchy-feely verdicts either.

Austin, on the other hand, is the most liberal place in Texas.

[Ichneumon]

Don't Mess with Texas BUMP!

[hoosierham]

Well , by all means , let's have MORE public executions by the Old Testament method of communal stoning.

THAT ought to straighten up the kids. Oh yes, DEATH was prescribed for disobedient sons and daughters-so who wants to drag their child before the judges and have them killed ?

No less an authority than Jesus Christ said"let he who is without sin cast the first stone" !!!

[MeekOneGOP]

I would have bet that the jury gives her move than 10 years so she can't get probabtion with no served time. Now, hmm? Still thinkin' about it. They spent half the day in there and didn't arrive at a sentence this afternoon. When I saw that TWO of the jurors wept when the judge read their verdict, I wondered if they might be going for the more lenient options. She SHOULD do time in jail, imho:

1. Running him over THRICE is NOT an ACCIDENT.

2. She said she could kill him and get away with it.

3. She accelerated and said "I'm going to HIT him!"

[SwatTeam]

I don't have anything against Dallas or Houston, except I can't breathe in Houston. I'm just going by some of the news articles I read in the Houston Cronicle and the Dallas Morning News during the OJ debacle.

[Bonaparte]

"Crime of passion. The women went crazy. She deserves to be punished but not by being put in prison forever."

So let me see if I've got this straight...

If wanted to, say, get rid of my wife, all I would have to do is "fly into a jealous rage" before doing it and I could easily defeat the death penalty and maybe even avoid a murder one verdict. Great news! But just to be sure, I'll arrange to have one of the kids in the car with me to "witness" my "jealous rage" before I run the woman over. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[Tall_Texan]

Well, kid, I remember when I could leave the door to my house unlocked and not worry about anybody breaking in. I remember when teachers were mainly interested in teaching, students were expected to dress and act like gentlemen and ladies, people were reluctant to engage in disreputable activities or crimes because they didn't want to dishonor their family name, when everybody took their hats off when the flag passed by and stood and covered their hearts or saluted when the National Anthem was played.

I remember when most children were born to into a family consisting of a husband and wife, illegitimacy rates were practically non-existent, and VD was something other people got - rarely.

I remember when kids respected elderly people simply because they were older and wiser than them.

I remember when kids didn't perforate every oriface in their body or cover themselves with barbarian tatoos and dress like little sluts or pimps.

I remember when a cop was poorly paid, but treated with respect, and God help the kid who was dragged up to his old man by the local police officer for causing some kind of problem, or called up by a teacher for disrupting a class or not paying attention or respect.

I remember when you could go into a church and hear a sermon about God and the Bible and leading a decent Christian life, instead of a political lecture by some moron whose naievity on current events is exceeded only by his historical ignorance.

I remember when you could turn on the TV set and watch good, wholesome entertainment instead of barely watered down pornography.

I remember when you could leave your young kids outside to play and no freaking pervert would dare to molest them. If he did, the cops would have to rescue him from the neighbors as they were pounding the tar out of the s.o.b.


I remmeber when the only four letter words kids used were words like "pray", or "darn".

I remember when a person who committed murder was guilty of the crime, and he couldn't blame it on something that happened to his grandfather, or on the gun, or on something he saw on in the movies.

I remember communities where people came out to help each other in need, regardless if it was a crime, or an accident, or whatever, without having to worry about a law suit.

Yeah. We "matured".

---

Great rant, ZULU.

Totally irrelevant to this discussion (murder is murder, at least it still is in Texas), but it was a wonderful speech nonetheless. I suggest you post in on your home page.

[ZULU]

You said we have "matured".

I expressed some facts that would tend to refute the employment of that term.

[ZULU]

Yeah, well that can hold here.

Mrs Harris was subjected to inhuman abuse by piece of lowlife offal. The world is better off without him and people who behave like him

I don't really believe the biblical quote you stated is appropriate here in this context, except, perhaps with respect to the jury.

[Tall_Texan]

I said nothing about whether we have matured or not (that was another poster), but I think there are ways we, as a society are better now than the "good old days" and ways that we are not. You did an excellent job of detailing some of the ways we are not - the lack of respect for others, the lack of modesty, the lack of moral fiber, the tolerance for deceit and lies in our culture and the disintegration of family and community which has been assaulted both by communism and liberalism.

But I would also point out that if you turned back the clock fifty years (where most of us would view the "good old days"), there was wide-spread racial discrimination, there were limited opportunities for women outside the home other than low-wage menial positions, drunkeness and drunk driving were winked at, cigarette smoke was everywhere all the time because nobody had yet seen it as a health hazard, health standards in general were quite lax, few remedies existed for victims of domestic violence and $5,000 was considered a good annual income.

I think in terms of public morality, community and individual responsibility, those days were far superior than today. But there were also some major blind spots in those times that I would not like to revisit.

But all that has little to do with a 45-year-old dentist who runs over her cheating husband with a car. She is guilty of murder now - and I'd guess she would have also been found guilty of murder then. At no time in our society has murdering the spouse been viewed as the correct way to resolve a marital conflict.

[ZULU]

Thanks - I think.

"But I would also point out that if you turned back the clock fifty years (where most of us would view the "good old days"), there was wide-spread racial discrimination,.."

That was the fly in the ointment.

"there were limited opportunities for women outside the home other than low-wage menial positions,.."

True, to a degree, But most women back then wanted to be housewives and that was their career goal - to find a good man, get married and raise decent, God-Fearing, children to carry on their family line. For those women who did want a career, it was difficult. Teaching was about the best they could hope for in general. I remember when people were reluctant to go to a lady doctor.

"drunkeness and drunk driving were winked at, "

A drunk on a horse couldn't do much damage, and when the gasoline buggy came along, traffic levels were much lower than today. But Christian temperance groups were active going back into the 1800's and 1700's.

"few remedies existed for victims of domestic violence "

Except some angry male inlaws with an attitude.

"$5,000 was considered a good annual income."

Back in 1955 you could buy a house for $10,000.

When my grandfather told me what he earned on the Railroad before WW1 I couldn't believe it. But then he told me there was no income tax and you could buy a bag full of groceries for a few dollars and a beer for 5 cents.

"At no time in our society has murdering the spouse been viewed as the correct way to resolve a marital conflict."

Check out my post about the Civil War general. True, he blew away the other guy and not his wife. But in even earlier days, dueling was common and an accepted way for gentlemen to handle a matter of honor.

[hoosierham]

I think the Biblical quote was relevant in that it deals with an adultress. Perhaps Jesus didn't happen on any adulterers about to be stoned.

On another note, how does a person who professes love for another justify killing that same person ?