Jury OKs Texas Lawyer's Focus on Media Strategy in Murder Case
A Texas lawyer who allegedly focused on media strategy rather than the best interests of the client he was defending in a high-profile murder trial in 2003 has won the sympathy of the jury in an excessive-fees case brought by his now-convicted client.
By an 11-1 vote, the jury decided today that attorney George Parnham didn’t breach his duty to Clara Harris while defending her for killing her dentist husband in 2002 by running him over with her Mercedes, reports the Houston Chronicle. Hence, the jury held that she should pay Parnham the $70,250 she still owes for murder trial expenses, as well as a $389,443 legal bill that apparently is for his own representation in the excessive-fees case.
Although Harris claimed that Parnham had breached his fiduciary duty to her by agreeing to publicity that benefited him without her consent, the jury found more persuasive the argument of Parnham’s lawyer, Charles “Chip” Babcock, that Harris was a controlling woman who called the shots at the trial and now is trying to get out of paying the attorney fees.
“This is not about the pain she caused others,” Babcock told the jury. “This is all about her and the pain she wants to cause Mr. Parnham. It’s all about her.”
More details of the media strategy and Harris’ claim against Parnham are discussed in an earlier ABAJournal.com post.
The murder case attracted international attention, in part because Harris, who is herself a dentist, had hired a private investigator to tail her husband. Thus, when she ran him over in a hotel parking lot, having reportedly just discovered him with his mistress, the PI was on the spot and videotaped the incident.
Now 50, Harris is serving a 20-year prison term for the crime. She was also found liable to her in-laws by a civil jury last year for $3.75 million in damages, notes Fox News.
