Texas Jails Are Crowded, Understaffed, and Dangerous. Clara contends that she did not see David when she ran into him with her car. Apparently, some members of Davids family had written letters to the parole board declaring that Clara didnt deserve mercythat she should at least serve her full twenty-year sentence and be released in 2023. "What happened when you got off that elevator?" YouTubeDavid and Clara Harris were married for ten years before she killed him in a fit of rage. Clara Harris, the woman who mowed down her philandering husband with a Mercedes-Benz, was sentenced by a Houston jury to 20 years in prison on the day that would have been her 11th wedding anniversary. She said her stepmother made the remark just after finding him with Bridges. Reward offered as manhunt for Texas shooting suspect reaches "dead end" "I think that speaks volumes to what this jury should do," Parnham said. Lawsuit by Clara Harris' children settled. Harris insisted the death last July was an accident and that she only wanted to damage the black Lincoln Navigator belonging to her husband's receptionist turned lover, Gail Bridges. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, What GOPs plan for Medicaid work requirements would mean, Column: A centrist, third-party alternative for 2024 is a nice idea but a nightmare in practice, Chinese man who reported on COVID to be released after 3 years. She always said that David called Lindsey his angel and now David is her angel. Harris said she snapped out of her daze as her stepdaughter screamed for her to stop. And she was not going to do anything to jeopardize her chance of getting parole so she could someday be with them.. "He pushed Gail out of the way. Go the other way,'" an emotional Lindsey Harris remembered in the courtroom. 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. It was an accident.". #inline-recirc-item--id-92ae5a70-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d, #right-rail-recirc-item--id-92ae5a70-8c88-11e2-b06b-024c619f5c3d { If you need help with the Public File, call (713) 778-4745. I wasn't thinking anything," Harris testified. Performance meets portability with Apple's 2023 MacBook Pro. } else { We went shopping a lot. College career. display: block; "I told him 'look, look what she done,'" Bridges said. A 20-year prison term for a first-degree murder conviction in Texas is a pie-in-the-sky legal result if I have ever seen one,'' he said. Save on AeroGarden indoor herb growing kits at Amazon, Create a bonsai tree out of bricks with this $40 LEGO set, Dyson's air purifying headphones have finally arrived, Preorder 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' today, There are a ton of great patio furniture sets on sale right now, Beat the heat with this discounted Lasko tower fan from Amazon, Apple deal: The 2023 MacBook Pro Laptop is under $2,000 on Amazon, New Texas bill would charge electric car drivers $200 annual fee, These 8 Denver-area hikes each offer something unique, Why this museum should be on every Houston kid's must-visit list, Elon Musk describes Starship flight as 'roughly what I expected', Here's how much you have to make to be 'middle class' in Houston. Davids daughter from a previous marriage, Lindsey Nicole Harris, who was in the car at the time of the incident, testified against her stepmother in the trial. 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 44-year-old orthodontist. She got out and saw her husband lying on the pavement, blood streaming from his ears and mouth. Clara Harris retained $1.2 million in assets. Silently, Harris put the car in reverse and began to drive out of the hotel parking lot. Henry was born in Bute (later Warren) County, North Carolina. Bridges responded, "The affair was wrong. Instead, the lawsuit said, the company should have followed its own policy and waited a day to provide that information. 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. "I couldn't believe he could sleep holding her all night because we had never slept like that never," she testified. She and her future husband met as colleagues at the Castle Dental Center in 1991. It felt different. I hit her because I knew that she had killed my Dad, said Lindsey. Perhaps the most powerful witness was David Harris' daughter, 17-year-old Lindsey Harris, who was in Mercedes. The lawsuit claimed that Blue Moon, of Webster, which Clara Harris hired to photograph her husband with another woman, should not have told Clara Harris that the two were at the hotel. [11], Harris was released on parole on May 11, 2018, and was released from parole in February of 2023.[12]. "She ran over him the first time, then two more times. "Without that information, David Harris would not have been located that evening," said Marty Webber, an attorney for Lindsey Harris. "She ought not get credit for making herself a single parent," the prosecutor told jurors before deliberations began. I could tell when we were going over the big concrete curve and when we were going over my dad. 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. And its full of great reads, yall. In 2007, Clara was brought back to Houston for a civil trial to defend herself in a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by Davids parents. She then cradled her husband and told him she was sorry and loved him, according to The New York Times. Sixteen years ago, Clara was a pretty and personable dentist who lived in a prosperous south Houston suburb with her husband David, an orthodontist, and their twin three-year-old sons. Lindsey was already crying when she reached her dying father, and Harris soon joined in. She was denied parole in her first attempt on April 11, 2013, by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. Clara Harris said many of the events were a "dream" to her. 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. "I knew she had killed my dad," Lindsey Harris testified. [10] However, she was granted parole in November 2017. If you're going to hire an investigator and you call for a report, and Clara called us twice for a report, legally, we have to give our client a report," said Bobbi Bacha, with Blue Moon. Gabriel Harris Daughter, Jasmine, Is Close To Her Grandmother Joan Baez and David Harris were once the power couple in the music world. Bridges said she never saw this coming because Clara knew of their affair and David told his mistress he was leaving his wife. Harris defense attorney George Parnham urged her not to take the stand for fear she would incriminate herself. But Clara Harris is a weepy, white, professional woman, someone whose marital troubles generated a lot of sympathy in and out of court. Garza asked Bridges. Legendary singer Nina Simones granddaughter accused Vice President Kamala Harris of causing the family to lose control of Simone's estate while Harris was California attorney general. This time, Harris got in on the drivers side. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. "I couldn't believe he could sleep holding her all night because we had never slept like that never," she testified. Then, learn about rich teenager Ethan Couch being released from prison despite murdering four people. He went to church and loved Clara, she said. The chain was particularly successful, and the couple was able to afford an upscale home and lifestyle in Friendswood, Texas. A symbol of her American success story, the luxury car soon became a murder weapon. Its free. Trending News [13] This story was the inspiration for the completion of a chapter in the Mexican series Mujeres Asesinas "Killer Women." He was trying to get away and he couldn't.". Harris slumped into her chair as the sentence was read. David Harris' 16-year-old daughter - Clara Harris' stepdaughter - was in the passenger seat of the car at the time. It was an accident. She married David Harris on February 14, 1992, at the Nassau Bay Hilton, and raised three children: twin sons Brian and Bradley, born in 1998, and David's daughter Lindsey from a previous marriage. [1][7] The prosecution claimed Clara's actions were more than a crime of passion, but that she "wanted to hurt" David, as she was heard saying in a police interview. On the evening of July 24, 2002, Harris received a devastating call from the investigator. She said she felt a bump as the car ran over her father. "I wasn't sure if what I was seeing was real," said one tearful witness, Chris Junco. We became very close, Lindsey said. It was also the topic of Suburban Madness, a Lifetime Original movie, starring Elizabeth Pea and Brett Cullen.[14]. Her husband and Bridges were not talking at a restaurant but were together at Nassau Bay Hilton the same hotel where David and Clara Harris had been married 10 years earlier. "It will be really interesting to find out whether the same jurors who so quickly and harshly judged her will now show some sympathy for her situation and recommend a lighter sentence," said Cohen. Her attorney explained what was in the report, using the consultant as an expert witness on the stand. The crime was caught on tape by a private investigator Clara Harris had hired to document her husband's affair. 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. "He was really scared. "The whole scene was very mad.". Bush: Prosecutor taking up Schiavo inquiry. She's also suing the detective agency that followed him, News2Houston reported Thursday in an exclusive story. On July 24, 2002, Clara Harris confronted her husband in a hotel parking lot over an extramarital affair, then struck and ran over him with her Mercedes-Benz sedan, killing him in an act of mariticide. Generator vs power station: Which one is right for you? 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. She's also suing the detective agency that followed him, The case was profiled on the Oxygen Network series Snapped in 2004, on ABC News's 20/20 in 2006, and on Investigation Discovery's Deadly Women in 2010. Bridge's now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder -- flashbacks, nightmares and is on medication. She said Harris' boys would be provided for and they would adjust and survive, "because that's what children do. But last year, she got a new parole attorney, Kevin Stouwie of San Antonio. She told jurors she wanted to save her 10-year marriage after learning of the affair. Accompanying her was Davids sixteen-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Lindsey, who was visiting from Ohio, where she lived with her mother. ", Harris said she saw three figures near Bridges' Navigator. The 44-year-old Colombian had moved to America in the 1980s and opened her own successful dentistry practice. display: block; Back then she declined. CBSNews.com Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen says Texas showed too much mercy towards the Mercedes Muderess. 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. What the Bleep Is Going On With Texas Property Taxes? The Harrises, who also were business partners, then spent an evening at a bar talking about their relationship. Lindsey Harris, 17, David Harris's daughter by his first marriage, was in the passenger seat of the car that killed her father. They had twin sons named Brian and Bradley in 1998. After it was over, Clara Harris led Lindsey to the Mercedes. The trial was front-page news in Houston and included dramatic testimony from Harris, her romantic rival and her stepdaughter, who was in the car that day and told jurors her stepmother sped toward her father as he desperately tried to get out of the way. They got married on March 26, 1968, at St. Clements Episcopal Church in New York. Most Facebook users can now claim settlement money. Witnesses recalled seeing Lindsey punch Harris in the face before both of them exited the vehicle. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. She wasnt crying, said Lindsey. I think they tried to deal with this in-house. The defense's attempts to prove that Clara ran over David only once crumbled when the judge ruled their re-creation of the crime by a private consultant inadmissible in court. display: none; Running Into Fire: The Legacy of Jeff Blackburn, Step Aside, Perrys: This 30-Ounce Smoked Pork Chop Is Ready to Take the Crown, Willie Nelsons Son Lukas on Ancient Texts, Pearl Jam, and I Never Cared for You, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomerys Affair, I Biked the I-35 Hell Route From Austin to San Antonio So You Dont Have To, Texas-Style Pulled Pork Is Embarrassing, The Astrodomes Decline From Eighth Wonder to Eighth Blunder of the World, 15 Treasure-Filled Spots to Antique in Small-town Texas, Mosquito Hawks Are Flitting All Over Texas, Matthew McConaughey Is Monetizing His Whole Vibe, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part II: The Killing of Betty Gore. When she arrived at the Hilton, Clara Harris caused a scene in the lobby, fighting with her husband's mistress before getting in her car and running over David Harris.