Three in Henley Case Will Not Be Charged

Federal prosecutors dropped drug charges against three co-defendants of former Los Angeles Ram cornerback Darryl Henley, who is accused of conspiring to kill a judge and a former cheerleader.

Charges were dismissed against Ronald Knight and Donald Knight, twin brothers who are longtime friends of Henley, and Alisa Denmon, the mother of Henley’s child, Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Harris said Tuesday.

None of the three was accused of being part of the alleged plot to kill U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor and former Ram cheerleader Terry Donaho, who testified against Henley in a 1995 drug trial at which Taylor was the judge.

The three had been described in a federal complaint as lookouts and gofers in Henley’s alleged drug ring and none was alleged to have handled narcotics.

Harris declined to say why authorities decided to drop charges against them.

Football

Running back Herschel Walker, the former Heisman Trophy winner from Georgia and fourth on the NFL’s career list in all-purpose yardage, was released by the New York Giants. . . . Greg Jackson, a seven-year NFL veteran who played with the Philadelphia Eagles for the past two seasons, signed a one-year contract with the New Orleans Saints. . . . Rookie defensive tackle Shane Burton and free-agent cornerback Tim Jacobs signed with the Miami Dolphins.

Tennis

Mary Pierce, seeded eighth, won only six points in the first set and lost, 6-0, 5-7, 6-2, to Romania’s Irina Spirlea in an error-filled match in the first round of the Eastbourne grass-court tournament, the major tuneup for Wimbledon.

In other matches, sixth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez needed exactly an hour to overcome fellow American Marianne Werdel-Witmeyer, 6-2, 6-0.

Thomas Muster, still fuming over being seeded seventh at Wimbledon, slipped past Spain’s Tomas Carbonell, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2, to reach the quarterfinals of the Gerry Weber Open in Germany.

Second-seeded Alberto Costa and No. 4 Mark Woodforde were ousted from the Nottingham Open grass-court tournament in England, leaving fifth-seeded Jan Siemerink as the highest-ranked survivor in the event.

Top-seeded Carlos Costa posted a 6-4, 6-3 victory over fellow Spaniard Jordi Arrese in a first-round match at the Carisbo International in Italy. Emilio Sanchez, another Spaniard, was ousted by Norwegian Christian Ruud, 6-4, 7-5.

Croatian Iva Majoli and German Anke Huber, the top two seeds in the Wilkinson Lady grass court championships, both defeated Japanese opponents in first-round matches in the Netherlands. Majoli beat Kyoka Nagatsuka, 6-2, 6-4, and Huber outlasted Naoko Kijimuta, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.

Miscellany

Jeff Gilchrist of Elk Grove added a two-over-par 73 at Pebble Beach to his first-round 69 at the Links at Spanish Bay to win medalist honors for the California Amateur.

Match play for the 32 qualifiers begins today at Pebble Beach.

The inaugural California League-Carolina League All-Star Game at the Epicenter in Rancho Cucamonga ended in a 2-2 tie when both teams ran out of pitchers after 11 innings.

Names in the News

NBC Sports announced that it has signed Bob Costas to a six-year contract extension, through the year 2002. . . . Detroit Red Wing defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov underwent surgery Sunday for a torn Achilles’ tendon and won’t be able to play for Russia in this summer’s hockey World Cup. . . . Defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who helped lead the Florida Panthers into the Stanley Cup finals, headed the NHL all-rookie team. . . . Jim Saia, the men’s coach at two-year Columbia College, in Sonora, Calif., the past two seasons, has been named UCLA’s restricted earnings coach, replacing Greg White, who left to become the coach at Marshall, his alma mater.