Clara Harris

Background

Clara Harris and David Harris were dentists and shared a thriving practice. The couple lived in an upscale home in Friendswood, Texas, and they owned luxury cars, including Clara Harris’s Mercedes-Benz. Clara and David Harris married on February 14, 1993, and were raising three children: twin sons born in 1996 and David’s daughter Lindsey from a previous marriage.

During the course of her marriage, David Harris began having an affair with his former receptionist, Gail Bridges, who later admitted to the affair. Clara Harris suspected the affair and hired a private detective agency to spy on her husband.

Clara Harris had a stepdaughter, Lindsey Harris. The confrontation involved Lindsey as a passenger in the Mercedes-Benz when David Harris was killed.

The offence

On July 24, 2002, Clara Harris went to the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel to confront David Harris about his affair with Gail Bridges. When David and Gail came out of the hotel, Clara Harris gunned her Mercedes-Benz and ran over David Harris several times in the hotel parking lot.

At the time of the incident, David Harris was with Gail Bridges after emerging from the hotel. The altercation moved into the parking lot. Prosecution witnesses said Clara Harris rammed David Harris and circled around to crush his body. A medical examiner testified David Harris was run over at least twice.

Clara Harris’s defense maintained the death was an accident and argued she was not aiming at David Harris and did not remember hitting him. During trial testimony, Clara Harris said she wanted to “hurt her husband emotionally, not physically” and said she had wanted to “separate” David from Gail Bridges, not kill him. She also testified that she “never saw hitting him” and “never saw running over him.”

Verbatim statements attributed to Clara Harris during the case included:

• “I was trying to separate him from her?” (asked by prosecutor Mia Magness)
• “Yes, if that's what the tape says,” Harris said, adding that she did not remember the statement.
• “everything seemed like a dream” as she drove the car during the fatal incident.
• “I never saw him,” Clara Harris says.
• “I didn't know what David died of,” Harris said.

Investigation

A private detective hired by Clara Harris followed David Harris to the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel. The detective’s camera recorded the fatal incident on videotape. The videotape included Clara Harris driving her car in circles in the hotel parking lot until David Harris was dead when the car stopped.

Bobbi Bacha, who ran Blue Moon Private Investigators, said: “Our investigator had the camera focused on the subject until the very end,” describing the videotaping.

Arrest

Clara Harris told police that she was trying to separate her husband from Gail Bridges. She testified that she had wanted “to hurt her husband emotionally, not physically.” During cross-examination, prosecutors tried to use her statements to police to refute her accident claim.

During questioning, Clara Harris said: “I never saw him,” and she described not remembering what happened when she asked about David Harris after his death. She recalled asking her father-in-law: “The car ran over him?” and receiving the answer: “Yes.” She said: “I didn't know. I never saw him.”

Trial

Charges and verdict

Clara Harris was charged with first-degree murder. Her trial began the following February.

At trial, prosecutors described the vehicular homicide that had been recorded on videotape by the detective Clara Harris had hired. The jury convicted Clara Harris of murdering her husband and found she acted with “sudden passion.”

During deliberations, prosecutors and defense counsel argued over the difference among major charges, including how intent affected the outcome. Prosecutor Mia Magness told jurors: “At this point it is time for you to call her for what she is, and that is a murderer.”

A jury of nine women and three men convicted Clara Harris of the most serious of a range of charges, including lesser charges of manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Clara Harris was convicted of 2nd degree murder.

Lindsey Harris testified against Clara Harris at trial, describing events on the night of the killing. Lindsey testified that she attempted suicide four times in the months after her father’s death.

Verbatim statements attributed in court included:

• “I think that speaks volumes to what this jury should do,” Harris’ attorney George Parnham said.
• “because that's what children do.” (Mia Magness said, referring to Harris’s boys)
• “Well, she ought not to be given credit for making herself a single parent,” Magness said.
• “I don't care how you slice it, she is a home wrecker,” defense attorney George Parnham said.
• “At this point it is time for you to call her for what she is, and that is a murderer,” Magness said.
• “Your verdict will in part tell her what she went through was worth it,” Magness said.
• “almost offensive” (as part of the prosecutor’s remarks when she said it was “almost offensive” to consider that the defendant has suffered, too).
• “What about the brutality and violence involved in his death,” Magness asked.
• “dying on the pavement ... drowning in his own blood while his daughter was watching,” (described by the prosecutor)
• “Doing the right thing doesn't always feel good,” she said.
• “And that's the position you're in right now, but I know you will do the right thing.”

The jury deliberated after closing arguments on the penalty phase. After the verdict was read, Clara Harris slumped into her chair as the sentence was read.

Witnesses and evidence

Two men recounted watching Clara Harris run down her husband with a Mercedes-Benz. Chris Junco testified that he initially was not sure what he was seeing.

Oscar Torres testified that David Harris’ body was “flying” and that he saw the car make three complete circles in the parking lot before stopping. Torres said he saw the defendant run over the body “Three times.” Torres also described Lindsey Harris as screaming: “My dad! My dad! You've killed my dad! He's dead!” Torres described the scene as: “It was like an animal that would scream in excruciating pain, out of control,” and he said David Harris “was mauled” and “was gasping for air.”

Lindsey Harris, the prosecution’s only witness during the penalty phase, testified about her experience. Prosecutor Mia Magness said Lindsey had gotten her father’s clothing out of the trash and laid items out on her bed. Magness also reminded jurors about Lindsey’s suicide attempts.

Clara Harris’s defense called witnesses including David Harris’ brother, Gerald Harris Jr., and David Harris’ mother-in-law, Mildred Harris. Mildred Harris testified that the couple was “devoted to each other” and she said: “(Clara) included us in everything,” and “(She) loved David very much.” Gerald Harris Jr. called Clara Harris “truthful and credible” and “one of the most law-abiding persons I know.”

Defense counsel, George Parnham, filed a motion to have a two-hour tape of Clara Harris’s statement to police admitted into evidence. Judge Carol Davies ruled that only excerpts directly related to the incident could be played for the jury, and Parnham declined so none of the tape was admitted into evidence.

The defense indicated it intended to pursue the argument that the fatal confrontation and the vehicular death were not intentional, and that it happened moments after an “emotional and volatile confrontation” between Harris, her husband, and his mistress at the same hotel where the couple was married.

Trial participants

• Judge Carol Davies presided over the trial and issued rulings including allowing only excerpts of the tape into evidence and declining to allow a videotaped re-creation as evidence later discussed during post-conviction interviews.
• Prosecutor Mia Magness delivered closing and rebuttal remarks including during the penalty phase.
• Defense attorney George Parnham argued for the sentence in the penalty phase and for how intent and marital stress related to the incident.

Sentencing

On February 14, 2003, Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined $10,000.

The jury’s “sudden passion” finding affected the sentencing range. The record states that 20 years was the maximum sentence allowed by the jury’s “sudden passion” finding and would have been the minimum without a “sudden passion” finding.

Appeals

Clara Harris remained concerned that her 20-year prison term would not be overturned on appeal. She and her attorneys hoped an appellate court would agree with their position that a videotaped re-creation of the events of July 24, 2002, should have been shown to jurors. State District Judge Carol Davies declined to allow that tape as evidence.

During a later interview, Clara Harris said her attorneys were “very confident but also very fearful just like I am” and described the uncertainty as: “What happens in the court is unknown. We just have to wait and see. That causes me horrendous fear. It's so difficult for me because it's just up in the air”.

Outcome

Clara Harris was convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to 20 years in prison. She was incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.

A later interview reported that she was eligible for parole in 2013.

Aftermath

Clara Harris’s sons were in the custody of friends and saw their mother often. Following a custody battle between Harris and her in-laws, Gerald and Mildred Harris of Pearland, a Brazoria County judge granted joint custody of the boys to their mother and family friends, Pat and Ana Jones, in September 2003. Harris had up to three contact visits a month with the children and had an arrangement for visits so the boys did not miss activities.

During the interview describing prison life, Clara Harris said she feared someone might harm her children or kidnap them and demand a ransom. She also said she struggled not to cry during visits and noted her children’s psychologist found them suffering from depression and separation anxiety and warned her not to cry in front of them, even if they were “happy tears.”

Clara Harris also discussed her stepdaughter Lindsey Harris, who lived in Ohio and testified against her. Clara Harris said: “I wish there was a way to talk to her.” She also described that Lindsey had been the front-seat passenger in the Mercedes-Benz when David Harris was killed. Clara Harris said Lindsey’s decision would be difficult because they would be separated by a Plexiglas wall and in public, and she told of knowing Lindsey was crying the loudest in court.

Clara Harris described prison work and routine. She said she worked to convert printed text into Braille and discussed being about to get certification to become a Braille transcriber. She said: “It is the best thing that is happening in this place,” and that she got into it about a year ago. She said the work was: “We really love the profession because we know that we're doing something good for the blind kids in the state of Texas.”

She also said she took work back to her cell and was taking a psychology class. She described a wake-up schedule starting at 3 a.m. with breakfast at 3:30 a.m. She said: “I cannot eat breakfast at 3:30 in the morning. There is no way.” She said she took time to mail letters to her children and described her daily clothing and weekly clean-sheet routine.

A later account said a book titled Out of Control was written by Steven Long about the murder case. It was published in 2004 by St. Martin's Paperbacks as part of their St. Martin's True Crime Library series. The story was said to inspire a chapter completion in Mexican Mujeres Asesinas, with the chapter name “Luz, overwhelming (Luz, arrolladora).” The case was profiled on the Oxygen Network series Snapped in 2004 and Deadly Women in 2010. It was also the topic of a Lifetime Original movie, Suburban Madness, starring Elizabeth Peña and Brett Cullen.

Other details

The incident occurred after Clara Harris hired a private detective and learned of the husband’s location at the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel. The record indicates the agency notified her on July 24, 2002, that David Harris was at that hotel with his mistress.

The record also includes details about the earlier argument at the hotel lobby. Clara Harris demanded a hotel employee summon the adulterous couple to the lobby, and a scuffle broke out between Clara Harris and Gail Bridges, with Bridges losing her blouse. Hotel security guards intervened and the combatants retreated to the parking lot.

A later interview included that Clara Harris’s hair was styled into a pony tail with gray hair visible on her temples while she was in prison. Warden Audrey Lynn Smith said she consulted with Harris before a made-for-TV movie about the case aired. Warden Smith said Harris replied, “No, I want to see what they say about me.” After the movie aired, Warden Smith said Harris replied quickly: “I never wore that black leather outfit.”