Episode Details
Back to EpisodesThe Scarsdale Diet Murder: Jean Harris and the Death of Dr. Herman Tarnower | Part 2 of 2
Description
In Part Two of The Scarsdale Diet Murder, we pick up where the gunshots left off. Dr. Herman Tarnower—the cardiologist behind The Scarsdale Diet—was dead, and his longtime lover Jean Harris was in handcuffs. But the real battle had just begun.
What followed was a 14-week media-frenzied trial, filled with courtroom theatrics, handwritten, ten page love letters, prescription drugs, and a defense that teetered between suicide attempt and emotional collapse. Prosecutors painted Jean as a jealous, calculating killer. The defense claimed she was a broken woman, unraveling under years of psychological manipulation and amphetamines prescribed by the man she ultimately shot.
The jury didn’t buy it.
Jean Harris was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life. She would go on to serve 12 years behind bars before then-New York Governor Mario Cuomo commuted her sentence at age 69.
In this episode, we break down the trial, the aftermath, and the transformation of Jean Harris—from prep school headmistress to convicted murderer to prison reform advocate.
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