Two young children have testified against their mother who
is accused of murdering their father.
“How do you feel about your mother now?” the nine- year-old
girl was asked about her mom, Julie Harper, in a San Diego court.
“I don't like her,”
said the girl.
When asked why, the girl replied: “Because she killed my
father.”
Her older brother also testified against his mother. The boy
was so distraught about taking the stand that the court provided a support dog
to help comfort him.
To protect their identities, IE isn't showing their faces or
naming them, but the raw emotion was clear in their voices as their mother
stood trial for shooting their father.
The children recounted what they heard the day their dad was
slain.
The daughter testified: “We heard a big thud. She said,
‘Daddy just fell of the chair.’ We said, ‘Can we see him?’ and she said ‘No.’”
Harper has pleaded not guilty to murder. She has admitted to
shooting her husband - a high school math teacher - but said it was in
self-defense after years of verbal and sexual abuse.
“He started lighting into me about how disgustingly fat I was,”
said Harper.
Cellphone video played in court captured her furious husband
Jason yelling at her for wasting money.
“I don't care, but don't force me into going somewhere until
you give me my $3,000,” he’s heard saying. “I don't want to enable your horrible
money waste and your poor credit score and everything else!”
The mom also claimed he raped her 30 times during their
troubled marriage. She said she shot him because she feared he would rape her
again or kill her.
But prosecutors showed photos taken the day of her arrest in
just her underwear - revealing no obvious injuries.
They are portraying her as a cold and calculating woman.
Right after the shooting, she took her children out for pastries. She also had
a getaway bag stuffed with a gun and passports.
Reporter Marcella Lee, who’s covering the trial for KFMB TV,
told IE that when the little boy took the stand, “he immediately got emotional
and broke down, and it was so hard to watch. He was so vulnerable.”
Of the nine-year-old girl, she said: “Her face turned a bit
red and you could see she was uncomfortable.”
The children are now living with their paternal
grandparents.
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