Cheerleader Admits She Didn’t Tell All

A key prosecution witness in the federal drug-trafficking trial of Ram cornerback Darryl Henley and four others admitted Friday that she testified this week about several incidents that she had not conveyed to investigators in the case.

Former Ram cheerleader Tracy Ann Donaho, 21, admitted under questioning from defense attorneys that she had not told investigators that Henley once pulled a gun from his glove compartment during one of their dates, as she testified Wednesday. She also admitted that the incident was not included in a 66-page statement she wrote in the months following her July, 1993, arrest.

In addition, Donaho said she did not tell investigators initially that Henley once made her listen to part of a rap song about drug dealers recruiting a young girl to help them distract police.

During several hours of questioning about other points of her testimony, defense attorneys sought to challenge Donaho’s credibility by focusing on lies she admitted telling her mother and close friends about her involvement with Henley.

But Donaho denied that she was lying to jurors on the stand, or that anyone had told her what to say about Henley or anyone else’s involvement in the alleged drug ring.

“It’s about me telling the truth,” she said about her purpose in cooperating with the prosecution.

Roger Cossack, Henley’s attorney, told jurors in his opening statements last week that Donaho cannot be trusted because she is testifying to avoid prison. She pleaded guilty in 1993 to conspiracy to transport cocaine. Cossack accused Donaho of embellishing her statements to authorities and inventing charges against Henley, under the direction of her father, a former police officer.

Henley and his co-defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.