Clara Harris gets 20 years in Mercedes murder. (1 Viewer)

[BrettB]

Why the assumption of a double standard? No double standard here, the gender of the victim and murderer has nothing to do with it.

 

[Dan Hine]

No, the punishment DOES fit the crime. It's all the other cases that have had slack punishments for the crime.

And on a slightly different topic, I still can't figure out why the plea of "temporary insanity" gets people out of trouble. They should be locked up too. What is to stop them from being temporarily insane again? And how many people will they be allowed to kill?

As others have said, this case was NOT self defense. She could have left and then filed for a divorce. It was not an accident. No one ran in front of her car while she was driving. She caught her husband cheating and she chose (yes SHE CHOSE, not me, not you, not the devil) to run over her husband.

 

[Leila Dougan]

Why the assumption of a double standard? No double standard here, the gender of the victim and murderer has nothing to do with it.

I don't think the gender has anything to do with it either.

But, I do remember a case a few years back where a man killed his wife in a rage because he found out she was seeing another man (didn't even catch her in the act). When she came home, he stabbed her until she was dead.

At the time, everyone was saying that that he ought to be locked up for the rest of his life or executed. Not one person that I spoke to felt "5 years probation" was just punishment.

So I'm wondering if the the original poster and those in agreement, would also feel 5 years probation would have been suitable for this man. And if not, why the double standard?

I'll admit it was an assumption. . .there just seems to be a lot of double standards when it comes to cases like this.

In the man's case, a lot of people would be saying he was a jealous abuser who took his rage out on the woman he "loved". And in Clara Harris' case, it seems some people are saying "poor woman, she caught her unfaithful husband and was too upset to think straight."

I could be wrong, that's just the impression I get.

 

[David-S]

shoot, I can't find which network it was now, but Ms. Harris will be doing an interview on one of the big morning shows on monday...

I was shocked, especially because it seemed to be the interview was to talk more about the "failed marriage" than the "running down the husband"... maybe that's just what i got from the promo, but i was shocked..

 

[RobertR]

Clara Harris' case, it seems some people are saying "poor woman, she caught her unfaithful husband and was too upset to think straight."

There are some "feminists" who seem to view every criminal act by a woman as "excusable", because they insist on painting all women as "victims" of men.

 

[Eve T]

This makes me sick. How would it be if the HUSBAND had killed his wife? He would have probablly got the electric chair.

Since when does a "crime of passion" excuse murder?
If anyone thinks it's okay to kill someone because they cheat in a marriage than I'm very afraid.
Just think if they let everyone off for killing a spouse or lover or put them in prison for only 5 years? How long till they got into another bad relationship and killed another person?

There is such thing as divorce, or simply walking away from a potential volitile situation. NOBODY has the right to take the life of another human being just because they were immoral or used poor judgment and slept with another person or even 100 other persons.

When a person places themselves as judge,jury, and executioner and murders someone I think they should be put away for life or be taken out of commission period!

I can't say anymore or I too fear I may lose my membership.

 

[Glenn Overholt]

I heard on the tube that she got the maximum of 20 years, but Texas does do more, so I think I'm waiting for a legal explanation of why she didn't get the death penalty?

Also, (again from what I heard on the tube) her intent was to just harm him, and it is a bit 'over the top', but if he was still alive when she stopped and got out to check, then I don't think that murder would qualify, and it would go down as manslaughter.

Glenn

 

[RobertR]

her intent was to just harm him

Huh? She runs over him THREE times, but only meant to "harm" him??

"I shot him two more times, your honor, but only to 'harm' him".

Yeah, right.

 

[MarkHastings]

There are some "feminists" who seem to view every criminal act by a woman as "excusable", because they insist on painting all women as "victims" of men.

Exactly! Why don't we ever hear of men being 'victims'????

The fact of the matter is, if this womans husband is cheating on her, then she needed to leave him. End of story! No using her car in a vigilante way, just leave the guy and end it legally. If his cheating made her mad enough to run him over with a car, then why was she still married to him????


p.s. If anyone answers that last question with something like "she was scared to be on her own" then I ask you go get therapy before you respond.

p.s.s. What kind of world do we live in when we have the phrase "crime of passion"????? "I lovingly killed him!" Oh! That makes it all better! Everyone was prancing around in puffy pink sweaters while she 'lovingly' killed her husband to the tune of "Sunshine Day" and the Care Bears danced in the background...all nice and pretty...a sugar coated crime...how cute!

 

[Jim_F]

It should have been enough just to impound her car. I know if I drove a Mercedes and the police were to confiscate it, I'd be crushed.

And why all the emphasis on the make of her car? Would the crime be any more or less severe if she'd offed him with a K Car?

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

It would appear that “sudden passion” only drops you down to second degree murder in Texas, and that it’s murder if you merely intend to cause serious bodily injury and the victim dies. I would think that running into somebody with a car is an “act clearly dangerous to human life”.

See http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/statu...ml#pe001.19.01


§ 19.02. Murder

(a) In this section:

(1) "Adequate cause" means cause that would commonly produce a degree of anger, rage, resentment, or terror in a person of ordinary temper, sufficient to render the mind incapable of cool reflection.

(2) "Sudden passion" means passion directly caused by and arising out of provocation by the individual killed or another acting with the person killed which passion arises at the time of the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation.

(b) A person commits an offense if he:

(1) intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an individual;

(2) intends to cause serious bodily injury and commits an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual; or

(3) commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.

(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), an offense under this section is a felony of the first degree.

(d) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may raise the issue as to whether he caused the death under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a preponderance of the evidence, the offense is a felony of the second degree.

*******

But, I do remember a case a few years back where a man killed his wife in a rage because he found out she was seeing another man (didn't even catch her in the act). When she came home, he stabbed her until she was dead.

I actually know someone who did this. One of my law school professors was in the midst of a divorce and hacked his wife up with a kitchen knife - in front of his kids. He plea bargained it down to life without possibility of parole.

 

[Nathan*W]

And why all the emphasis on the make of her car? Would the crime be any more or less severe if she'd offed him with a K Car?

It's similar to any accident coverage involving an SUV. If the vehicle in question carries any kind of connotation in society (mostly negative), the make WILL be emphasized by the press. Every mention of the luxury sedan instills a kernel of "rich folks problem" in the average person's mind. So, basically it's coverage is meant to accentuate American "class envy".

 

[Holadem]

quote:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And if a man killed his wife because she was (or he thought she was) cheating, everyone would be screaming for him to be locked away for life.

Why the double standard?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Why the assumption of a double standard? No double standard here, the gender of the victim and murderer has nothing to do with it.

It's been my experience that the justice system is seriously biased agaisnt men in this country.

--
Holadem

 

[Jeremiah]

It's amazing how gullable people are, and the lack of reasoning people do is amazing.

You honestly think Harris just wanted to "harm" him? HECK NO! She wanted to kill him and she was in a fit of rage. Period.

Also, manslaughter? You can't be that ignorant can you? She ran him over 3 times; 3 times!!! So what if he didn't die right then and there. You shoot a guy in the stomach he will not die right away but eventually he will, you think that person deserves manslaughter? Give me a freaking break. It was cold hearted murder.

It is quite obvious she should of got no less than life in prison.

 

[Chris Knox]

I agree wholeheartedly with Mike Voight here, but I feel it needs to be taken a step further. Clara Harris killed at least 2 people that day; Her husband and her step daughter. I don't care how resilient a mind this young girl had, witnessing her father being run over 3 times is a crushing experience. Actually being in the car and feeling your father's body jolt the car as you bounce over him is mentally a life ender. She has nothing but constant nightmares and failed relationships to look forward to for the rest of her life, believe it.

Clara got off lightly, and this is because of where our society has gone in the last few years. Too many times the perpetrator of the crime is looked upon as the victim, and too many times the actual victims are blamed for their demise. When I read posts like this, I get sick. All I want to know is, where in the hell did this lunatic mentality take seed?

The real crime here is the death of common sense. Society has drawn a chalk line around it, and sadly no one can identify the body!

Disgusted.

 

[Max Leung]

Chris, I agree wholeheartedly! All the crazy things we see today boil down to the naive belief that people are born as blank slates. Thus, people are absolved of all responsibility because of "bad" upbringing or "low self-esteem issues". They point the finger at everyone except the perpetuator because, hey, it "wasn't her/his fault because of yadda yadda yadda".

Common sense died when post-modernism took hold and became the new dogma of the "intellectual" elite. The same elite that run our universities from their ivory towers, and lapped up by the slobbering journalists looking for an amoral justification for their existence. The place where the great evil, Political Correctness (ironically foreseen by Orwell's double-speak), was born.

Fnord I say!

[edit]Oh gosh, my post sounds like a (long) soundbite from one of those occasional Simpsons episodes where nobody gets the joke (ok so it wasn't really funny), but thankfully they go onto a more crude joke to keep the laughs coming[/edit]

 

[Chris Knox]

Common sense died when post-modernism took hold and became the new dogma of the "intellectual" elite. The same elite that run our universities from their ivory towers, and lapped up by the slobbering journalists looking for an amoral justification for their existence. The place where the great evil, Political Correctness (ironically foreseen by Orwell's double-speak), was born.

Man, if I could go back to my college days, I would be getting SO laid with that line!!!

 

[BrianW]

p.s.s. What kind of world do we live in when we have the phrase "crime of passion"????? "I lovingly killed him!" Oh! That makes it all better! Everyone was prancing around in puffy pink sweaters while she 'lovingly' killed her husband to the tune of "Sunshine Day" and the Care Bears danced in the background...all nice and pretty...a sugar coated crime...how cute!

Mark, I think you need to look up the word passion. “I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

 

[AaronNWilson]

This is one of the most cold hearted murders you could come across, give her the chair I say!

 

[MarkHastings]

Mark, I think you need to look up the word passion. “I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

I know exactly what it means, but I think people use the term to dull the real fact of the matter. Murder is murder no matter how you look at it.

Passion: A powerful emotion, such as love, joy, hatred, or anger.

Most people use the term "crime of passion" to make it sound like she killed because of love. By saying a "crime of passion" is murder because of love is totally ridiculous and just another way of messing with peoples minds in order to make you feel sorry for the murderer. Pure Evil is the ONLY reason for murdering someone in cold blood. Spare the "poor me" sob stories and treat the crime like it is...a cold/heartless crime. Any cutesy term thrown in to make it look like this woman is the victim or we should feel any sympathy for, is just disgusting.

That's what my comment was all about, it sickens me when people use the term to make the murder sound justified. I live in the 'Real' world where murder is horrible and not a cutesy way of justifying ones emotion.

It was a cold-blooded crime, no if's and's or but's!