Your hand if you heard about the jean harris murder trial before this class. You had all heard of Lizzie Borden, right . I want to talk about why some cases remain more famous than others. Especially because everybody talks about cases as if they are this case of the century, the trial of the century. Will begin with opening we will begin with opening statements. Most of america really got to know our alleged perpetrator and our victim in the opening statements. Nicholas will be presenting. Representing the prosecution, he will go first. Our second guest will go next. Come on up. I will step away. I would like to begin just by thinking my colleague for defending misting harris. Ms. Jean harris. People of the state of new york it is not to paint a false picture. My duty to the people of the state of new york uphold the foundation of our society. Justice. I must do this in a fair and equitable way. I must provide evidence, expert witness, and the testimony of dear friends and family. I must make known the truth of what happened on the night of march 10, 1980. This is an undertaking. A solemn undertaking. I take no joy in the facts of this case. Wish it were that we were not here finding ourselves in such a terrible situation. But as many, many years of Human History have shown us, jealousy, hatred, and revenge, all too often distort and this figure this figure disfigure mankind. It seems as though the british had been congreve and they wrote the architect is now famous through this maxim, heaven hath no rage. Scorned, a powerful word, meaning belittled, or demeaned, to the point of fury. I have seen, to my deep dissatisfaction, that ms. Harris was a woman scorned. Consumed with jealousy, with hatred, that led her to murder her lover of 14 years. As you will see by the testimony of her sons and her colleagues, a tightly bound woman, a commanding woman, a woman easily offended by irreverent actions. The headmistress of the allgirls school in mcqueen, virginia. The stress of such an occupation was augmented by the challenge. By the constant challenge to her authority is headmistress. Contacting explosions and reprimands handed down from her office to the sabean students. Two disobedient students. She was embattled in her positions as such positions are. Shes the woman with the leads. As i am sure all of us have seen before, she fell in love with a man who could be perceived as her exact opposite. Maybe she saw an opportunity to reform him, a conquest to prove her own pedagogical power. Triumph, it would have been, to take the doctor away from his chores and reform him. Make him see the light of a good, strong woman like herself. I daresay, she dreamt. But this was not to be. He was set in his ways. He was set in his ways. As abhorrent as they may be to us. As the two grew close, as oftentimes couples like this do, like two worlds colliding, opposites attracting. Different values, friends, attitudes, and agendas. They remained together for 14 years. Affairs, i do mean the sexual endeavors of the doctor outside his relations of jean harris were known to her. She never thought any of these floozies a threat, until the beautiful lynn try force came into the picture. Ms. Harris would tell police after fleeing the scene of a murder, not only did she in fact shot the doctor, but that he slept with every woman he could. And i had had it. Jean harris was of a stoler mind a sober mind as she got in her car in the late hours on the evening of march 10th, 1980. She had with her a. 32 caliber pistol. A coat, and a scornful intention to kill her lover. Fury. Sy had become the rival in this love triangle dollarsup thousands of worth of her clothing and encouraged the doctor to stay away from jean. Miss harris had a plan. She drove from virginia to new york that night. Walked into the dark garage of house. s doctors theres a spiral staircase that led to his bedroom. She drew the gun. She yelled at him after seeing the womans negligee scattered across the bedroom. She then squeezed her trembling finger on the cold trigger of the. 32 caliber handgun five times. Killing the man who had scorned her. Possibly wishing that the woman had not left early that night, or she, too, likely would have been murdered. Jean harris picked up her coat exited thed she house the way she would come in. She got into her car and began driving back to virginia. After evading the police by making a drastic uturn, she was pulled over. She admitted to the crime. Now, here today, she sits in the courtroom. She is not pleading in sanity or any instability of mind. Insanity or any instability of mind. She has confessed to the murder in a spite of a jealous rage. This love triangle ended at the discharge of that. 32 caliber pistol. One shot pierced through the hand andhe doctors into his chest as he raised his hands to shield himself. Beyond a reasonable doubt, and the evidence will show that jean harris consciously, volitional late, voluntarily, and intentionally fired five shots, the five shots doctor on thethe night of march 10, 1980. May you, by the grace of god, to the family and friends of the doctor. Thank you. [applause] your honor, opposing counsel, members of the jury, its easy to paint a woman of high stature and independence such as ms. Harris as arrogant and with uncontrollable temper. She discovered her lover of 14 years, who asked for her hand in marriage, only to take it away because had had wondering eyes. Ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution is looking for the easy way out. But unlike the prosecution, you know just because something is easy doesnt mean it is correct. This is not only cliche, it is simply not the case when it comes to ms. Harris. At the height of her life, ms. Harris felt she was at her lowest as her reputation as a discipline headmistress of a academy was under fire. She couldnt walk away despite knowing about the affair not because she was upset, because she loved him so much, she could it. Accept the prosecution believed they provided such a horrific crime. Ladies and gentlemen, the only motive that she had was the motive to end her life. The prosecution i tell you the night of march 10, 1980 ms. Harris sent to the home to shoot his four times in the chest. With a. 32 caliber pistol. They will fail to tell you about jean harris suicide note. The bruises found on her arms. A struggle over the gun. Tried to pull her arms away when she pointed to her head. The same struggle as the bullets went through the palm ever to cover the gun. They will show you a letter written by ms. Harris and will say it shows undeniable proof of the intent to kill lover. It will fail to tell you that this letter is only representative at the time she found out. They will fail to tell you that the letter written by mr. Tanner. The letter was written by the doctor, letters prescribed as prescriptions of sleeping pills and amphetamines. Menelik, they will tell you how officers overheard ms. Harris admitted that he did commit this crime. The same officers who physically mishandled the evidence because they were unequipped and lacked the knowledge to follow the proper procedures of the crime scene. The prosecution has the burden to prove to you that missed harris had one, the motive and the means, with the intent and the langley, and beyond a reasonable doubt, that ms. Harris committed this crime. The prosecution will fail. Harris of the jury, jean loves him despite everything. She did not want to kill the man who she remembers warning her with roses and dances. This is the man who she was with for 14 years. The night of march 10 was not driven by hate, but a woman resulting a woman struggling with her Mental Health. I implore you to turn this verdict over as not guilty. Well done. You dont need me for the rest of the class. That was very. Very well done. This is a case where geography matters. You know how much i like math. Geography matters here, because it reveals social status. Dont worry, there will be more maps. Maps. Heres the big picture. Denver, over here. Detroit, right here. Cleveland is right here. This is lake erie. Washington, d. C. Is down here. Philadelphia is about here. And new york city is here. He lived just outside of new york city near the connecticut border. Lets talk about the back story. We will start with jean harris before she met her husband. She was born in 1923 to a wealthy family. In a particularly known suburb known as shaker heights. I got this information from a combination of sources. I read a whole bunch of about the trial, and i read a biography by about jean harris by a woman named alexander. To be clearly candid, this biography is not unbiased. The opening sentence basically alexander says jean harris could have been her. So, not unbiased at all. In that biography, which was based on just tons of letters while she was in prison, alexander argues that harris problem with her Mental Health and her problems with men begin as a child. It is the 1920s, her father is a very successful businessman, in addition to living in shaker here they vacation is cleveland. Heres detroit. This was the canadian border. They would vacation at the canadian border. Jean harris was smart. She did well in high school. She went off to Smith College kappa. Duated phi beta she did everything a wealthy young woman of that era was supposed to do. Once she got her degree, she got married. He was a nice guy, but he was not terribly ambitious. He came from a good family, but when he graduated from college, he was not moving up in his company is as quickly as his family would like, and he making as much money the Harris Family had grown up with. Jean harriss stirs to deviate from what was expected from a woman at this point. James had moved to michigan wish which is outside of detroit. This is all in the general area. It is another wealthy suburb. They had two sons, and they sendt have enough money to their kids to private school. Got her masters in education and began teaching at a private girls school. This changed the dynamics jean quite as and bit. She later would say she married james to irritate her father. In the end, they got divorced at around 1964. She took a new job in philadelphia. She was the headmistress of a girls middle school. The sons who were with her could go to the school where she was headmistress. Now, he comes from a different background. His parents are immigrants. He was born in 1910. He lived the american dream. He went to college and medical school during world war ii. After world war ii, he moved up, just outside of new york, so heres manhattan down here. He moved to an area appear, which is called purchase, new york. He started a Medical Clinic and specialized in cardiology. The Medical Clinic became quite successful. Multiple members joined, he was one of the lead doctors most of the time. By all accounts, he was very successful, not only as a doctor, but socially. He really enjoyed to travel, and he traveled on his own and he traveled as a guest of some of his patients. He enjoyed the idea. He liked hunting and he went on safaris. He enjoyed golf and tennis at the country club set would admit him. He was joe he was jewish, so not all of the local pubs would admit him. He was a bit of a ladies man. He would have lots of different girlfriends. He seemed well on his way to being a perfectly happy wealthy player, until he meets jean harris in 1966. Jane harris in 1966. It is a set up. They have these mutual friends who live in new york city. It, they had have gone off to visit the soviet union separately, relatively recently. Wereenjoyed travel, they witty, all of those things, and so, they had a party, they set the two of them up, and it worked. They began dating. After a year or 18 months or so, they got engaged. Here is where the stories diverge a little bit. Some reports are that they were never serious about the engagement. Other reports are that he was completely serious about the engagement, but she, with her sons who were not yet 18, she felt she did not want to introduce that element of a stepfather into their life, even though she had been dating. So, in her autobiography, jane harris insisted that she was pretty much ready to call the engagement off. Regardless of who called it off, the engagement ends. Very expensivee Engagement Ring. He says to keep it, dont keep it, back and forth, eventually she keeps the wedding ring. All along, jane has issues with money, but she doesnt want to be seen as taking his money. The engagement is off, but the relationship is not. This is again, where perspectives change. Everything on the story depends on whose perspective youre listening to and whose perspective you believe. It is made more complicated, because he died before he could write his memoirs. Jane did not. He was a bit of a ladies man, she does not think he was necessarily dating folks while they were engaged, but after the engagement, he started his playing ways and dating other women again. She says i can live with this, because i know that i am special. He takes it as, do what i want do what he wants to do, and they continue their relationship. They continue to travel together. She hosts parties for him, she offers him decorating advice. A a lot of ways, she asked as longterm girlfriend, kind of like a wife, except she does not live with him permanently. She then moved even closer to where he was. He is on the border of connecticut and new york, and she gets a job as a headmistress in another girl school in connecticut by the house about 45 minutes from his house. Night,he spends the maybe she goes back home, but she is super close. A couple years after that, she decides to want the change. She ends up working for a corporation in manhattan. She drives sent to manhattan every day. She is perfectly happy. Now, in the background of all at about 1970, jane harris complaints that she is having problems with exhaustion and she is just so tired. And if there is anything he can do to help. He prescribes drugs. He starts with a prescription methamphetamine. The not surprisingly after time on it, she cant sleep, so she needs sleeping pills. They later said she was probably depressed, and the drugs were covering the depression. Its important to remember that she spends 10 years on methamphetamine. This is going to come back to us. In 1977, things are going to change. Because harris moves again. She gets a different job. And this time, it is in washington, d. C. She is headmistress of an elite boarding school. This changes the dynamic. She is much further away physically. It is the longer 45 minutes, i can pop over. Now, she is 275 miles. In 1980, that is about a five hour drive. You have to go through philadelphia, new york city, or tohington, d. C. All to get him. You can imagine what its like with traffic. This relationship was ongoing with the other woman for a while. They spent a lot more time together now because jane is not there. They spend more time at the house, and she works at the Medical Clinic. She is some sort of medical assistant. She is seeing him every day and every night and attending parties with him. Is beginning to get into her head. Then Something Else also happens that changes the dynamic. The publishing of the diet book, one of the first diet books to be crazy big. It was so big, that last year, my mom was going through my family has a book collecting problem every once in a while, they take other books they do not want anymore, but the many giant box, and weber visits weber visits next, they take whatever books they want. Theom had a copy of scarsdale diet in her box. Or can purchase it on ebay, amazon for supercheap if you want your own copy. It prided itself on the cover, you can lose up to 20 pounds and 14 days. That is the lowcalorie part of it. The book itself, which is like this stick, was based on the twopage handout used to give to cardiac patients, which set eat less red meat, avoid sugar, dr. Alcohol, then he expanded it to get into this book. The book is a huge hit, makes a ton of money. It published in late 1978. It finished number two on the nonfiction bestseller list. There is an estimated income of about 11 million. This in perspective, he was probably getting between 10 or 20 of the proceeds, so that million 1 million or 2 million that he is making off of this book. Not only that, he is now gone from being a local doctor that everybody likes to dr. Oz famous. He is on Television Shows people and people know who he is, he is a demand. They invited to parties, they give him awards. Jane is feeling out of it, because shes in washington, d. C. They asked the guy who is the coauthor, a guy named sinclair baker, and he says no. She offered some suggestions she gets mentioned in the acknowledgments. Jean thinks that she contributed more. But it adds to the tension in a relationship. It adds so much tension, that she is thinking about things like money. Accolades, sheis cant get away from her job in washington dc, and she wants to go to new york but she wants acknowledgment. He does something that irritates or even more, he writes her a check. Remember the battle over the diamond Engagement Ring . You keep it, no, i dont want do that with the check, double. Too. I dont want your money, heres the money. Harris reports that she felt like he was trying to buy her. He was trying to buy her for four grand. She thinks she is worth more. Shes irritated that there is a check at all. Remember, this is a woman who has been on methamphetamines for 10 years, which doesnt help anything at all. She sees this as a time where the relationship is changing. She is so worried about the other woman. Still worried about the other woman and how the doctor feels. It is obligated, because he doesnt get to write his book and tell his story. He is pulling away a little bit, but there are many accounts of terrorist driving up to washington dc, but not a lot of accounts of him going down to see her. He was also a very generous man. Jane had these two sons. Divorced ins got their early teens. The menace of present and their lives, when the older son gets married, the man is present in their lives, when the older son gets married, he gives a toast at the rehearsal dinner, he goes to it, the man is acting like these young mens father. So he clearly cares about jane and her kids a great deal. But janes isolated. She is down in madera. This is more recent. ,t is outside of washington dc which is only about 12 miles from the sea. From d. C. A lot of it is wooded. By all accounts, it feels fairly isolated. I have never been on the campus, but i have driven past. Despite being in the middle of the area it feels isolated. Probably felt even more isolated for jean harris. Ecause she is a grownup. Ease in her 50s, and she living on campus with a bunch of high school girls. She would evaluate pay for all those things. He is physically isolated. She is socially isolated. She is emotionally isolated from hy. She writes tons of letters none of which is a good idea. Oncerns of how the relationships are eating at her they show up more and more. There marking their territory with this guy. She claims that when messed with her s