Murder Of David Lynn Harris
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David Lynn Harris was an
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
orthodontist Orthodontics is a dentistry specialty that addresses the diagnosis, prevention, management, and correction of mal-positioned teeth and jaws, and misaligned bite patterns. It may also address the modification of facial growth, known as dentofacial ...
who owned a chain of offices along with his wife, Clara Suarez Harris. The chain was particularly successful, and the couple was able to afford an upscale home and lifestyle in Friendswood,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. On July 24, 2002, Clara Harris confronted her husband in a hotel parking lot over an
extramarital affair An affair is a sexual relationship, romantic friendship, or passionate attachment in which at least one of its participants has a formal or informal commitment to a third person who may neither agree to such relationship nor even be aware of i ...
, then struck and ran over him with her
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
sedan, killing him in an act of
mariticide Mariticide (from Latin ''maritus'' "husband" + ''-cide'', from ''caedere'' "to cut, to kill") literally means the killing of one's own husband. It can refer to the act itself or the person who carries it out. It can also be used in the context o ...
. She was convicted of sudden passion and sentenced to 20 years in prison.


Marriage

Clara Suarez, a
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
n immigrant, was named "Mrs Colombia
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
" and worked as a
dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...
. She married David Harris on February 14, 1992, at the Nassau Bay Hilton, and raised three children: twin sons Brian and Bradley, born in 1998, and David's daughter Lindsey from a previous marriage. During his marriage to Clara, David began to have an affair with his former receptionist, Gail Bridges. Suspicious, Clara hired a
private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI and informally called a private eye), a private detective, or inquiry agent is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigators of ...
agency to monitor David, and on July 24, 2002, the agency notified her that he was at a hotel with his mistress.


Murder and trial

That evening, Clara went to the Hilton Hotel in
Nassau Bay, Texas Nassau Bay is a city in Harris County, Texas, United States, bordering the southeastern edge of the city of Houston. It is located in the Clear Lake Area near Galveston Bay, directly adjacent to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. The populatio ...
, to confront her husband and reportedly attacked Bridges in the lobby. Hotel employees escorted Clara to her
Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
sedan. When David and Bridges came out of the hotel, Clara struck down her husband in the parking lot as her teenaged stepdaughter Lindsey sat in the passenger seat. According to the
medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictio ...
's office, they could only be certain there was one tire mark on the body, but Lindsey and eyewitnesses assert Clara ran over David three times. David was dead at the scene, and Clara was charged with
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
. Clara's trial began the following February. Lindsey testified against her stepmother, claiming she told her to stop the vehicle. The
prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal trial ...
claimed Clara's actions were more than a
crime of passion A crime of passion (French: ''crime passionnel''), in popular usage, refers to a violent crime, especially homicide, in which the perpetrator commits the act against someone because of sudden strong impulse such as anger rather than as a premed ...
, but that she "wanted to hurt" David, as she was heard saying in a police interview. Also introduced at her trial was a videotape of the crime, recorded by the detective agency Clara had hired when she suspected David of the affair. The video was especially damning, as it showed her circling her Mercedes around the parking lot three times, although David is not clearly seen in the video. Clara then parks her car next to his body. The
defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...
's attempts to prove that Clara ran over David only once crumbled when the judge ruled their re-creation of the crime by a private consultant inadmissible in court. Her attorney explained what was in the report, using the consultant as an
expert witness An expert witness, particularly in common law countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, is a person whose opinion by virtue of education, training, certification, skills or experience, is accepted by the judge as ...
on the stand. They argued that Clara could only have run over David once, and that the
turning radius The turning diameter of a vehicle is the minimum diameter (or "width") of available space required for that vehicle to make a circular turn (i.e. U-turn). The term thus refers to a theoretical minimal circle in which for example an aeroplane, a ...
of her Mercedes would not have allowed for her to sharply turn and run over him a second time. The prosecution admitted that it was a good argument, but countered by bringing in a police officer who had been present at the scene who pointed out another tire track on the pavement shown in a police photograph, the angle of which went directly to where David's body had been. Clara was advised not to take the stand. However, after watching days of testimony, she decided she had to speak. Taking the stand allowed parts of Clara's original interview, which her attorneys had previously gotten ruled inadmissible, to come into question. Only part of the interview was played; the jury heard Clara state that she "wanted to hurt" her husband, but not the portion where she said later in the interview, "I didn't want to kill him." This caused her attorney to collapse from the stress, causing the court to go to recess as he was taken to the hospital and later released. Clara contends that she did not see David when she ran into him with her car. Despite the medical examiner's report, the defense was unable to prove that she did not in fact run over him multiple times. Clara was found guilty of murdering her husband. On February 14, 2003, she was sentenced to twenty years in prison – the maximum sentence allowed by the jury's "sudden passion" finding – and
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...
d $10,000. She was incarcerated at the
Mountain View Unit Mountain View Unit is a Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison housing female offenders in Gatesville, Texas. The unit, with about of land, is located north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215. The prison is located in a 45 ...
in
Gatesville, Texas Gatesville is a city in and the county seat of Coryell County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,135 at the 2020 census. The city has five of the nine prisons and state jails for women operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. ...
, where she converted school textbooks to
Braille Braille (Pronounced: ) is a tactile writing system used by people who are visually impaired, including people who are Blindness, blind, Deafblindness, deafblind or who have low vision. It can be read either on Paper embossing, embossed paper ...
for blind students. Clara's sons, who are in the custody of family friends, were said to visit about once a month. She was denied
parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
in her first attempt on April 11, 2013, by the
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (BPP) is a state agency that makes parole and clemency decisions for inmates in Texas prisons. It is headquartered in Austin, Texas. The BPP was created by constitutional amendment in 1935. It determines wh ...
. Her second parole request was denied in September 2016. However, she was granted parole in November 2017.


Aftermath

Harris was released on parole on May 11, 2018, and will remain on parole until February 2023.


In popular culture

A book titled ''Out of Control'' was written by
Steven Long Steven Hayward Long (born July 17, 1944), from Houston, Texas, is an American journalist, magazine publisher and author of three true crime books and one novel. He has worked the three roles simultaneously, covering news events for magazines and ...
about the case. Published in 2004 by St. Martin's Paperbacks, the book follows the story of the murder and the reasons behind it. This story was the inspiration for the completion of a chapter in the Mexican series '' Mujeres Asesinas'' "Killer Women." The chapter title is Luz, overwhelming (Luz, arrolladora). The case was profiled on the
Oxygen Network Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primar ...
series ''
Snapped ''Snapped'' is an American true crime television series produced by Jupiter Entertainment. The series depicts high profile or bizarre cases of women accused of murder. Each episode outlines the motivation for murder, whether it be revenge agains ...
'' in 2004, on
ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...
's ''
20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' in 2006, and on
Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...
's ''
Deadly Women ''Deadly Women'' is an American true crime documentary television series produced by Beyond International Group and airing on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. The series focuses on murders committed by women. It is hosted by former ...
'' in 2010. It was also the topic of ''
Suburban Madness ''Suburban Madness'' is an American crime drama television film, based on a true story of the Murder of David Lynn Harris, starring Sela Ward as PI Bobbi Bacha of Blue Moon Investigations. It aired on CBS on October 3, 2004. Plot ''Suburban Madn ...
'', a Lifetime Original movie, starring
Elizabeth Peña Elizabeth Maria Peña (September 23, 1959 – October 14, 2014) was an American actress, writer and musician. Her work in films included ''Nothing like the Holidays'', ''Batteries Not Included'', '' La Bamba'', '' Down and Out in Beverly ...
and
Brett Cullen Peter Brett Cullen (born August 26, 1956) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Dan Fixx in ''Falcon Crest'' (1986-1988), Sam Cain in ''The Young Riders'' (1989-1990), Governor Ray Sullivan in ''The West Wing'' (2005-2006), Goo ...
.


See also

*
Crime in Houston Houston's murder rate in 2005 ranked 46th of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000 in 2005 (per capita rate of 16.3 murders per 100,000 population). In 2010, the city's murder rate (per capita rate of 11.8 murders per 100,000 population) was r ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, David Lynn 2002 in Texas 2002 murders in the United States Deaths by person in Texas Harris County, Texas July 2002 events in the United States Mariticides Murder in Texas