A Texas jury began Wednesday to deliberate the case of a Houston woman who ran down her adulterous husband with a Mercedes last July, with attorneys from both sides urging them to consider the defendant's intent at the time of the accident.

Clara Harris, 45, allegedly hit her husband in the parking lot of a Houston hotel on July 24, 2002, after confronting him in the hotel lobby with his mistress. If convicted she could face life in prison.

Lawyers had their final say Wednesday morning, with prosecutors calling the killing deliberate and her defense attorney focusing on the affair Harris's husband was having Gail Bridges, his receptionist.

"His body was run over at least two times, two different directions," said prosecutor Mia Magness.  "There was impact, and then there were crushing injuries."

The proximity of Valentine's day was not lost on Harris' defense attorney, George Parnham, who reminded jurors during his hour-long closing argument that Harris, 45, married her orthodontist husband on Valentine's day 1992.

The avuncular lawyer recounted in detail the marital history of David and Clara Harris, which turned sour when David Harris strayed.

"They were all together until somebody knocks on the door of the home, and somebody knocks on the heart of that family," said the lawyer.  "Gail Thompson Bridges is a home wrecker.  I don't care how you slice it, she is a home wrecker."

The jury of nine women and three men deliberated into the night before retiring.  They have a number of murder charges to consider, but could also find Harris guilty of the lesser charges of manslaughter or criminally negligent homicide.

Prosecutor Magness reminded jurors that numerous witnesses, from hotel employees to bystanders, testified that Harris ran over her husband at least three times. 

Lindsey Harris, David Harris' daughter from another marriage, was in the car with Clara Harris that evening.  She told jurors the defendant exclaimed, "I'm going to hit him" before running over her husband.  She then "stomped on the accelerator and went straight for him."

Harris' testified during a tearful two-day stay on the stand that she was aiming for the SUV of her husband's mistress — which she had "keyed" earlier that evening — when her car went awry and hit her husband.

On Wednesday, she again shed tears as her lawyer described the hotel lobby confrontation with her husband and his mistress.  As she sobbed silently, her eyes closed, her tears dripped onto her green velvet suit coat.

Parnham himself even appeared to choke up as he summed up his closing argument.  "I want this jury to acquit her," he said, trailing off.  "Pardon me."

Prosecutor Magness, in closing, asked jurors to set aside the marital strife that Parnham focused on during their deliberations.

"If a man is cheating on you do what every other woman in this county does—take his house take his car take his kids, take his respect in the community, make him wish he were dead—but you don't get to kill him," said Magness.  "But we're not talking about a divorce.  We're talking about a killing."

The jury, which is sequestered, will return Thursday to resume deliberations.