Mercedes Victim's Family Takes Stand

The defense rested after getting a boost from the victim's family, but the prosecution is taking another shot at proving a Houston woman committed murder by deliberately running over her husband at least twice with her luxury car.

Relatives of the man run down by his wife after she learned of his affair testified in her support Monday, with the defense hoping to bolster her claim the whole thing was an accident.

The father, mother and brother of David Harris all took the stand to testify on behalf of Clara Harris.

"I've always known her to be truthful," the victim's brother, Gerald Harris Jr., told jurors. "She is one of the most law-abiding people that I know."

David Harris' mother, Mildred Harris, added that Clara Harris, 45, has been "more like a daughter than a daughter-in-law."

Clara Harris has said she did not intend to fatally run over her 44-year-old orthodontist husband with a Mercedes in a hotel parking lot last July. Last week, she tearfully told jurors she was aiming the luxury sedan at his lover's vehicle.

Prosecutors say the attack was intentional and that David Harris was run over at least twice.

Toward that end, a Houston police officer became the prosecution's first rebuttal witness as the sensational trial entered its fourth week.

A police accident investigator testified that Clara Harris ran over her husband at least twice -- not just once, as the defense claims.

Officer Rolando Saenz says earlier testimony by a defense expert that the turning radius of Harris' Mercedes wouldn't allow her to hit her husband twice was wrong.

Officer Saenz said that earlier testimony by defense witness Steve Irwin, a collision expert, was flawed. Irwin had said that the turning radius of Clara Harris' Mercedes made it impossible for her to circle back and hit 44-year-old David Harris more than once.

Saenz, however, said it is possible to make tighter turns by getting the back end of the car to skid. " As you make a left hand turn, sometimes (the back end) will swing out right and it will change the turning radius,'' Saenz said.

Clara Harris, 45, has said she ran over her husband once by accident last July. Last week, she tearfully told jurors she was aiming at his lover's vehicle.

Prosecutors maintain she deliberately and repeatedly hit her husband after finding him at the hotel with another woman.

Bloodstains under the Mercedes also show Harris ran over her husband at least two times, "if not more," Saenz said.

Closing arguments likely won't come until Wednesday, and it could be an overnighter for jurors.

They've been told to bring toothbrushes and any other necessities -- in case they have to be sequestered.

If convicted, Clara Harris faces up to life in prison. If jurors determine she acted under the legal definition of sudden passion, they could consider a lighter sentence of two to 20 years in prison.