Henley Indicted in Alleged Plot to Murder Judge

Former Ram cornerback Darryl Henley was indicted Tuesday on charges that he conspired from his jail cell to arrange both the contract killing of a federal judge and a $1-million heroin deal, charges that could land him in prison for the rest of his life.

A federal grand jury also indicted Rodney Anderson, Henley’s jail guard, on charges that he was part of a conspiracy to kill the judge and traffic in drugs.

In addition to the heroin charges, Henley; Anderson; Jimmy Washington, Henley’s alleged Detroit drug connection; and Henley’s younger brother, Eric, 26, were indicted on separate charges that they conspired to distribute 25 kilos of cocaine to Detroit.

“It’s extremely unfortunate if these charges are true,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc S. Harris said. “And we think we’ve got the evidence to support them.”

Henley’s attorney, David Reed, said Tuesday that the 29-year-old former football player was “upset and troubled” by the allegations and denied all the charges. Reed said he could not comment on the tape-recorded conversations in which Henley allegedly arranged the murder and drug deals.

“We really have to see what’s on the tapes,” he said.

Anderson’s attorney, Joel Levine, said the jail guard will plead not guilty to all the allegations.

“The charges regarding the murder plot of a witness and a judge are beyond off-base,” Levine said.

Tuesday’s 23-page indictment adds new details to the extraordinary charges that the former standout kick returner orchestrated drug deals from the downtown Los Angeles jail via cellular phones smuggled in to him.

The charges against Henley became public on May 29, when federal prosecutors alleged that he ordered the killing of U.S. Dist. Judge Gary L. Taylor, who presided over Henley’s 1995 cocaine trafficking trial, and of Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho.

Donaho, then 19, was caught delivering a suitcase of cocaine to Atlanta for Henley and testified against him in the 1995 trial. He and four co-defendants were convicted in that trial but have since sought a new trial.

Tuesday’s indictment states that Henley initially planned to kill a juror in the 1995 case, but changed his mind and selected Taylor instead. The indictment describes tape-recorded conversations in which Henley tells an undercover agent that he wanted Taylor killed “by use of an explosive device to minimize the amount of evidence tying Henley to the murder.”

Henley told the same undercover agent, a man he believed to be the brother of an inmate, that he wanted Donaho killed after Taylor and her body disposed of “in such a way that it would never be found.”

Anderson, Henley’s 29-year-old night jailer, initially agreed to do the killings and agreed to procure a rifle and a silencer, but Henley later arranged to hire the undercover agent, the court documents state.

According to the indictment, the government sting of Henley began on April 14, 1996, when Henley asked a fellow inmate, who was an informant for federal agents, if he knew anyone who could “front” 25 kilos of cocaine to Henley and Detroit buyers.

Over the next month, Eric Henley and Washington, 49, talked and met with an undercover agent they believed was a drug dealer to arrange to transport the cocaine from Los Angeles to Detroit, where Washington would distribute the drugs, the indictment says.

When that deal fell through, Henley paid Anderson $3,000 a month to smuggle him a cellular phone to arrange a $1-million heroin deal, according to indictment. The proceeds of the deal would be used to finance the pair of $100,000 contract killings.

Anderson, a guard at the Metropolitan Detention Center since February 1994, agreed to ferry the heroin to Detroit, using his federal corrections officer credentials to evade authorities, the indictment states. Henley agreed to pay Anderson $15,000 per week to act as a courier and take the drugs to Detroit, where Washington would distribute them, it alleges.

The guard also used his credentials to find out the location of Donaho, who was serving a 14-sentence at an Orange County halfway house for her part in the trafficking scheme.

Henley, his uncle and three others already are in jail awaiting sentencing on their March 1995 convictions on drug trafficking charges.

Darryl and Eric Henley, Anderson and Washington are scheduled to be arraigned June 17.