Harris Wins Clemency in Lover’s Slaying : Crime: Former girls school headmistress, now 69, had served 11 years for killing doctor in case that drew national notoriety.

Just before she underwent quadruple bypass surgery, Jean Harris, the girls prep school headmistress who was convicted of murdering diet doctor Herman Tarnower in 1980, was granted surprise clemency Tuesday by Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.

The governor’s action, after Harris had made several unsuccessful previous efforts to seek early release from prison, once again drew national attention to her sensational trial for what prosecutors called a classic case of unrequited love, rage and revenge.

As she was about to be wheeled into an operating room at the Westchester County Medical Center, her physician told Harris, 69, of the governor’s decision. She had been hospitalized since last Wednesday when she suffered her second heart attack in prison.

“She started crying and was extremely happy,” said Dr. Aristide Haravon, her cardiologist.

Harris, the headmistress of the exclusive Madeira School for Girls in McLean, Va., at the time of her arrest, had served more than 11 years in prison for killing Tarnower, the author of the best-selling “Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet.”

During her trial, prosecutors charged that Harris shot the physician four times because she was jealous of Lynne Tryforus, the “other woman” in Tarnower’s life. Defense attorneys countered unsuccessfully that Harris had intended to kill herself and the gun went off in a struggle.

In announcing his decision to grant clemency, Cuomo cited Harris’ record of service to other inmates at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County, north of New York City, where she was serving a sentence of 15 years to life.

“Despite her advancing age and emerging medical problems, Ms. Harris consistently sought to apply her skills as a teacher and educational administrator for the benefit of other inmates and their children,” the governor said in a statement.

“She taught classes in early childhood development and parenting skills and a Red Cross course about birth for expectant inmates. She has worked tirelessly at the Bedford Hills Children’s Center and has been commended for her administrative efforts in helping organize an annual summer visiting program involving over 200 children of the facility’s inmates.

“Housed in the facility’s honor block, Ms. Harris has effected an above-average behavioral record during her incarceration.”

“Ms. Harris’ pre-existing medical problems have grown progressively worse,” Cuomo added. “Today, she is undergoing major heart surgery at the Westchester Medical Center.”

She suffered a previous heart attack in 1984.

Harris had sought clemency from the governor in 1988 and 1990, but her appeal had been rejected each time. In June, a federal court judge ruled against her request for a new trial. Over the years, hundreds of Harris’ supporters had written the governor urging her freedom.

Michael Kennedy, her lawyer, said Tuesday, “The governor’s grant of clemency is the greatest encouragement she could have to withstand this very frightening surgical procedure.” He said it was expected that Harris would remain hospitalized for about 10 days.

“Thereafter, we expect the parole board to move promptly and favorably on her application for parole,” Kennedy said.

A spokesman for the New York State Division of Parole said he anticipated the board would consider Harris’ case within 60 days. Generally, parole hearings are pro forma once clemency is granted.

Harris’ trial drew national notoriety. Reporters flocked to Westchester County to hear how the Washington socialite had pursued a 14-year relationship with the diet doctor, who had never married. When they first met at a dinner party in 1966, Harris had been divorced for about a year. She said in later interviews that she had found Tarnower charming and fascinating, but also self-centered.

Throughout the trial, Harris’ lawyers argued that on March 10, 1980, when she drove from Virginia to Tarnower’s expensive Purchase, N.Y., home, she planned to kill herself with the .32-caliber revolver she carried. Detectives found Tarnower in his bedroom--shot four times.

In her book, “Stranger in Two Worlds,” Harris described their relationship.

“Hy judged a man from the neck up and by the money and power he wielded. He judged a woman from the neck down, and by the money and and power her husband wielded,” Harris wrote. “As I think of the simple truth of that, I am left with no logical explanation at all of what drew him to me or me to him, or why he turned to me one day and said, quite out of the blue, ‘I love you, Jean Harris, and you’re the second woman I’ve said that to in my life.’ ”

Asked some years ago by an interviewer what she would do if she were released from prison, Harris replied with a single sentence: “Buy a couple of dogs and take a long walk.”