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. ", Next, the defense team showed the panel a videotape they had made of Harris talking about the night of the killing. I hate you!. This time, a jury had little sympathy for Claras story, and it ordered her to pay $3.75 million in damages. The Campaign to Sabotage Texass Public Schools. Since it only showed Harris circling the parking lot, and since David was barely visible, the defense argued she only hit him once. Who the hell are you, the Name Police? Four of the jurors said they could "relate" to how Harris felt. Over the years, there were occasional stories in the media about Clara. Turner: TEA is giving Houston ISD two optionsclose school or be taken over, Who is Justin Dirden? Clara struggled to get pregnant; after undergoing fertility treatments, she gave birth to twin boys Brian and Bradley in 1998. Clara Harris was granted parole in November 2017, and she was ultimately released in May of 2018. 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. Clara Harris and attorney George Parnham after the first day of testimony in 2003. She had two sons with her orthodontist husband, David Harris. She was led from the courtroom, and the trial was recessed for 15 minutes. Previously, Lindsey was a Principal at Kobre & Kim and also held posit ions at Wachtell , Lipton , Rosen & Katz. 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. One of the English tabloids nicknamed Clara The Driller Killer. In Houston, it was the story of the year. Hotel security was called and Clara was escorted from the building and told to leave the premises. Bridges said she never saw this coming because Clara knew of their affair and David told his mistress he was leaving his wife. The settlement terms are confidential, said attorney John A. Davis Jr., who represented Lindsey Harris. She was quickly inundated with requests for interviews, but she turned all of them down. ''I love her very much,'' Mildred Harris, beaming toward her daughter-in-law, said this morning from the witness stand shortly before the defense rested its case. Next time, make a comment of some substance or utter something interesting regarding the article. Clara Harris went totally berserk & lost all control & sense of reality. ''When we came closer, that bag turned out to be a human being.''. 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. 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. 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.. 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. Without warning, she stomped on the accelerator and went straight for my Dad, testified Lindsey, 17, at Harris murder trial Wednesday. George Wong/Getty ImagesClara Harris and attorney George Parnham after the first day of testimony in 2003. 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. . ''She was on a mission to find where he was -- she was determined,'' Lindsey testified. Since the trial, Parnham has been asking himself why the jury imposed the maximum. 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. We became very close, Lindsey said. A dozen photojournalists flocked to Harris first court appearance. Clara Harris had it all. Sadly, like too many women, she refused to face this and went into a total denial.This whole story is sad as can be Val..several LIVES destroyed. Paul May Other occupants: Paul May View 2 Lindsey A Harris ER 2002 Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3. The story of an angry dentist killing her husband spread like wildfire. Menu Log In Sign Up Suzie from Carson City on October 07, 2017: Triple J.I'm quite aware of my friend's name. It was an accident. Only two of the panelists both men said Harris was guilty of murder. Why Does He Get to Make That Call? Staring at a photo of her twin boys, Clara bowed her head, her dark brown eyes brimming with tears, and then was escorted away. 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. View the profiles of professionals named "Lindsay Harris" on LinkedIn. Clara! a reporter shouted. He then escorted Bridges to her Lincoln Navigator while hotel staff took Harris outside. ''I said, 'No!' Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. They watched as prosecutors built a case against Dr. Harris, 45, a former beauty queen who is a dentist. They should've paroled her the first time she was up for parole. The lawsuit sought damages from the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel and the Blue Moon Investigations detective agency for the couple's twin sons, Brian and Bradley, 5, and Harris' daughter, Lindsey, 18, by a previous marriage. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. When asked how many times, he said twice. Harris agreed, but she secretly hired a private investigator to follow them to dinner and ensure her husband ended the relationship. In an interview in November in Texas Monthly magazine, Mr. Harris said that he and his wife would do anything to help their daughter-in-law. Anyone can read what you share. Also known as Lindsey D Clay, Clay Lindsey. YouTubeDavid and Clara Harris were married for ten years before she killed him in a fit of rage. Clara Harris still rotting in prison is a waste of taxpayer money. She said she could kill him and get away with it for what shes been through, Lindsey testified. As Assistant District Attorney Mia Magness led Lindsey through the moments leading to her father's death, she kept her composure, her voice quivering occasionally. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. 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. I was yelling, Stop, youre killing him!. What more could anyone want? Clara suddenly gunned the engine and raced toward them. A Right-wing Cabal Took Over Odessas Municipal Government. 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. Clara had a lucrative practice as a dentist, while Davids specialty was orthodontics. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? 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 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. Im so sorry, she was heard saying over and over. Lindsey Harris is a Partner at Kirkland & Ellis based in Chicago, Illinois. Recent work includes the illustrations for Alan Mulhern's two books: Healing Intelligence, the Spirit in Psychotherapy (Karnac, 2012), and The Sower and the . She has no history of trouble with the law or of misbehavior I need society. By the time they tracked him down at a hotel, Harris was livid. 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? Lindsey Harris is a Director, Marketing at CPS Solutions based in Dublin, Ohio. You b, hes my husband! Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. Lindsey Harris filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her stepmother and was awarded about $2. Prosecutors say Harris, bent on avenging her husband's adultery, used her car as a murder. Then she did another 180 and ran over him a third time. In short time, the Harrises were showing signs of success, with an expensive home and high-dollar import vehicles. They paroled OJ, clearly someone who cannot stay out of trouble. She said Clara Harris finally stopped the car, ran to her husband and said: ''I'm so sorry. Lindsey Harris's Phone Number and Email Last Update. 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. 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. As she listened to her stepdaughter's testimony, Clara Harris began crying. Bridges says that's when Harris came back around and hit David then ran over him repeatedly. Then, learn about rich teenager Ethan Couch being released from prison despite murdering four people. "If you had anything to say to Clara, what would it be?" I hit her because I knew that she had killed my Dad, said Lindsey. 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. In the darkened cabin of her stepmothers Mercedes-Benz, Lindsey Harris thought the drama was over for the night. A police officer who witnessed the crime testified that she ran him over three times, however. Dr Lyndsey Harris is a Criminologist with extensive qualitative research experience. Nevertheless, Claras attorneys persuaded the jurors that Clara had acted under sudden passion rather than with intent to kill, and they gave her a twenty-year sentence. Join Facebook to connect with Lindsay Harris and others you may know. Is that understood? With her stepdaughter in the car, she ran over him three times and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. "It's hard to tell. Local radio stations gave breathless updates. ''He was really scared,'' she said, describing her father as Clara Harris's Mercedes raced toward him. Only 16 at the time she witnessed her father's traumatic death, Lindsey stated she had since attempted suicide on at least four occasions. Contact. The investigator's camera was rolling as Clara's car made contact with Davids body and he was tossed into the air. ''I know that he was trying to get away and he couldn't.''. Dr. Harris pushed Ms. Bridges out of the way before he was hit, his daughter said. Garza asked. Gerald Harris, a former school principal who later directed the transportation division of a school district before he retired, said his son was a good husband and a good father to their young twin boys. Leave them blank to get signed up. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After it was over, Clara Harris led Lindsey to the Mercedes. 2023 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. In 2004 Harris also sued her attorney, George Parnham, who had represented her at trial, claiming he overcharged her and misused her . Harris cried through much of the testimony, and the defense team assured Primetime her emotions had not been rehearsed. There is at least one holdout in family support for the driver of the Mercedes. When Parnham and his team watched the tape closely, they decided they could make the argument that the Mercedes hit David Harris only once, and that the subsequent passes went around his body, not over it. When asked to choose from a list of possible verdicts, most of the mock jurors chose criminally negligent homicide. 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. Prosecutors, however, went after her, saying she knew exactly what she was doing in that Hilton parking lot. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. 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. 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. 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 . She and her future husband met as colleagues at the Castle Dental Center in 1991. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. I don't believe she should have been sent to jail for 20 years. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. Patricia Sharpe writes a regular restaurant column, Pats Pick, for Texas Monthly. Attorneys for Lindsey Harris filed a lawsuit Thursday, naming Blue Moon Investigations and the Hilton Nasa Clear Lake, Nasa Road 1, in Nassau Bay. 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. 20 years was extremely unfair. They succeeded in getting a jury of nine women and three men. I do not regret or will ever regret that I got to know him and that he became part of my life.". 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. How Did James Dean Die? However, on a rational side, what bothers the most is Clara's not being aware through all those years that her husband was a cheating type - despite the fact that he didn't even particularly hide it. It's highly unlikely Clara was not "aware" of her husband's cheating ways. Parnham was confident. 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. It was not only shocking but IMO, really sad. David Harris, a suburban Houston orthodontist, died July 24 after Clara Harris' car struck him. (While the sentence for intentional murder in Texas is five years to life, murder in sudden passion carries a minimum penalty of just two years, with a maximum of twenty years.) A dignified churchgoing couple in tweeds and sensible shoes, Mildred Harris and her husband, Gerald, have sat a few feet behind Dr. Harris in the public gallery alongside another of their sons, several close friends and members of Dr. Harris's family from Bogot, Colombia. Lindsey visited her father and stepmother two or three times a year. I never thought hed do something like that to her. Blue Moon investigators would make a deadly mistake when it came to their client Clara Harris. Because of her criminal record, she can no longer practice dentistry.) "I drove over David," she said in tears, adding that she was so disoriented she wasn't aware of being at the wheel of her car. Six months later, all Lindsey knows for sure is that her father is dead, and that her stepmother is to blame. As Dr. Clara Harris sits in court every day, her staunchest supporters are the parents of her husband, the man she is accused of killing with her Mercedes-Benz. Bridges was very afraid of the television cameras. Join Facebook to connect with David Harris and others you may know. 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! She always said that David called Lindsey his angel and now David is her angel. View Lindsey Harris results in Ohio (OH) including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. When the car stopped, David Harris, 44, was dead. Clara was arrested for murder. I wrote a long article about her, titled Suburban Madness, for Texas Monthly. Are ticket costs pricing Houston Astros fans out of Opening Day? His close buddies call him, "Val." He clearly did not make them a priority. Jurors deemed hers a crime of sudden passion, and she was sentenced to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, the maximum allowed for murder under such circumstances. 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. At the Clear Lake office, he employed a married woman by the name of Gail Bridges as his receptionist. 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. 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! Originally sentenced to twenty years for first-degree murder, the former Houston dentist has been paroled. "This is Dr. David Harris and he's fing this woman right here!" Lindsey started hitting her father while shouting, I hate you! Harris ripped the shirt off Bridges, then David reportedly pushed Harris to the floor. 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. "And at that point I knew I had to focus on her.". Theres An App for That. 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. David Harris was run over shortly afterward. 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. A 2016 parole request was also denied. Facebook gives people the power. I hate you! 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." "We were leaving the hotel and I was looking at David and I noticed all of a sudden his face changed. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. She knew what she did and she wasnt sorry, said Lindsey. Clara and Davids twin sons continue to live Texas with Davids parents, Gerald and Mildred Harris. Gail Bridges stood watching, too stunned to move. They seemed like the perfect family but on July 24, 2002, Harris fatally ran over her husband with her car. The hotel's attorney, Ervin Apffel Jr., confirmed that the lawsuit had been settled but declined to comment further. 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. Click a location below to find Lindsey more easily. Fleeing for Your Life? She wasnt saying anything. 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. ''Sometimes I think she loved him too much,'' the victim's mother said. ''She had killed him.''. Most of all, mind your own damned business. Back then she declined. On the stand, Harris gave an account similar to the videotaped one that had been so effective with the mock jury. 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. During hearings on the matter, Lindsey Harris testified she was severely traumatized from her stepmothers actions. Mayor: HISD has two optionsclose school or be taken over, Meet the Astros prospect tearing up Spring Training, Report: Houston ranked No. Harris already knew about the affair when she hired Blue Moon Investigations, a private detective agency, in July 2002. A lawsuit on behalf of the children of David Harris, a cheating husband fatally run down by his wife in a jealous rage two years ago, has been tentatively settled, lawyers for the involved parties have confirmed. "You b, he's my husband!" Harris shouted before slapping Bridges. When one suggested reckless driving, Hirschhorn joked that Parnham should take her to lunch. . ''We could talk to each other because we both loved David,'' she said in testimony that began with her smiling broadly at the jury. Clara, who had been tipped off to Davids whereabouts by a private investigator she had hired, went berserk. 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. Parnham and Harris gave ABCNEWS extraordinary access to her legal defense, allowing Primetime's cameras to film the defense team's strategy sessions, their meetings with experts, and a mock trial in which they tested their case on a group of stand-in "jurors.". 1 Lindsey Harris ER 2006 Sudbury, Suffolk, CO10. David was dead at the scene and Clara was charged with first-degree murder. But then, on the last day of testimony, the prosecution produced a rebuttal witness who directly contradicted Irwin's theory. Harris was 60 years old at the time of her release, and she was looking for a job as a condition of her parole. If jurors find she acted under the legal definition of sudden passion, she could receive a two-to-20-year sentence. ''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. The investigators Harris had hired happened to record the entire ordeal on video, which was entered into evidence. After learning about Clara Harris, read about Leona Candy Stevens lying in court to liberate her husband Charles Manson. West Texans Are Learning What It Means to Live in Bear Country, How Florence ButtNot Her SonLaunched the H-E-B Empire, H-E-Bs True Texas BBQ Restaurant Is Slipping, Jimmy Carters Peanut-and-Egg Taco Made Quite the Impression on San Antonians. Bridges spoke to News2Houston in an exclusive interview Thursday. ''But there is no problem with me getting to see those children.''. Katy Vine has been a staff writer since 2002. The impact threw him about 25 feet, prosecutors said. As the defense rested its case, Parnham was concerned about the damaging police statement and some of the testimony, but he was confident the jury would accept Irwin's testimony that Harris only hit her husband once. He went to church and loved Clara, she said. With all hes done to me, I could kill him and get away with it, Harris had allegedly stated. She thought her car was going to stop on the high sidewalk, she said, but instead it kept going. Clients were advised to let the investigators do the work and simply wait for the report upon completion. If she did, there was a risk the prosecution would get her police statement admitted, with her potentially incriminating comments about wanting to hurt her husband. ''In 10 years, he never had a negative thing to say about Clara. Prosecutors say Harris, bent on avenging her husbands adultery, used her car as a murder weapon. David Harris primary office was in Clear Lake, while he worked from the office shared with Clara in Lake Jackson only two days each week. We went shopping a lot. 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. Harris, a 45-year-old Houston dentist, was accused of killing her cheating husband by running him over with her Mercedes in a hotel parking lot in front of half a dozen witnesses. Harris sons visited her at the Mountain View Unit prison in Gainesville, Texas, every month. "Did you see the car coming towards you?" Whats Up With All the Kangaroos on the Loose in Texas. When they were together, Gail felt special nonetheless. They saw David and Gail heading to Gails SUV in a different part of the parking lot. "I've always said I thought that video eventually would be the best thing in the world for us," he said. They then walked around the parking lot looking for Ms. Bridges's Lincoln Navigator. 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. Yes, she made a horrible fifteen-minute mistake. 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. She ultimately destroyed her own life & lost everything because of the nasty bastard she was married to. Witnesses recalled seeing Lindsey punch Harris in the face before both of them exited the vehicle. A total of three times, Clara ran the two-ton car over her husband. Through it all, however, Clara Harris only wanted people to know the truth about what really happened the night she murdered her husband. 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. 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. But last year, she got a new parole attorney, Kevin Stouwie of San Antonio. 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. Read Skip Hollandsworths 2002 piece on Harris, Suburban Madness,. David Rice Harris, in Perry County, in the late 1860s and early 1870s.