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During penalty phase, teen describes horror of father's murder scene
HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) -- Saying she knew she'd never see her father alive again, a teenager recounted to a jury Thursday how she watched the man get crushed under the wheels of the car her stepmother was driving. "It was terrifying," Lindsey Harris said, describing the fear she saw in her father's eyes as she rode in the car being driven by Clara Harris. "I knew that she was killing him and that I'd never see my dad again." The girl's testimony came during the sentencing phase of the Clara Harris trial. Hours earlier, the jury found Houston dentist Harris guilty of murder for intentionally and repeatedly running David Harris over with her Mercedes-Benz outside a suburban hotel after discovering him inside the building with his mistress. Lindsey was a passenger in the car and became the prosecution's star witness as she described the impact the murder has had on her. The brown-haired 17-year-old said she was "numb" in the first months after her father's murder, and then sought medical care for depression. When counseling and anti-depressant medications "didn't help," the girl testified, she tried to slit her wrists. "More than once?" Harris County prosecutor Mia Magness asked. "Yes," Lindsey replied in a firm, but very sad voice. While her stepdaughter testified, the defendant wept audibly, then jumped up and said, "I'm sorry, baby. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Judge Carol Davies admonished the defendant, saying any more outbursts would cause her to be removed permanently from the sentencing proceedings. During the penalty phase testimony, defense attorney George Parnham suggested his client be given probation. "She has been a law-abiding citizen throughout her life," he said. "She as a result of this verdict will no longer have a dental practice. She is an excellent candidate for community supervision." Parnham also called the victim's father, Gerald Harris, to again testify on his daughter-in-law's behalf. "Our motivation stems from the word forgiveness," Harris said. "We feel like a member of our family has erred and we forgive that. We don't feel like Clara intended to kill David." 'We never thought it would come to this'In addition to the murder verdict, the nine-woman, three-man jury also found Harris guilty of the special issue of using or exhibiting a deadly weapon -- the car -- in the commission of the July 24 crime. "We never thought it would come to this," a defense attorney told CNN shortly after the verdict was read. "It's as if (the jury) threw the whole case about the marriage and the mistress out the window." The attorney said a parade of friends, relatives, and colleagues would testify to Harris' character during the sentencing phase. The crimes could bring a sentence of five to 99 years or life in prison, but the jury could also recommend a sentence of two to 20 years in prison if it found the mitigating circumstance of "sudden passion" was present. The jury can also recommend probation. Harris, wearing a conservative gray suit and with her hair pulled back in a bun, appeared calm and dry-eyed when she heard the verdict. She had testified that she remembered striking her husband, David, only once and that she did not intentionally drive into him shortly after confronting him and his mistress inside the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel. Emotional testimonyThe trial brought forth emotional testimony from both defense and prosecution witnesses. Oscar Torres, a tennis player whose game had been interrupted by the sound of screams and screeching tires said he saw the car make circles in the parking lot to run over the body three times, and then saw a teenage girl -- Lindsey Harris -- jump out and scream, "My dad! My dad! You've killed my dad! He's dead!" "It was like an animal that would scream in excruciating pain, out of control," Torres said. Harris told police she was only trying to separate her husband from his girlfriend, Gail Bridges, and she testified last week she had wanted "to hurt her husband emotionally, not physically." "I never saw hitting him. I never saw running over him," she testified. The victim's relatives had testified in the widow's defense Monday, saying the couple was "devoted to each other." David Harris' brother, Gerald Harris Jr. called Clara Harris "truthful and credible" and "one of the most law-abiding persons I know." In rebuttal, prosecutors called a Houston police officer who testified that according to his analysis, Clara Harris ran over her husband at least twice. A videotape taken by a private detective Harris had hired to follow her husband showed her car circling around to run over an object on the pavement. -- CNN Correspondent Art Harris contributed to this report Copyright 2003 CNN. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.
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