The State - News from Jan. 16, 1989

A federal judge handling the case of alleged Oakland drug kingpin Rudolph Henderson refused to remove herself from the case despite the defendants’ allegations that she is biased. Henderson and eight other defendants accused U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel of being too close to prosecutor George Niespolo and of confiding to a nurse that she planned to “put Henderson away.” The allegations were filed in a motion for Patel to remove herself from the case. Patel denied the charges as “scurrilous” and “lacking in truth” and asked that another federal judge review and resolve them. Henderson and the others are scheduled to stand trial next month on drug and racketeering charges. They were arrested in 1987 after more than two years of wiretap surveillance.