posted on February 13, 2003 08:24:01 AM new
Clara Harris was convicted of murder in the eath of her husband David harris, whom she ran over with her Mercedes.
posted on February 13, 2003 09:01:55 AM new
My husband and I have been teasing with one another about this case. Wondered how men [in general] would feel if she were to be found not guilty. It still remains to be seen how severe of a penalty she will receive. Surely some men are breathing a sigh of relief.
posted on February 13, 2003 09:10:27 AM new
I have no sympathy for this woman. All assets should be transferred immediately from her estate to the child or children of this couple and she should be transferred to the nearest street curb.
Shortly after Clara was charged, all of her husbands assets & funds in his bank accounts were placed in trust to prevent Clara from using those funds for her defense.
I'm betting she will not be given probation, but sentenced to at least 10 years in prison.
Like the prosecutor said, instead of killing her cheating husband, what she should have done is like most all other women do, "take him to the cleaners, take him for all he has got".
posted on February 13, 2003 09:53:49 AM new
Maybe in California, she could have taken him to the cleaners. But this was TEXAS, where the men are men and the women are chattel....
.................................................
Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Firemen, Police. We call them our heroes...but we pay them like chumps
posted on February 13, 2003 10:00:08 AM newShortly after Clara was charged, all of her husbands assets & funds in his bank accounts were placed in trust to prevent Clara from using those funds for her defense.
That's good to know, bear.
To murder a child's father over a trivial emotional issue is nutty to say the least. It's especially gruesome to know that she murdered the father while his child sat in the car.
posted on February 13, 2003 11:55:18 AM new
I am generally sympathetic toward women's causes. ... but a nice long stretch in prison seems just about right to me. Had I been the prosecutor, I would also have charged her with aggravated emotional abuse (if there is such a crime) of Lindsay, who had to sit in the front seat and watch her father's death through the windshield.
posted on February 13, 2003 03:15:54 PM new
If the jury decides Harris should serve any prison time, she will have to serve at least half her sentence before she is eligible for parole. This is because the jury found this morning that Harris used her Mercedes-Benz as a deadly weapon. That also means she cannot be released on bond while she appeals her conviction.
[ edited by bear1949 on Feb 13, 2003 03:31 PM ]
posted on February 13, 2003 04:05:56 PM new
The 17-year-old stepdaughter, who had been in the car when her father was killed, testified that she had attempted suicide several times after her father's death.
Jurors had four choices in deliberations: murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and not guilty.
Clara Harris could face life in prison on the murder conviction.
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.
Sudden passion is legally defined as the following:
Accused was provoked by the victim
Crime happened at the time of the offense
Provocation made an ordinary person so enraged that he or she was incapable of cool reflection
posted on February 14, 2003 07:05:23 PM new
Jury sentences Harris to 20 years in prison, $10,000 fine
By ALLAN TURNER Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Jurors today sentenced dentist Clara Harris to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine for the July 24 automobile attack on her adulterous husband, David Harris. They deliberated for over six hours before reaching the decision.
The three-man, nine-woman jury also found that Clara Harris acted under "sudden passion." Twenty years in prison is the maximum sentence under that condition. She will be eligible for parole after 10 years.
As the sentence was being read, Harris stood with her attorneys, George Parnham and Emily Munoz, gripping her arms. Upon hearing the sentence, she put her hands to her face and crumpled, her knees apparently buckling. A few minutes later, she was led from the room by a bailiff and her attorneys.
Jurors Thursday found Clara Harris guilty of murder after a total of eight hours of deliberation. She could have gotten a sentence as hard as life in prison, or as light as probation.
Harris learned her fate on the 11th anniversary of her marriage to the man she killed.
Parnham said during a news conference this evening that he will appeal the case, and said there were numerous grounds for such action, including evidence that was not allowed to be admitted.
That included an audiotape made by police of Clara Harris the night of the killing. Parnham describe his client as "incoherent and rambling" and it would have shown her state of mind had it been allowed.
"I think our feelings should be obvious," Parnham said. "The verdict is overwhelming. However there are so many issues, so many grounds in the appellate process, so many options available to us.
"This fight is not over and we will continue to pursue the issues in this case as hard as we pursued them prior to this verdict."
Asked to describe his reaction to the punishment, he replied: "Shocked. I can't put it in any other words. Surprised is an understatement."
During the flurry of news conferences after the sentencing, a friend warned that Clara Harris may try to harm herself as a result of the setnence.
"Clara is probably going to kill herself and we are extremely worried about her being incarcerated," said Shelley Canada.
Asked if authorities are aware of the possibility that Clara Harris could try to commit suicide, Parnham said that the sheriff's department knew the situation.
"Precautions have been taken to make sure that nothing like that occurs," Parnham said. "Here you have a woman who not only has just lost her husabnd, but also is a mother of two baby boys who expect their mother to come home tonight."
Prosecutor Mia Magness said she was satisfied with the verdict and sentencing.
"I believe justice was done today," Magness said. "After hearing all the evidence, the jury recognized this case for what it was: the senseless taking of a human life. Their verdict recognized Mrs. Harris' conduct and they didn't excuse it."
She said the jury "sent a message that was pretty clear, and it was simply this: if you unlawfully take a human life, for whatever reason, you are going to go to jail."
The prosecutor said the disputed audio tape was not admitted because it did not include a recording of Clara Harris being read her rights.
Magness also said she spoke with the jurors after the sentencing was announced and said their decision was a hard one.
"It was a difficult decision for them, and that was evident by the fact that, when they came back on the guilt-or-innocence verdict, several of them were crying," she said.
Final arguments in the penalty phase began this morning with Magness calling for jail time for Clara Harris, though she did not specify an amount.
"Probation -- scratch that," Magness said. However, she also told them to "scratch" a life-in-prison penalty.
Defense attorney Parnham asked the jury to spare his client from any jail time.
Parnham often spoke quietly and haltingly. He appealed for probation, telling the jury that the Harrises' twin sons should not be "ripped away" from the arms of their surviving parent.
Parnham warned that his opponent, prosecutor Mia Magness, would tell the jury in her rebuttal that their decision would "send a message."
"But it won't stop the Gail Thompson Bridges of the world from doing what they do," Parnham said, referring to the David Harris' mistress.
During Parnham's arguments, Clara Harris wept, occasionally holding her head in her hands. He painted a picture of his client as a model citizen prior to the killing.
"Clara Harris is respected by her neighbors, loved by her neighors, loved by the colleagues she employed, loved by the family that was closest to David," he said. "She worked hard. She was a good mother, a good wife. She has requested and she will be able to abide by terms of probation."
Parnham completed his arguments at about 10 a.m., and prosecutor Magness started her rebuttal, attacking the defense's strategy of painting the defendant as a good person.
"You are not asked to punish her as a person, you are being asked to punish her conduct," Magness said. "Her conduct of July 24 is what you should be basing your decision on."
Magness called Clara Harris "selfish" for the actions that led up to and caused her husband's death, and for involving David Harris' daughter, Lindsey Harris.
"To even involve a teenage daughter in what should have remained something resolved by adults -- to involve her to the point that that child has to witness the death of her father is unconscionable," she said.
Lindsey Harris was the prosecution's sole witness during the punishment phase.
The prosecutor also countered Parnham's argument that the boys should not be deprived of their mother.
"She is using her children as a shield," Magness said.
Magness said that, as the defense tried to paint Clara Harris as a woman who suffered humiliation, David Harris' humiliation was forgotten.
"How about drowning in your own blood while your teenage daughter watches?" she asked. "You talk about humiliation? What about his?
"Every single one of us has the right, no matter who you are, or what choices you make in life, to die with dignity. It is what you hope for. And she took that away from him," Magness said.
She completed her arguments at about 10:25 a.m. As state District Judge Carolyn Davies announced a brief recess before jury deliberations would start, defense attorney Munoz stood.
Munoz said she wanted it noted in the record -- though without an objection -- that the court reporter was crying and that Magness was near tears during her rebuttal. She called the behavior "prejudicial as the public displays of emotion that Clara has displayed during the trial."
Thursday, at least two members of the panel wept as their verdict was read shortly after 9 a.m.
The conviction could have sent Harris to prison for five to 99 years or life. If sentenced to 10 years or less, she would have been eligible for probation.
With the jurors' determination that Harris killed her husband in "sudden passion," she could have gotten a prison sentence as short as two years.
Thursday, the jury also found that Harris had used her S-body Mercedes-Benz sedan as a deadly weapon -- a finding that would keep her in prison during her appeals and require her to serve half of her assessed sentence before she could become eligible for parole.
The jurors, who received the case about noon Wednesday, deliberated for slightly more than eight hours before announcing the decision.
Harris, 45, was accused of running over her husband, orthodontist David Harris, in a fit of jealous rage after she found him with his mistress at a Clear Lake-area hotel.
The victim, 44, suffered massive injuries in the attack, including 16 broken ribs and a broken back, jaw, collarbone and pelvis. His lungs were punctured and a blood vessel to his heart torn.
The murder vehicle, a 2000 model valued at $55,125, was impounded by police and will become part of David Harris' estate.
posted on February 14, 2003 08:40:19 PM new
She was sentanced to twenty years, which means about half that for good behavior. Just ten years for murdering her husband in a fit of rage by running over him three times in front of the children.
All I can say is that if the situation were reversed, where this was a man who ran over a woman, how long a sentace would he have gotten, public sentiment what it is?
posted on February 14, 2003 09:05:24 PM new
I thought about that too, Borillar. A man would have gotten life without the "sudden passion" exemption which reduced the sentence to 20 years or if she is lucky in Texas, 10 years.
Under the same circumstances, a poor black woman would get life and a poor black man would have possibly received a death penalty in Texas.
posted on February 15, 2003 07:29:56 PM new
She will have to do a flat 10 years before she is eligable for parole, no good time off.
There are several people around here who have stated the should have been a capital murder trial. If she had been poor black, white or hispanic, rather than a rich latina (she was born & raised in Columbia), it would have been a capital murder trial.
posted on February 22, 2003 09:56:29 AM new
Clara Harris transferred to prison psychiatric unit
By LISA TEACHEY Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Clara Harris, the Clear Lake dentist sentenced to 20 years in prison for killing her husband with her car, was moved to a state prison psychiatry facility in Rusk on Friday.
For now, Harris, 45, is being held in a cell by herself until she adjusts to prison life, said Larry Fitzgerald, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
"That is typical," he said. "That is for the purposes of letting the warden and other prison officials see how she acclimates."
The Skyview Unit in Rusk is a co-gender psychiatric facility, Fitzgerald said, but not all inmates there need or are undergoing psychiatric treatment.
"Why she was transferred there, I don't know at this point," he said. "That was done by (the prison) classification (system)."
Harris was sentenced Feb. 14 for killing her orthodontist husband David, 44, in a Nassau Bay hotel parking lot July
24 after catching him with his mistress.
Before going to Rusk on Friday, she was taken to Gatesville, where she was fingerprinted, photographed and issued a white prison uniform.
Because the jury found the car Harris used to kill her husband was a "deadly weapon," she is not eligible for bond while she appeals her case.
Houston attorney George M. Secrest Jr. confirmed Friday that Harris has hired him to handle her appeal. He said he will review a transcript of her three-week trial to find the best issues on which to appeal.
Secrest, a former Harris County assistant district attorney, is a well-known criminal defense lawyer. He acted as a special prosecutor to investigate gag order violations during the Andrea Yates murder trial and handled some of the appeals of executed pickax murderer Karla Faye Tucker.
He once served as a public defender in the federal courts in Houston and as a clerk for former Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Wendell Odom Sr.
George Parnham, who defended Harris at her trial, was out of town Friday.
However, immediately after the trial, he said appeals might focus on expert testimony and evidence not admitted, including the two-hour audiotape of Harris' July 25 statement to police.
