PAROLE BOARD OKS RELEASE OF JEAN HARRIS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 21, 1993                   TAG: 9301210054
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VALHALLA, N.Y.                                LENGTH: Short
PAROLE BOARD OKS RELEASE OF JEAN HARRIS
Jean Harris, the school headmistress who fatally shot the "Scarsdale Diet" doctor, won parole Wednesday after serving nearly 12 years in prison.
The action, which was expected, came three weeks after Gov. Mario Cuomo granted Harris clemency, or the right to an early parole hearing, just hours before she underwent quadruple-bypass surgery on Dec. 29.
A three-member panel of the state Board of Parole said its decision was unanimous and came after a two-hour interview at the Westchester County Medical Center, where Harris is hospitalized for a blood clot.
She was listed in good condition.
Her release would occur on Wednesday, or earlier if she is able to arrange for appropriate medical care, according to the statement.
Harris, 69, has served almost 12 years of a 15-years-to-life prison term for the March 10, 1980 murder of the Scarsdale Diet developer, Dr. Herman Tarnower.
Her attorney, Michael Kennedy, said she "is very, very happy."
Harris' medical problems - she had suffered one and perhaps two heart attacks during her incarceration at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility - were cited by Cuomo in a brief statement when he granted her clemency. He also cited her "above-average behavioral record" and her educational efforts on behalf of other inmates.
Harris was a teacher and headmistress for 36 years before she fatally shot Tarnower, her lover for 14 years, in his Purchase, N.Y., home on March 10, 1980.
At the time of the shooting, she was headmistress of the exclusive Madeira School for Girls in McLean, Va., a post she had held for about three years.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB