Associated Press Writer

HOUSTON (AP) - Six months after being accused of fatally running over her philandering husband with her Mercedes-Benz, Clara Harris was set to face her stepdaughter, who witnessed the violent death last summer of her father, David Harris.

Lindsey Harris, 17, who was a passenger in the luxury sedan, was set to take the stand for prosecutors in Clara Harris' murder trial Wednesday afternoon. Previous witnesses have testified the teen screamed and struggled to get out of the car as her father was killed.

The 44-year-old woman is accused of intentionally and knowingly running over David Harris in a hotel parking lot July 24 after finding him with another woman.

"I don't want to put her through such a torturous ordeal and I won't, but I'm going to get the facts out," defense attorney George Parnham said of his anticipated cross-examination of the teenager, who has cooperated with prosecutors but refused to talk with defense attorneys since her father's death.

In earlier testimony Wednesday, the victim's father, Gerald Harris, said he still goes to church with his daughter-in-law and talked with his granddaughter on the telephone about once a week until the murder trial began Jan. 21. Prosecutors asked the grandparents to refrain from contacting Lindsey Harris because she was feeling "pressured."

Gerald Harris and his wife, Mildred, have said they want to keep their family together and still love and support Clara Harris.

While on the stand, Gerald Harris looked toward the accused, who smiled at him.

Clara Harris has claimed her husband's death was an accident. Parnham has said she would have done anything to save her marriage and family.

Prosecutors say the defendant became enraged when her husband chose a woman he was having an affair with over her after a confrontation at the same hotel where David and Clara Harris were married on Valentine's Day a decade earlier.

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.