A private investigator hired by Clara Harris the day before she fatally ran over her husband with her Mercedes-Benz testified Monday she still appeared in love with the man despite his suspected philandering.

"You could tell she really loved her husband," private investigator Claudine Phillips said as the second week of Harris' murder trial began. Harris, a dentist, is accused of intentionally running down her husband, David Harris, in the parking lot of the Houston-area hotel where the couple married a decade earlier on Valentine's Day.

Clara Harris, 44, is charged with murdering her orthodontist husband, David Harris, 44, on the night of July 24 after a confrontation with him and his alleged mistress, Gail Bridges, in the lobby of the Hilton Nasa Clear Lake, Nasa Road 1, in Nassau Bay.

Prosecutors allege after her husband spurned her, Clara Harris intentionally ran him over numerous times.

Defense attorneys say Clara Harris "lost it" and it was an accident when she struck her husband with her silver Mercedes. They say Clara Harris only wanted to keep her marriage and her family together.

Phillips told the jury that Clara Harris hired Blue Moon Investigations on July 23 to follow her husband and his confessed mistress, Gail Bridges.

Clara Harris blamed herself for the affair and her marriage collapsing, Phillips testified. The private investigator said Clara Harris told her she had been paying more attention to her 3-year-old twin boys than to her husband.

"It was like she opened up the door of her home for this woman to come in and steal her husband," Phillips testified. "I could tell she cared about her husband. I could tell she cared about her children."

Phillips said Clara Harris hired the firm to follow her husband on the night of July 23 and then to follow Bridges for the next two days. Clara Harris told the private investigator she thought Bridges was after her husband's money and that David Harris was being deceived and couldn't see clearly because he had fallen in love.

Specifically, Phillips testified, Clara Harris wanted more information about Bridges' relationship with a woman she reportedly lived with.

"Is it fair to say Clara Harris believed these two women were involved in a lesbian relationship?" defense attorney George Parnham asked Phillips.

"Yes, she told me that," the private investigator testified. "She wanted some documentation of that to show her husband."

Clara Harris wrote a check for more than $1,500 to cover the three days of surveillance.

Later, the first police officer at the scene testified that it didn't appear at first that David Harris had been hit numerous times.

Then prosecutor Mia Magness asked Frank Reyna, an officer in the normally quiet Houston suburb of Nassau Bay, how often he's seen bodies that have been struck numerous times. He replied he'd only seen it in movies.

Prosecutors used the appearances by Reyna and Detective Theresa Relken to show jurors evidence they gathered at the scene, including a tooth dislodged from David Harris' head, a bloody shirt button and blood-soaked towels a bystander used to wipe the orthodontist's face as he lay dying.

Bridges seemed stunned and was unresponsive to questions after the collision, leading police to send her to a nearby hospital, Reyna said. Clara Harris sobbed before she was handcuffed and taken away.

Prosecutors expected to wrap up their case later this week with David Harris' daughter, 17-year-old Lindsey, taking the stand on Wednesday.

Lindsey Harris was a passenger in the Mercedes as her father was struck and killed. She is expected to be a pivotal witness in the case against her stepmother.

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.

The trial is expected to continue into next week.

Previous Stories:

• January 27, 2003: Clara Harris Trial Enters Second Week
• January 23, 2003: Witnesses Describe Harris Running Over Husband
• January 22, 2003: Jury Seated In Clara Harris Trial
• January 22, 2003: Jury Selection Continues In Harris' Murder Trial
• January 21, 2003: Jurors To Be Picked For Clara Harris' Trial
• January 16, 2003: Harris' Stepdaughter's Remarks Spark Debate
• November 19, 2002: Audiotapes Allege Clara Harris Also Having Affair
• November 1, 2002: Harris Featured In Magazine Article
• October 18, 2002: Clara Harris Pleads Not Guilty
• October 10, 2002: Grand Jury Indicts Clara Harris
• September 18, 2002: Custody Battle Stems From High-Profile Murder
• August 23, 2002: Clara Harris' Murder Trial Set
• August 2, 2002: Slain Orthodontist's Daughter Files Suit
• July 31, 2002: P.I. Turns Over Video Of Dentist's Death
• July 29, 2002: Judge: Dentist To Remain Free
• July 26, 2002: Wife Free After Allegedly Running Over Husband
• July 25, 2002: Police: Wife Runs Over Cheating Husband