Offender Paper

Essay by deboyd21College, UndergraduateA+, November 2014

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Introduction

Clara Harris was born in the year of 1968 and was found guilty of first degree murder of her husband, David Lynn Harris, on February 14, 2002 which would have been the couple's 11th anniversary. Clara was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a $10,000 fine. The jury in Clara Harris's case viewed the crime as "sudden passion" and with that the maximum amount of time sentenced was 20 years; however, it would have been the minimum without the "sudden passion" ruling. Harris is currently fulfilling her sentence in Gatesville, Texas at Mount View Unit. Clara Harris was eligible for parole in 2013, but the judge denied her parole.

Identification

Clara Harris was a dentist and her husband, David Harris, was an orthodontist and they shared a practice. Everything seemed perfect in the couple life until the year of 2001 when the couple hired Gale Bridges as their receptionist.

David Harris was often spotted hanging out Bridge's desk; however, employees attempted to ignore the visits so they would not lose their jobs. Clara was unaware of the inappropriate actions of her husband and Bridges until an office manager told her she needed to guard her marriage. With the information Clara fired Gale Bridges and began trying to transform her image in order to attract her husband and even quit her job in order to satisfy David sexually.

In the summer of 2001, Clara and David met at a bar and Mr. Harris explained to Clara all the aspects of Gale Bridges he loved. Clara told her husband she would lose weight and have surgery to get breast implants in order to save their marriage and David agreed to end his affair with Bridges. In order to insure David was keeping his word about ending his affair, Clara...