Clara suffered from a temporary moment of insanity brought on by sudden passion. She will at some point be transferred to a maximum-security prison to serve out the rest of her term. It was an accident. "This is going to be a hard case," Parnham told Primetime 2 months before the trial. "I told him 'look, look what she done,'" Bridges said. ''She just had this evil look on her face,'' Lindsey, now 17, said, describing how her stepmother appeared as they drove around for several hours trying to find David Harris, 44, an orthodontist who had told his wife several days earlier that he was having an affair with Gail Bridges, 38, who worked in his office. A dozen photojournalists flocked to Harris first court appearance. Though Harris had hired a private detective to tail her husband that night, she and Lindsey set out to do their own surveillance. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Clara Harris leaving prison on May 11, 2018. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. Join Facebook to connect with Harris David and others you may know. "His last words to me were, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry' and then he lost his life shortly after that.". They paroled OJ, clearly someone who cannot stay out of trouble. She was on a mission to find where he was, said Lindsey. ''In 10 years, he never had a negative thing to say about Clara. Staring at a photo of her twin boys, Clara bowed her head, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears, and then was escorted away. "What did Lindsey say to you?" Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Harris sons visited her at the Mountain View Unit prison in Gainesville, Texas, every month. Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. Today, the judge sent the jury out and told her: ''Either you will sit here in a composed manner or you will be removed from the courtroom. Lindsey was with Harris when she sped off in the direction of the hotel on July 24 to confront her husband. Through it all, however, Clara Harris only wanted people to know the truth about what really happened the night she murdered her husband. This is Dr. David Harris and hes fing this woman right here!. But then, to his horror, the judge read the jury's sentence: 20 years. Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison but only served 15. David pushed her to the brink of insanity. She was quickly inundated with requests for interviews, but she turned all of them down. I also understand what you say about her naivety. She said she felt a bump as the car ran over her father. Dr Lyndsey Harris is a Criminologist with extensive qualitative research experience. Ashok Moza, who was playing tennis at the yacht club next to the hotel on the evening David Harris died, testified that he heard squealing tires as he went to retrieve a ball. Blood was coming from his nose and mouth. Lindsey started hitting her father while shouting, I hate you! Harris ripped the shirt off Bridges, then David reportedly pushed Harris to the floor. Its time to forgive her and let her move on.. Fred Tokars knew his wife was ready to divorce him and he feared she'd expose all of his dirty secrets, so he hired one of his clients to make sure she didn't. Days of Our Lives (DOOL) spoilers tease that Steve Burton is all set to reprise his role as Harris Michaels, so let's talk about his first airdate back and mull over some shockers related to his character.. Burton debuted on DOOL as Harris way back in 1988, so it was a fun surprise when he brought the character to life once again last summer on Beyond Salem's second installment. She was led from the courtroom, and the trial was recessed for 15 minutes. Clara Harris went totally berserk & lost all control & sense of reality. She suffered plenty without going to prison. When the car stopped, David Harris, 44, was dead. Bridges responded, "The affair was wrong. Today, they had the chance to explain why. (Photo By Carlos Antonio Rios/Chronicle) Clara Harris Clara and David Harris Clara and David Harris Things spun out of control for Joy and she fled the country. In her rebuttal, an assistant district attorney, Mia Magness, cited witnesses' testimony that Clara Harris had lied about one of her twins being sick to persuade her husband to return home on the day he died; that she had trespassed on Ms. Bridges's property; that she had vandalized Ms. Bridges's Lincoln Navigator; and that she had assaulted Ms. Bridges in the hotel lobby shortly before her husband was killed. In cross-examination, Ms. Magness said that after the death of her husband, Clara Harris could have kept the twins from seeing their grandparents if the grandparents had chosen not to support her. ''But these were mistakes made by two of the finest people I know. Previously, Lindsey was a Principal at Kobre & Kim and also held posit ions at Wachtell , Lipton , Rosen & Katz. While their marriage seemed perfect from the outside, David Harris began an affair with his receptionist Gail Bridges in the spring of 2002, as reported by CBS News. They said they had come to the prison every month for the last fifteen years, without fail, to visit their mother. In his opening argument, Parnham set out the essence of the defense case: that Harris had wanted to rescue her marriage, and ran over her husband by accident when her actual intention was to ram Bridges' car. Running Into Fire: The Legacy of Jeff Blackburn, The Apache, the Irish Catholic Priest, and a 40-Year-Old Miscarriage of Justice, An Unforgettable Texas Tale of Envy, Embezzlement, and Fruitcake, How the Texas Rangers Became One of the Most Powerful Forces in the State. Around Houston, she became a pop culture reference. Suzie from Carson City on October 07, 2017: Triple J.I'm quite aware of my friend's name. This time, Harris got in on the drivers side. One of the prosecution's most powerful witnesses was 17-year-old Lindsey Harris, David Harris' daughter from a previous marriage, who was riding in her stepmother's Mercedes when it struck her father. Then she did another 180 and ran over him a third time. Im going to hit him, Harris told the teenager. Murder Defendant's In-Laws Tell Jurors Why They Remain Her Strongest Supporters, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/11/us/murder-defendant-s-in-laws-tell-jurors-why-they-remain-her-strongest-supporters.html. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. Some argued yes, it was murdereven first degree murder that warranted the death penalty. View the profiles of people named Lynsey Harris. Bridges told Garza that her life has never been the same since that night. On one hand, Lindsey said, she strenuously objected to her father's affair and disliked Ms. Bridges, who, she said, flirted openly with her father in his office. She said she tried to save their 10-year marriage by quitting her job, cooking her husband's favorite meals and promising to please him sexually, and that he promised to break up with Bridges over dinner. When Clara finally stopped the car, she got out, looked around, walked toward her dead husband, cradled him in her arms, and begged him to breathe. Are insane ticket costs pricing Astros fans out of Opening Day? It seemed that life was perfect and complete for the Harris family. With all hes done to me, I could kill him and get away with it, Harris had allegedly stated. They then called Dr. Harris on his cellphone and told him to come home because one of the twins was sick, a statement Lindsey testified was not true. Her first outburst, on Tuesday, occurred when a medical examiner gave details of the crushing injuries her husband had suffered. By the time they tracked him down at a hotel, Harris was livid. Hotel security was called and Clara was escorted from the building and told to leave the premises. Many of the mock jurors said that judging from what they had heard in the media, they believed Harris had killed her husband intentionally. Her husband later opened Space Center Orthodontics outside of Houston. I could hear someone yell at me to get away from my car to get away and I didn't quite understand why until I turned and looked. Read Skip Hollandsworths 2002 piece on Harris, Suburban Madness,. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Skin lesion removed from President Bidens chest last month was cancerous, doctor says, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Before and after photos from space show storms effect on California reservoirs, Latinx Files: In praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and moody, deadpan Latinas. Contact. I am tempted to call it "selfish", as she couldn't care less about the screaming kid beside her whose father she was killing, and so traumatizing her for life. Davis said the settlement followed a long day of mediation among the parties in May but will not be final until Galveston County Probate Judge Gladys Burwell approves it. The two began working to repair their marriage, and David Harris even told a friend, Were going to make it. He then informed his wife that he wanted to take Bridges to one last dinner to end things amicably, as he had led the receptionist to believe that his marriage was open. Nancy Kissel was in love with a man in Vermont, but she was living the life of an expat in Hong Kong with her husband Robert Kisseluntil she killed him. But then, on the last day of testimony, the prosecution produced a rebuttal witness who directly contradicted Irwin's theory. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. Lindsey Harris, 17, David Harris's daughter by his first marriage, was in the passenger seat of the car that killed her father. David Harris' tooth, found on the pavement next to his head, was introduced as evidence, as were autopsy photos showing what a pathologist said were tire tracks across the body of the. With her stepdaughter in the car, she ran over him three times and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Eventually, Clara and Lindsey stormed back to the Mercedes. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Over the next five years, she was turned down three more times. If convicted, Harris could be sentenced to life in prison. Harris was 60 years old at the time of her release, and she was looking for a job as a condition of her parole. Lindsey Harris, 17, David Harris's daughter by his first marriage, was in the passenger seat of the car that killed her father. The trial started off well for the defense team. She was reprimanded by Judge Carole G. Davies, the second time in two days her sobbing stopped the hearing. Originally sentenced to twenty years for first-degree murder, the former Houston dentist has been paroled. She had two sons with her orthodontist husband, David Harris. Witnesses recalled Lindsey screaming and trying to get out of the car, but Harris sped off to run over her husband. The 44-year-old orthodontist was tragically already gone. Although Davids parents and brother had testified during the sentencing phase of the trial they had forgiven Clara for murdering their son and brother, they too filed suit against the estate; including Brian and Bradley as petitioners in their claim. It's highly unlikely Clara was not "aware" of her husband's cheating ways. Mr. Parnham was a defense lawyer in that case, too. She turned the car around to run over him a second time, then made a final 180-degree turn to hit him once more. As the defense rested its case, Parnham was concerned about the damaging police statement and some of the testimony, but he was confident the jury would accept Irwin's testimony that Harris only hit her husband once. "'She killed my dad. When the anxious wife called their offices on July 24, 2002 for an update, they told her they had a detective watching David and Gail, who were currently checked into the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel. In an interview with Oprah before her release, Harris said, I want to be judged by what really happened, not by the speculations people had made I found myself in a situation that I never thought myself capable of.. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. Clara and Davids twin sons continue to live Texas with Davids parents, Gerald and Mildred Harris. Its too bad if they do, said Detoto, who has kept in touch with Harris since her conviction. Yet they say they have forgiven Dr. Harris and in court today described an unblemished marriage that was, in Mildred Harris's words, ''made in heaven. Clara was helping David raise his daughter from a previous marriage. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Susan Wright was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her coke-addicted husband, Jeffrey Andrew Wright. Clara returned to her car to wait. Harris was released in 2018, a full five years before completing her sentence. I pray for her continuously and I am glad she will have something to come home to, her twin boys. ''I know that he was trying to get away and he couldn't.''. I'm so sorry. Enraged, Clara ordered her teenage stepdaughter into her Mercedes-Benz and headed for the hotel; the very same hotel in which she and David had promised to love one another only 10 short years ago. Send the woman home for crying out loud. However, when your mind has been overtaken by grief, depression & severe stress, it's not possible to THINK rationally about anything. I have followed the story since the beginning, and I my feelings are still the same. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. His slut of a receptionist was complicate in his demise but of course I'm sure she lives her life guilt-free. Clara and Lindsey walked into the lobby just as David and his office receptionist, Gail Bridges, were emerging from an elevator. Garza asked Bridges. "This is Dr. David Harris and he's fing this woman right here!" Skip Hollandsworth specializes in long-form narratives. She knew what she did and she wasnt sorry, said Lindsey. When Harris suddenly accelerated, Lindsey was thrown against her seat and saw her father put his hands on the hood of the car, shouting, Stop! she said. As the naughty couple approached Gails car, the Blue Moon detective tasked with capturing the marital indiscretions of David was shocked as he witnessed, through the lens of his video camera, Clara behind the wheel of her Mercedes-Benz, speeding toward the other womans car in a direct path toward the husband. The Shocking Story Of Clara Harris, The Woman Who Killed Her Cheating Husband With Her Mercedes. David was declared dead at 9:48 p.m. that evening. She was in her 40s when she was arrested. Skeptical that he would do so, Lindsey accompanied her stepmother that day on her quest to find her husband, whom they believed to be with Ms. Bridges. It was not only shocking but IMO, really sad. ", Next, the defense team showed the panel a videotape they had made of Harris talking about the night of the killing. "We were leaving the hotel and I was looking at David and I noticed all of a sudden his face changed. She was determined to become a professional dentist. Blue Moon investigators would make a deadly mistake when it came to their client Clara Harris. Gail Bridges stood watching, too stunned to move. Daniel Vaughn is the countrys first barbecue editor, and he has eaten more barbecue than you have. They were victims twice over, they said. They watched as prosecutors built a case against Dr. Harris, 45, a former beauty queen who is a dentist. George Wong/Getty ImagesClara Harris and attorney George Parnham after the first day of testimony in 2003. When Dr. Harris and Ms. Bridges came down from their room, Clara Harris ''went straight for Gail,'' Lindsey said. David Harris and Bridges entered the hotel lobby hand in hand, Lindsey said. Prosecutors say Harris, bent on avenging her husband's adultery, used her car as a murder. Bridges then walked to her car with David following. As she listened to her stepdaughter's testimony, Clara Harris began crying. Granted parole in November 2017, Harris was released from prison at 8:20 a.m. on May 11, 2018. 16-year-old Lindsey Harris testifies at Houston, Tex, murder trial of stepmother Clara Harris, accused of murdering husband Dr David Harris by running him over with car in hotel parking lot . Well aware she had run over her husband, Clara circled aroundcrossing two grassy medians, according to witnessesand ran over Davids motionless body; then circled around to run over him again. When Parnham and his team watched the tape closely, they decided they could make the argument that the Mercedes hit David Harris only once, and that the subsequent passes went around his body, not over it. Last July 24, shortly before Clara Harris, furious that her husband was having an affair, ran over him with her car, killing him, she turned to her 16-year-old stepdaughter in the passenger seat and said she could kill him and get away with it because of what he had done to her, the young woman testified in court today. Gerald Harris, a former school principal who later directed the transportation division of a school district before he retired, said his son was a good husband and a good father to their young twin boys. When he walked outside, his wife did precisely that, sending him flying 25 feet across the parking lot. However, the defense had another problem: a videotape shot by a private detective Harris had hired after her husband admitted the affair. Parnham and Harris gave ABCNEWS extraordinary access to her legal defense, allowing Primetime's cameras to film the defense team's strategy sessions, their meetings with experts, and a mock trial in which they tested their case on a group of stand-in "jurors.". She has since filed a wrongful death suit against her stepmother. Clara Harris tried to control the damage by making herself real pretty so Dad would want her and not Gail, said Lindsey. The young woman's appearance in court clearly displayed her ambivalence about the events that led to the death of her father, who married Clara Harris, his second wife, on Valentine's Day in 1992, in the same hotel, the Nassau Bay Hilton, where he died. 11/21/2022 8:44 AM. Bridges said she never saw this coming because Clara knew of their affair and David told his mistress he was leaving his wife. He said it would all come down to one thing for the jury: Did Harris want her husband dead or did she want him back? She already missed out raising her boys. When asked to choose from a list of possible verdicts, most of the mock jurors chose criminally negligent homicide. At the Clear Lake office, he employed a married woman by the name of Gail Bridges as his receptionist. As part of a prison program, she learned braille and worked several hours a day translating school textbooks into braille. Most believed she had not intended to kill her husband, saying she was in a "jealous rage" and "lost it," and that she "didn't know what she was doing." In the week before the murder, Harris went to a tanning salon and a beauty shop, joined a gym and consulted with a plastic surgeon about liposuction and breast implants, her checkbook register shows. ''We could talk to each other because we both loved David,'' she said in testimony that began with her smiling broadly at the jury. Join Facebook to connect with Lynsey Harris and others you may know. She was in the Mercedes-Benz when her stepmother, Clara Harris, ran over her husband in the parking lot of the Clear Lake-area hotel on July 24, 2002. Individual details - click to Hide Show Main role not specified . In his cross-examination, Parnham did not question her account, but mentioned that Lindsey was suing her stepmother for a share of her father's multimillion-dollar estate. ''He provided well,'' Mr. Harris testified. Bridges says before Clara Harris was pulled off of her, Harris attacked her -- she pulled her hair, punched her head and face, and bit her. As Assistant District Attorney Mia Magness led Lindsey through the moments leading to her father's death, she kept her composure, her voice quivering occasionally. Most women in her shoes would've snapped. You b, hes my husband! Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. At the trial, Lindsey Harris testified against her stepmother, claiming to have attempted suicide four times after her father's death. After confronting him in a hotel lobby in Houston, Texas, she got into her Mercedes-Benz and waited. Paul May Other occupants: Paul May View 2 Lindsey A Harris ER 2002 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3. On the other side of the aisle, with a majority made up of women especially those whose husbands or exes had cheated on themthere are those who insisted it was a crime of passion and David got what he deserved. Why Does He Get to Make That Call? Theres An App for That. What Colombia plans for their descendants, Messy storms roll eastward after slamming Texas, Louisiana, Ukrainians dig up more bodies from makeshift graves in once-occupied towns, New crew from U.S, Russia and UAE arrives at space station, Two Americans arrested on charges of selling tech to Russia. Seven months later, she called News2Houston's Cindy Garza and said she was ready to talk, but only under one condition -- no cameras, only audio. Resides in Chicago, IL. According to the Los Angeles Times, Lindsey later testified that Harris said, Im going to hit him, as they sat in the car and waited for David to appear. Texas Department of CorrectionsClara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison but only served 15. This was said to be the equivalent of Davids half of the estate plus a little over 50 percent of Claras half. ''She was very determined that's what was going to happen,'' Lindsey testified. I screamed 'No!' "Did you see the car coming towards you?" David Harris is on Facebook. Garza asked. In 2002 Lindsey Harris, daughter of David Harris filed a Federal lawsuit against Clara Harris. Silently, Harris put the car in reverse and began to drive out of the hotel parking lot. Lindsey Harris, along with her mother (Davids first wife), quickly filed suit against Clara Harris in hopes of claiming Davids insurance proceeds and inheriting his portion of the estate. 1 Lindsey Harris ER 2006 Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10. When she arrived, Clara found Gails Lincoln Navigator in the hotels parking garage and set about vandalizing the car by bending windshield wipers and keying the paint. One said she "snapped," and Hirschhorn latched onto the word, telling Parnham to use it to counter what the prosecutor would want the jury to think: "intentional.". Also known as Lindsey D Clay, Clay Lindsey. But shes a wonderful woman. The hotel's attorney, Ervin Apffel Jr., confirmed that the lawsuit had been settled but declined to comment further. In an interview in November in Texas Monthly magazine, Mr. Harris said that he and his wife would do anything to help their daughter-in-law. ''She's really more like a daughter.''. David was consciously and purposely careless with his family. She and Lindsey got into Harris silver S-Class 430 Mercedes-Benz and waited. Clara Harris was born Clara Suarez on Feb. 3, 1958, in Bogot, Colombia, according to Texas Monthly. She said her father had told her he would end the affair with Ms. Bridges on July 24. Right up until the last moment, the defense was divided over whether Harris should take the stand to defend herself. Every waking moment, she thought about those boys. Instead of driving out of the parking lot, Harris drove toward Bridges' Lincoln Navigator. While David Harris daughter Lindsey spent the school year in Ohio with her mother, the teenager lived in Houston with her dad and stepmom over the summers. He conceded that David Harris's relationship with Gail Bridges, 39, a receptionist in his dental practice, was not proper. She first became eligible for parole in 2013 but her request was denied. "Soon after that, it all turned into massive turmoil, and the only thing that I could do was to yell for help for someone to please, please get her off of me.". Selfish? (According to Stouwie, the company that runs the prison braille program has asked Harris to keep working once she returns to Houston. Lindsey Harris is a Director, Marketing at CPS Solutions based in Dublin, Ohio. ''He was really scared,'' she said, describing her father as Clara Harris's Mercedes raced toward him. In 2003 Harris was again involved in court action over the custody of her and David Harris's two young twin sons. During hearings on the matter, Lindsey Harris testified she was severely traumatized from her stepmothers actions. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. The lawsuit also said hotel management failed to provide effective security or notify police in time to prevent Harris' death and failed to train its employees to deal with domestic disputes.
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