Lindsey visited her father and stepmother two or three times a year. 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. She said that she had tried to get out of the car, but that her stepmother was driving too fast. 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. Bridges says that's when Harris came back around and hit David then ran over him repeatedly. The trial started off well for the defense team. 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? 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 -. "This is Dr. David Harris and he's fing this woman right here!" This time, a jury had little sympathy for Claras story, and it ordered her to pay $3.75 million in damages. Also in 2004, an episode of American Justice called "Murder by Mercedes" (episode 3, season 13) was released that detailed the Clara Harris case. Her behavior was erratic and her speech loud and angry as she demanded to know which room her husband and his mistress were in. The hotel's attorney, Ervin Apffel Jr., confirmed that the lawsuit had been settled but declined to comment further. Silently, Harris put the car in reverse and began to drive out of the hotel parking lot. Staring at a photo of her twin boys, Clara bowed her head, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears, and then was escorted away. Witnesses recalled seeing Lindsey punch Harris in the face before both of them exited the vehicle. With all hes done to me, I could kill him and get away with it, Harris had allegedly stated. The tragedy took place at the parking lot of the Hilton Hotel at Nassau Bay last year. Most women in her shoes would've snapped. Her devastation is understandable, but comparing to many broken-hearted women who just leave their cheating husbands, she went to an extreme. 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. I wrote a long article about her, titled Suburban Madness, for Texas Monthly. The impact threw him about 25 feet, prosecutors said. Clara Harris leaving prison on May 11, 2018. The mock trial suggested that Harris' account was convincing. 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 Jan. 5, two weeks before the trial, the defense team convened 20 people as a mock jury. It seemed that life was perfect and complete for the Harris family. 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. Her friends have told me she is worried that people she meets will realize who she is and back away. Her husband later opened Space Center Orthodontics outside of Houston. As part of a prison program, she learned braille and worked several hours a day translating school textbooks into braille. Today, they had the chance to explain why. Harris agreed, but she secretly hired a private investigator to follow them to dinner and ensure her husband ended the relationship. ''He provided well,'' Mr. Harris testified. It was not only shocking but IMO, really sad. 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. "What did Lindsey say to you?" Right up until the last moment, the defense was divided over whether Harris should take the stand to defend herself. 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. 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. He and Gail both contributed to the situation. They had twin sons named Brian and Bradley in 1998. Then, all of a sudden, she said, she saw her husband in front of her, running. This is Dr. David Harris and hes fing this woman right here!. 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.". Its been reported they regularly visit their mother at the Mountain View womens prison in Gatesville, Texas. "And at that point I knew I had to focus on her.". She said she remembered driving around in circles, "confused," with no conscious thoughts going through her mind. When she saw the car, she said, she decided to ram it with her Mercedes. All she wants to do is make up for lost time with her boys., Clara is now sixty years old, and her hair is getting gray. In short time, the Harrises were showing signs of success, with an expensive home and high-dollar import vehicles. However, Irwin, the accident reconstructionist, still managed to make a persuasive case that Harris only ran into her husband once. Read Skip Hollandsworths 2002 piece on Harris, Suburban Madness,. While the sentence for intentional murder in Texas is 20 years to life, murder in sudden passion carries a minimum penalty of just two years, with a maximum of 20 years. Im so sorry, she was heard saying over and over. A dozen photojournalists flocked to Harris first court appearance. David Harris and Bridges entered the hotel lobby hand in hand, Lindsey said. 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. 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. She was on a mission to find where he was, said Lindsey. Gerald Harris Sr. then defended his son, if not as vehemently. 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! Clara Harris was sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Not to mention destroying so many other lives. 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. In 2002 Lindsey Harris, daughter of David Harris filed a Federal lawsuit against Clara Harris. Clara suddenly gunned the engine and raced toward them. 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. 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. '', ''David loved Clara very much,'' she told the jury. ''Sometimes I think she loved him too much,'' the victim's mother said. ''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. 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. 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. Its time to forgive her and let her move on.. 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 They entered into a contract for services with Clara, which outline standard provisions of any decent agencyone of those provisions being that the client was not to interfere with the detectives investigation. Yes, the twins acknowledged, they had lost their father, but at the same time they had lost their mother, whom they loved deeply. Blood was coming from his nose and mouth. And its full of great reads, yall. In the darkened cabin of her stepmothers Mercedes-Benz, Lindsey Harris thought the drama was over for the night. He came up with a new strategy. Its too bad if they do, said Detoto, who has kept in touch with Harris since her conviction. Resides in Chicago, IL. Garza asked Bridges. 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. 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. Though Harris had hired a private detective to tail her husband that night, she and Lindsey set out to do their own surveillance. 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. Looking up, he saw a Mercedes ''bumping over an object,'' he said. 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. 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. 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. Many of the mock jurors said that judging from what they had heard in the media, they believed Harris had killed her husband intentionally. Clients were advised to let the investigators do the work and simply wait for the report upon completion. David Harris told his daughter that he felt neglected by his wife after the birth of their twin boys three years earlier. Last year, Professor Harris testified in a competency hearing in the trial of Andrea Yates, who was convicted of murder in the drownings of her five children. And You Thought Feral Hogs Were Bad. However, the defense had another problem: a videotape shot by a private detective Harris had hired after her husband admitted the affair. "You b, he's my husband!" Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. She said she has been seeing a therapist, is taking medication and that her leg -- hit by Clara Harris' car -- still bothers her. The same day his twin daughters were born, Billy Gibbs would commit a crime so horrific he would die in the electric chair two years later. David Harris is on Facebook. Joy Davis Aylor was angry that her husband Larry Aylor was having an affair, so she hired a man to murder Larry's mistress and later sent thugs to kill Larry himself. 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. David Harris was enamored. 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 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. View the profiles of professionals named "David Harris" on LinkedIn. Facebook gives people the power. Lindsey Harris is a Director, Marketing at CPS Solutions based in Dublin, Ohio. ", The phrase stopped Harris for a moment, she said. SRA ID: 125332 SRA Regulated. 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. "This was an unfortunate tragedy and it did not have to end this way," Bridges said. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. "I thought we were in good shape," he told Primetime later. The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. She will be eligible for parole in 10 years. Under the conditions of her parole, she has to wear a monitoring bracelet, take regular drug and alcohol tests, be gainfully employed, and reside in Galveston County. 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 has since filed a wrongful death suit against her stepmother. Clara and husband David were both respected dental practitioners in Houston, Texas, with a shared office in the shadow of NASAs Johnson Space Center. Dr Harris joined the School of Social and Political Sciences in September 2019 having previously held a number of key academic . 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. David Harris' parents testified in support of Clara Harris, saying she had a strong marriage with their son and had been emotionally distraught on learning of his infidelity. 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..