Clara Harris dream of being a successful dentist came true when she opened her own practice in 1993. He conceded that David Harris's relationship with Gail Bridges, 39, a receptionist in his dental practice, was not proper. "I thought: so they're going together in her car, and so my thought was stopping that car.". A 2016 parole request was also denied. Mike Hall writes about criminals, musicians, the law, and barbecue. A total of three times, Clara ran the two-ton car over her husband. Is that understood? The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Matthew J Guthrie Other occupants: Matthew J Guthrie Lindsey was upset with her father. Previously, Lindsey was a Principal at Kobre & Kim and also held posit ions at Wachtell , Lipton , Rosen & Katz. "We're just glad it's over," he said. ''I said, 'No!' She was in her 40s when she was arrested. David was dead at the scene and Clara was charged with first-degree murder. Jos R. Ralat is Texas Monthlys taco editor, writing about tacos and Mexican food. Yes, she made a horrible fifteen-minute mistake. Im thinking about pulling a Clara Harris, a woman would say with a laugh after learning her husband had done something really stupid. As part of a prison program, she learned braille and worked several hours a day translating school textbooks into braille. "This is going to be a hard case," Parnham told Primetime 2 months before the trial. He came up with a new strategy. Mayor: HISD has two optionsclose school or be taken over, Meet the Astros prospect tearing up Spring Training, Report: Houston ranked No. He was trying to get away but couldnt., Harris was expressionless as she steered the car over a concrete median, then circled around the lot, said Lindsey. Los Angeles, This fabled orchid breeder loves to chat just not about Trader Joes orchids. This beautiful & intelligent woman seemed to crack & fall apart completely due to her narcissistic husband's selfish behavior & infidelity. Texas Department of CorrectionsClara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison but only served 15. The testimony of Lindsey Harris, a high school student from Columbus, Ohio, in the trial of her stepmother, who is accused of murdering her husband of 10 years, David Harris, in a hotel parking . Lindsey opened the door and stuck her feet on the ground, as if she was attempting to escape, according to witnesses, who then saw Clara whip the car around, hit the accelerator again, and drive over her husbands crumpled body a second time. The tape did not capture the moment of initial impact, but it showed Harris' Mercedes driving in circles afterward, lurching over what prosecutors were saying was her husband's body. Harris is currently in a psychiatric prison 140 miles north of Houston. Gail Bridges describes the night she and her lover, David Harris, were confronted by his wife, Clara Harris, in a hotel lobby -- the last night she would ever see him alive. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. A Harris County, Texas, jury would have the official and final say. I'm so sorry. 1 Lindsey Harris ER 2006 Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10. Turner: TEA is giving Houston ISD two optionsclose school or be taken over, Who is Justin Dirden? 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. 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. 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." She said that she had tried to get out of the car, but that her stepmother was driving too fast. On Jan. 5, two weeks before the trial, the defense team convened 20 people as a mock jury. This time, a jury had little sympathy for Claras story, and it ordered her to pay $3.75 million in damages. Eyewitnesses testified for the prosecution that Harris seemed "possessed" as she got into her Mercedes, and some said they saw multiple runovers. (Photo By Carlos Antonio Rios/Chronicle) Clara Harris Clara and David Harris Clara and David Harris David Harris is on Facebook. Dr Harris' research background is inter-disciplinary with research specialisms in domestic abuse, terrorism and political violence. In 2002 Lindsey Harris, daughter of David Harris filed a Federal lawsuit against Clara Harris. Harris David is on Facebook. Her husband had confessed to her on July 17, and Harris had confronted Bridges at the orthodontics office that same day, telling her she was fired. Copyright 2023 Click2Houston.com is managed by Graham Digital and published by Graham Media Group, a division of Graham Holdings. 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 . Her lawyer contends that the 44-year-old dentist acted in the heat of passion, a wife unhinged by her cheating husband. Mr. Harris said he had been aware of ''some difficulties in the relationship'' between his son and Clara, but suggested that he saw no serious impediments to a future together. David Harris is on Facebook. 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. On July 22, 2002, she got into her silver S-Class 430 Mercedes-Benz and drove to the Nassau Bay Hilton, across the highway from the Johnson Space Center. The defense had a setback when the judge ruled that their computer simulation was inadmissible because it was dramatized. Read More . She would tell me pretty much everything that was going on and made me feel part of the family. Lindsey, David Harris daughter from a previous marriage, spent summers and holidays with her father and Harris. When Dr. Harris and Ms. Bridges came down from their room, Clara Harris ''went straight for Gail,'' Lindsey said. Clara had a lucrative practice as a dentist, while Davids specialty was orthodontics. "Did you see the car coming towards you?" Parnham was relieved; he believed the jury would recommend something close to the two-year minimum. Accompanying her was David's. Its too bad if they do, said Detoto, who has kept in touch with Harris since her conviction. The hotel's attorney, Ervin Apffel Jr., confirmed that the lawsuit had been settled but declined to comment further. Join Facebook to connect with Lynsey Harris and others you may know. She cried. Anyone can read what you share. Lawsuit by Clara Harris' children settled, Willie Nelson pays lovely tribute to another country legend, Rare photos show 2 ocelots crossing South Texas road, Astros GM Dana Brown has more praise team's top prospect, This is what Houston looks like from space. '', ''David loved Clara very much,'' she told the jury. 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. He said Burwell probably will discuss the settlement with the parties before the end of July. HOUSTON Gail Bridges had been having an affair with Clara Harris' husband, David, for months -- an affair Clara says drove her to kill her husband. Every waking moment, she thought about those boys. There are 300+ professionals named "Lindsay Harris", who use LinkedIn to exchange information, ideas, and opportunities. Dr Lyndsey Harris is a Criminologist with extensive qualitative research experience. The man was a bully and terrible husband, he broke her spirit, soul and eventually her mind. Illustrations by Lindsey C. Harris My art work is imaginative in origin, illustrative and narrative in nature, and often depicts images from myths, stories, dreams and personifications of ideas with psychological and emotional content. Claras goal was to get paroled so she could be reunited with her sons, Emily Detoto, one of her original defense attorneys, told me. 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. 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. The mock jury's reaction to her account was encouraging: Just two out of the 20 said Harris was guilty of murder. They saw David and Gail heading to Gails SUV in a different part of the parking lot. Rich L.A. homeowners are snapping them up, The problem with Pablo Escobars hippos. 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.. The testimony of Lindsey Harris, a high school student from Columbus, Ohio, in the trial of her stepmother, who is accused of murdering her husband of 10 years, David Harris, in a hotel parking lot was widely anticipated. At her parole hearing this past October, he brought her two sons, who were then nineteen years old and attending universities in Texas. ''I don't approve of that kind of behavior,'' said the surviving son, also named Gerald, a professor of psychology at the University of Houston who is no stranger to Houston courtrooms. When the story about the scorned woman who used her Mercedes to extract revenge on her cheating husband made national headlines, Americans suddenly found themselves embroiled in a debate: Was it really murder? What very few people knew was that Clara was a model prisoner. 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. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? Probation and therapy would have been the better option because she has no history of this behavior and no criminal behavior on her record prior to this. The two women went to a number of restaurants and hotels, until they were alerted by a private detective Clara Harris had hired the previous day that Dr. Harris and Ms. Bridges were at the Hilton. Clara Harris still rotting in prison is a waste of taxpayer money. In November, Claras application for parole was granted, and her release date was set for May 11. This is Dr. David Harris and hes fing this woman right here!. David Harris was gasping for air, making gurgling sounds and his limbs were drawing close to his body, similar to those of stroke victims, she testified. 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. Clara was first eligible for parole in 2012, but she was turned down. 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. ''I felt the bumps,'' she said, making a distinction between the sound of the car going over her father's body and that it made running over a pair of medians. Also known as Lindsey D Clay, Clay Lindsey. Blue Moon investigators would make a deadly mistake when it came to their client Clara Harris. In 2007, Clara Harris, shown with attorney Dean Blumrosen, was ordered to pay her dead husband's parents, Gerald and Mildred Harris, $3.75 million in a wrongful-death suit. 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.". The tragedy took place at the parking lot of the Hilton Hotel at Nassau Bay last year. When David Harris wasnt at the steakhouse, Lindsey drove her stepmothers car -- with Clara Harris in the passenger seat -- to Bridges house, then to a hotel and two other restaurants the couple had frequented. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. When asked how many times, he said twice. 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. The story of an angry dentist killing her husband spread like wildfire. Theres An App for That. Eventually, Clara and Lindsey stormed back to the Mercedes. 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. In the heat of the moment, she went on to say, she didnt even know she had run over David. Suzie from Carson City on April 16, 2016: I'm very familiar of this extremely high-profile case. 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. David Harris told his daughter that he felt neglected by his wife after the birth of their twin boys three years earlier. Clara suddenly gunned the engine and raced toward them. How Did James Dean Die? Fire Ants Have Unleashed Chaos in Texas for Decades. By the time they tracked him down at a hotel, Harris was livid. She did not know David was dead until Lindsey, David's daughter who was in the car with her stepmother, approached her. Join Facebook to connect with David Harris and others you may know. David Harris was enamored. When David Harris wed Colombian-born beauty queen Clara Suarez in a Valentines Day 1992 ceremony befitting royalty at the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel, he had no way of knowing his loving bride would end his life here some 10 years later. Since it only showed Harris circling the parking lot, and since David was barely visible, the defense argued she only hit him once. For his closing argument, Hirschhorn advised Parnham to focus on Bridges as a homewrecker, but not to vilify David Harris as a cheating husband, just a man who made some mistakes. Its free. Dr. Harris pushed Ms. Bridges out of the way before he was hit, his daughter said. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. This is a sad story all around. "This was an unfortunate tragedy and it did not have to end this way," Bridges said. After learning about Clara Harris, read about Leona Candy Stevens lying in court to liberate her husband Charles Manson. 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. Who the hell are you, the Name Police? Prosecutors say Harris, bent on avenging her husbands adultery, used her car as a murder weapon. "I thought we were in good shape," he told Primetime later. The defense's pathology expert said David Harris' injuries were consistent with being run over once, and Irwin constructed a computer simulation designed to show how the Mercedes' 40-foot turning radius meant it could not have hit the body a second time. On Friday, one of Texass most notorious killers, Clara Harris, was released from prison. Her behavior was erratic and her speech loud and angry as she demanded to know which room her husband and his mistress were in. David Harris's father, however, refused to agree with Ms. Magness that Clara Harris's behavior in the days leading up to the confrontation at the hotel was anything unreasonable. 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. She'd never seen her stepmother behave this way before. Days earlier, David had admitted to Clara that he and Gail had been having an affair, and he had promised Clara that he would end it. "You b, he's my husband!" Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. City Employees Are Heading for the Exits. "I've always said I thought that video eventually would be the best thing in the world for us," he said. Staring at a photo of her twin boys, Clara bowed her head, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears, and then was escorted away. She stood up well to a tough cross-examination by the prosecution, but her testimony allowed them to introduce selected excerpts from her police statement, including her remark that she wanted to hurt her husband. And its full of great reads, yall. Then, the theory went, Harris panicked and locked the wheel to the left, driving around her husband's body in a 40-foot circle, but not hitting it again. The 44-year-old orthodontist was tragically already gone. After a three-week trial, Clara Harris was found guilty on Feb. 14, 2003. Im so sorry, she was heard saying over and over. Once she discovered the couple's whereabouts, Clara Harris called the family's nanny at home and told her to put some of her husband's business clothes on the porch and to throw everything else away, Lindsey said. Witnesses recalled Lindsey screaming and trying to get out of the car, but Harris sped off to run over her husband. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. ''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. I never thought hed do something like that to her. And she was not going to do anything to jeopardize her chance of getting parole so she could someday be with them.. They paroled OJ, clearly someone who cannot stay out of trouble.