GALVESTON, Texas – A Galveston judge is expected to rule Friday whether to freeze the assets of an orthodontist, who was allegedly killed last week by his wife.
Lindsey Harris, 16, filed a lawsuit Wednesday against her stepmother, Clara Harris, 44, who's accused of running over her father, David Lynn Harris, 44, and killing him after suspecting him of cheating on her.
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U.S. District Judge Sam Kent is expected to decide if David Harris' assets should be frozen, preventing Clara Harris from transferring them out of the country, using them to pay for her defense or profiting from killing her husband.
In an affidavit attached to the lawsuit, Lindsey said that she saw her stepmother kill her father by hitting him with her Mercedes Benz.
Investigators said that Lindsey was in the car with her stepmother at the time of incident.
The suit is being filed on Lindsey Harris' behalf by her mother, Debra Shank, David Harris' ex-wife, who lives in Ohio.
"We've brought this lawsuit on behalf of Lindsey in order to ask the court to take all the assets and the community property that will go to Clara (Harris) under the will as we understand it," Lindsey's attorney Marty Webber said.
Webber said that he wants to take those assets and put them in a trust for the benefit of Lindsey and the couple's twin 3-year-old boys, Brian David Harris and Bradley Evan Harris.
According to the suit, Clara and David Harris own commercial property in Brazoria, Galveston and Harris counties and vacation homes in Colorado and Texas.
By law Clara Harris is entitled to everything she owned before she was married and 50 percent of what she acquired with her husband.
"We do not believe that it is fair to the children, Lindsey and the two boys, that Clara would financially benefit from the events of the past week," Webber said.
The incident happened the night of July 24 at the Hilton Nasa Clear Lake, Nasa Road 1, in Nassau Bay.
Investigators said that Clara Harris confronted her husband in the hotel's lobby, where a fight broke out.
The argument moved to the hotel's parking lot, where Clara Harris got behind the wheel of her Mercedes-Benz and ran her husband down, leaving the car on top of his body, authorities said.
Police said that Clara Harris had long suspected her husband was cheating on her, and that her suspicions were allegedly confirmed by a private investigator.
Harris has been charged with murdering her husband.
She remains free on a $30,000 bond. But as a condition of her freedom, the judge ordered her not to have any contact with the woman her husband was allegedly having an affair with, or to come within 200 feet of the woman's home or office.
Harris' arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 23.
Previous Stories:
- 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