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. Although she knows she cant disappear, she is going to do her best to stay out of the public eye, said Stouwie. I wish her nothing but the best for the rest of her life. . The courtroom in Harris County State District Court was packed today. I don't believe she should have been sent to jail for 20 years. The story of an angry dentist killing her husband spread like wildfire. Lindsey Harris, 17, took the stand as the prosecution's last witness against orthodontist Clara Harris, who stands accused of running down her husband - David Harris, 44, also a dentist -. She said she remembered one of them telling her, "Don't go where they're going. One of the English tabloids nicknamed Clara The Driller Killer. In Houston, it was the story of the year. Claras goal was to get paroled so she could be reunited with her sons, Emily Detoto, one of her original defense attorneys, told me. 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. ''He provided well,'' Mr. Harris testified. Suzie from Carson City on October 07, 2017: Triple J.I'm quite aware of my friend's name. David had been married once before and had a daughter named Lindsey, and Harris loved the young girl like her own. Clara Harris leaving prison on May 11, 2018. I screamed 'No!' Clara and Davids twin sons continue to live Texas with Davids parents, Gerald and Mildred Harris. It was not only shocking but IMO, really sad. "If you had anything to say to Clara, what would it be?" Harris knew her husband was being unfaithful and hired a private investigation agency to follow him, as reported by ABC News. If convicted, Harris could be sentenced to life in prison. '', ''David loved Clara very much,'' she told the jury. During hearings on the matter, Lindsey Harris testified she was severely traumatized from her stepmothers actions. He was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. and Clara Harris was charged with murder. He clearly did not make them a priority. Mayor: HISD has two optionsclose school or be taken over, Meet the Astros prospect tearing up Spring Training, Report: Houston ranked No. March 6, 2003 -- From the moment he took on the case, defense attorney George Parnham knew that defending Clara Harris would be uphill work. She ultimately destroyed her own life & lost everything because of the nasty bastard she was married to. When they were together, Gail felt special nonetheless. "You b, he's my husband!" Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. Lindsey Harris is a Director, Marketing at CPS Solutions based in Dublin, Ohio. 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. Inside Edition/YouTubeClara Harris leaving prison on May 11, 2018. ", The phrase stopped Harris for a moment, she said. 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. Instead of driving out of the parking lot, Harris drove toward Bridges' Lincoln Navigator. Her first outburst, on Tuesday, occurred when a medical examiner gave details of the crushing injuries her husband had suffered. Facebook gives people the power. Harris was released in 2018, a full five years before completing her sentence. "I thought we were in good shape," he told Primetime later. That would change sometime in June 2002, when Clara hired the services of Blue Moon Investigations. She will at some point be transferred to a maximum-security prison to serve out the rest of her term. Because she is penniless (and legally, she still owes her in-laws $3.75 million), she will initially live with a friend, and she will look for a job. 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. A 2016 parole request was also denied. HubPages is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. Her actions, in the years leading up to the event, indicate she did everything she possibly could to save her marriage and preserve her family. Then, all of a sudden, she said, she saw her husband in front of her, running. Right up until the last moment, the defense was divided over whether Harris should take the stand to defend herself. Clara Harris had just shouted at her philandering husband and wrestled his mistress to the floor of a hotel lobby, but now appeared to be calm. 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. Dr Lyndsey Harris is a Criminologist with extensive qualitative research experience. Join Facebook to connect with David Harris and others you may know. 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. ''They had tricked her. Susan Wright was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her coke-addicted husband, Jeffrey Andrew Wright. 20 years was extremely unfair. Although his Clear Lake staff, and even some at the Lake Jackson office, were aware of Davids infidelity, Clara seemingly had no idea. In the end, Galveston County probate judge Gladys Burwell ruled Davids three children would receive almost $2 million each, while Clara was allowed to retain roughly $1.2 million in assets. Gerald Harris Sr. then defended his son, if not as vehemently. Lindsey Harris, along with her mother (David's first wife), quickly filed suit against Clara Harris in hopes of claiming David's insurance proceeds and inheriting his portion of the estate. In the statement she gave to police on the night of her husband's death in July 2002, Harris was at times barely coherent, talking nonstop about dental practices and her desire to remake herself for her husband after he told her he was seeing another woman. When they found it, Clara Harris scratched the vehicle with her keys, ripped off the rear windshield wiper and tried to do the same to the front wipers. Is that understood? Clara and Lindsey walked into the lobby just as David and his office receptionist, Gail Bridges, were emerging from an elevator. Clara Harris and attorney George Parnham after the first day of testimony in 2003. Harris sons visited her at the Mountain View Unit prison in Gainesville, Texas, every month. "This is going to be a hard case," Parnham told Primetime 2 months before the trial. a bunch of times. Raised by her widowed mother, she grew into an ambitious adult who studied dentistry in her home country before making her way to the United States in the late 1980s. 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. Harris agreed, but she secretly hired a private investigator to follow them to dinner and ensure her husband ended the relationship. 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." 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. Anyone can read what you share. 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. Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. Lindsey Harris filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her stepmother and was awarded about $2. Join Facebook to connect with Lindsay Harris and others you may know. Her stepmother ran to them and began slapping Bridges and ripping her shirt, she added. However, Irwin, the accident reconstructionist, still managed to make a persuasive case that Harris only ran into her husband once. 1 Lindsey Harris ER 2006 Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10. In her turn on the stand, Mildred Harris said she and her daughter-in-law ''were like friends.''. Clients were advised to let the investigators do the work and simply wait for the report upon completion. You can watch the full episode below. Also in 2004, an episode of American Justice called "Murder by Mercedes" (episode 3, season 13) was released that detailed the Clara Harris case. A total of three times, Clara ran the two-ton car over her husband. 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? This beautiful & intelligent woman seemed to crack & fall apart completely due to her narcissistic husband's selfish behavior & infidelity. Gail Bridges stood watching, too stunned to move. When she saw the car, she said, she decided to ram it with her Mercedes. ''We could talk to each other because we both loved David,'' she said in testimony that began with her smiling broadly at the jury. And if God can forgive us of our sins and our mistakes, then why should we not be able to forgive the sins and mistakes of others?''. Not to mention destroying so many other lives. Whats more, she didnt violate any prison rules. David Harris is on Facebook. A dozen photojournalists flocked to Harris first court appearance. Lindsey Harris's Phone Number and Email Last Update. 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. His body then fell to the ground and the Mercedes ran over him once. Staring at a photo of her twin boys, Clara bowed her head, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears, and then was escorted away. Instead, the lawsuit said, the company should have followed its own policy and waited a day to provide that information. Lindsey was upset with her father. This is a sad story all around. She and Lindsey got into Harris silver S-Class 430 Mercedes-Benz and waited. But back in February, after Clara Harris was convicted of killing her husband, News2Houston asked the other woman in David's life for an interview. Its free. 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. 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. Click here to find personal data about Mark Harris including phone numbers, addresses, directorships, electoral roll information, related property prices and other useful information. They were expected to argue that Harris deliberately and repeatedly ran him over. ''You could hear a car going round, hard.''. As she listened to her stepdaughter's testimony, Clara Harris began crying. 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. The Shocking Story Of Clara Harris, The Woman Who Killed Her Cheating Husband With Her Mercedes. Refine Your Search Results All Filters 1 Lindsey Fore Harris, 53 Resides in Collierville, TN Lived In Marietta GA, Newnan GA, Fairhope AL, Huntington Woods MI Their most devastating witness was David Harriss teenage daughter Lindsey, who testified that a week earlier her stepmother had told her, With all hes done to me, I could kill him and get away with it. On the night of the killing, she said, Clara stepped on the accelerator and went straight for him, saying moments before impact, Im going to hit him.. ''She started pulling her shirt off. Its too bad if they do, said Detoto, who has kept in touch with Harris since her conviction. Finally David and Gail exited the hotel, obviously unaware of his wifes presence or even the scene she had created in the hotel earlier. Although Texas law does not allow temporary insanity defenses, Parnham believed he could show that Harris acted under "sudden passion" rather than with intent to kill. They heard witnesses tell how she killed her husband, David, by running over him with her car on July 24 after he admitted having an affair. When the car stopped, David Harris, 44, was dead. ''But there is no problem with me getting to see those children.''. David Harris, a suburban Houston orthodontist, died July 24 after Clara Harris' car struck him. There are no words to justify David's infidelity. 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. That was when she struck me on my leg with the vehicle," the mistress said. The settlement terms are confidential, said attorney John A. Davis Jr., who represented Lindsey Harris. 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 knew what she did and she wasnt sorry, said Lindsey. Clara! a reporter shouted. She probably hoped she could become what he wanted her to be and change him. During jury selection, they aimed for married women who seemed likely to have the kind of self-esteem problems Harris had had with her weight and appearance. "A lot of women would say, 'I don't feel sorry for (you) because (you were) going out with a married man,'" Garza said. Paul May Other occupants: Paul May View 2 Lindsey A Harris ER 2002 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3. '', Youth Who Saw Killing Says Stepmother 'Stomped' Accelerator and 'Went for' Father, https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/30/us/youth-who-saw-killing-says-stepmother-stomped-accelerator-and-went-for-father.html. Did Gail Katz run away from her tumultuous marriage or did her husband, Dr. Bob Bierenbaum, kill her then use his plane to dump her body? By the time she saw him, it was too late to stop and she hit him by accident, lifting his body onto the Mercedes' hood. The investigators Harris had hired happened to record the entire ordeal on video, which was entered into evidence. Clara Harris tried to control the damage by making herself real pretty so Dad would want her and not Gail, said Lindsey. Bridges says that's when Harris came back around and hit David then ran over him repeatedly. Friends and family of David Harris publicly criticized the ruling. Its time to forgive her and let her move on.. They had hidden from her, and she was upset by that.'' View Lindsey Harris results in Ohio (OH) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Harris completed her residency at the University of Texas School of Dentistry in Houston and was crowned Miss Colombia Houston at a local beauty contest shortly after. Gideon Lindsey Harris, who went by the name of Lin or Lindsey, was born December 12, 1813 in Wilson County, Tennessee on his father's farm off the south bank of the Cumberland River. On the other, it gave her an opportunity to get closer to her stepmother, from whom she said she had felt distant since the birth of twins to the Harrises in 1998. After confronting him in a hotel lobby in Houston, Texas, she got into her Mercedes-Benz and waited. She said she became upset, she got into her car and drove toward Bridges' black Lincoln Navigator, but did not remember running over her husband. Join Facebook to connect with David Harris and others you may know. There is at least one holdout in family support for the driver of the Mercedes. Im going to hit him, Harris told the teenager. David Harris is on Facebook. Yes, she made a horrible fifteen-minute mistake. Harris was 60 years old at the time of her release, and she was looking for a job as a condition of her parole. Because of her criminal record, she can no longer practice dentistry.) (Photo By Carlos Antonio Rios/Chronicle) Clara Harris Clara and David Harris Clara and David Harris "Did you see the car coming towards you?" 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. Today, they had the chance to explain why. 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. Why Does He Get to Make That Call? 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 a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. She changed so many times to appease him, but it was never good enough. Clara Harris was born Clara Suarez on Feb. 3, 1958, in Bogot, Colombia, according to Texas Monthly. 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. 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. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. 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. She suffered plenty without going to prison. "This is going to be a hard case," Parnham told Primetime 2 months before the trial. On the evening of July 24, 2002, Harris received a devastating call from the investigator. Leona Candy Stevens lying in court to liberate her husband Charles Manson, rich teenager Ethan Couch being released from prison despite murdering four people. The 1995 move Suburban Madness starring Selma Ward is loosely based on the Clara Harris case. 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. ''When we came closer, that bag turned out to be a human being.''. "This was an unfortunate tragedy and it did not have to end this way," Bridges said. Witnesses recalled seeing Lindsey punch Harris in the face before both of them exited the vehicle. David Harris was enamored. Since the trial, Parnham has been asking himself why the jury imposed the maximum. Matthew J Guthrie Other occupants: Matthew J Guthrie We became very close, Lindsey said. Lindsey Harris is a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis based in Chicago, Illinois. ''I know that he was trying to get away and he couldn't.''. Her devastation is understandable, but comparing to many broken-hearted women who just leave their cheating husbands, she went to an extreme. And she was not going to do anything to jeopardize her chance of getting parole so she could someday be with them.. 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. A symbol of her American success story, the luxury car soon became a murder weapon. Accompanying her was Davids sixteen-year-old daughter from a previous marriage, Lindsey, who was visiting from Ohio, where she lived with her mother. They said they had come to the prison every month for the last fifteen years, without fail, to visit their mother. Suzie from Carson City on April 17, 2016: Val..I would agree with you about Clara's reaction & out of control behavior, but as you can see from my comment~ I firmly believe she allowed her husband's infidelity to literally drive her to the brink of insanity. 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. Lindsey started hitting her father while shouting, I hate you! Harris ripped the shirt off Bridges, then David reportedly pushed Harris to the floor. She lost everything because of what he put her through. I hate you! Bridges spoke to News2Houston in an exclusive interview Thursday. Attorneys for Lindsey Harris filed a lawsuit Thursday, naming Blue Moon Investigations and the Hilton Nasa Clear Lake, Nasa Road 1, in Nassau Bay. Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison but only served 15. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. 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. She was led from the courtroom, and the trial was recessed for 15 minutes. The defense team also found that some of the women were quick to judge Harris by her appearance. 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. Local radio stations gave breathless updates. The witness, a police accident expert, displayed a crime scene photograph showing a tire mark pointing directly toward David Harris's body possible evidence that he had been run over more than once. View the profiles of professionals named "Lindsay Harris" on LinkedIn. She said she checked local restaurants to see if he was keeping his word, but instead caught him and Bridges coming down from a room at the Nassau Bay Hilton, hand in hand. Lindsey was with Harris when she sped off in the direction of the hotel on July 24 to confront her husband. But in cross-examination, Parnham got them to admit they couldn't see clearly. Bridges said she never saw this coming because Clara knew of their affair and David told his mistress he was leaving his wife. The attorneys said that Blue Moon. 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. As soon as News2Houston walked into her home with a camera, she bolted into the bedroom and did not want to come out until the camera was gone. When he walked outside, his wife did precisely that, sending him flying 25 feet across the parking lot. Lived In Chesapeake VA, Monterey CA, Augusta GA, Grovetown GA. Related To Brad Harris, Ghanbria Harris, Alphonso Harris, Daphne Harris, Mary Harris. Are ticket costs pricing Houston Astros fans out of Opening Day? In the heat of the moment, she went on to say, she didnt even know she had run over David. On the night of the killing, she said, Clara Harris "stepped on the accelerator and went straight for him," saying moments before impact, "I'm going to hit him.". What very few people knew was that Clara was a model prisoner. ''I'm going to hit him,'' Lindsey quoted Clara Harris, 44, as saying as she drove toward Dr. Harris and Ms. Bridges, who were standing in the parking lot next to Ms. Bridges's car. Hirschhorn advised Parnham that the perfect juror would be an empathetic woman, not one who would be "jealous or judgmental of other women," and preferably who had been in a relationship where her spouse cheated on her. The tragedy took place at the parking lot of the Hilton Hotel at Nassau Bay last year. Bridges responded, "The affair was wrong. When Lindsey learned that her father and Bridges were meeting at a steakhouse on July 24, I figured he was breaking up with her, Lindsey said. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. 1 most stressful city for U.S. workers, To get these special tacos, drive out to the Houston Ship Channel, MLB legend makes surprise appearance at Astros' Spring Training, 'This is about profit': Houston leaders condemn HISD takeover, Oops! When the car stopped, Lindsey ran around to the drivers side. Clara Harris had it all. They should've paroled her the first time she was up for parole. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. 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. They were victims twice over, they said. Im so sorry, she was heard saying over and over. Get the day's top news with our Today's Headlines newsletter, sent every weekday morning. I'm so sorry. Clara was helping David raise his daughter from a previous marriage. His slut of a receptionist was complicate in his demise but of course I'm sure she lives her life guilt-free. She said she could kill him and get away with it for what shes been through, Lindsey testified. Clara, who had been tipped off to Davids whereabouts by a private investigator she had hired, went berserk. They seemed like the perfect family but on July 24, 2002, Harris fatally ran over her husband with her car. Accompanying her was David's. The trial started off well for the defense team. Mr. Parnham was a defense lawyer in that case, too. It's highly unlikely Clara was not "aware" of her husband's cheating ways. Clara Harris dream of being a successful dentist came true when she opened her own practice in 1993. 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. 11/21/2022 8:44 AM. ''She had killed him.''. She lunged at Gail, slapped her, grabbed her shirt and tore it off, all the while screaming, You bitch, hes my husband! At the same time, Lindsey began hitting her father with her purse, shouting I hate you! But shes a wonderful woman. 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. With her stepdaughter in the car, she ran over him three times and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. 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. Even if they take such sentiments into account, jurors are being asked to weigh testimony that points to Clara Harris's revving her silver S-Class Mercedes and speeding toward Ms. Bridges's Navigator, next to which David Harris and Ms. Bridges were standing, then running over her husband up to three times as she circled the Nassau Bay Hilton parking lot. 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 . Prosecutors say Harris, bent on avenging her husband's adultery, used her car as a murder. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. Local radio talk shows were jammed with callers debating whether Clara was a cold-blooded murderer or a good woman who simply did what every woman secretly wants to do when she finds out her husband is cheating. As a result, David began spending more time away from home and longer hours at his office, as well as spending large amounts of money lavishing gifts on his mistress, along with high-end hotel rooms for their couplings.
Chipotle Illness Outbreak 2021,
Are Candy And Courtney From Storage Wars Married,
Al Trautwig Last Appearance,
Articles L