Guilty Pleas From Henley Expected Today

Former Ram cornerback Darryl Henley is expected to plead guilty today to charges that he conspired to murder a federal judge and a prosecution witness and arranged million-dollar drug deals from his jail cell, prosecutors said Tuesday.

The former athlete had pleaded not guilty in June to a 13-count indictment alleging the murder plots and drug sales. But in an agreement worked out over the last several weeks, Henley is expected to change his pleas today on four of the most serious counts at a federal court hearing in Los Angeles, Assistant U.S. Atty. Marc S. Harris said.

Henley’s 26-year-old brother, Eric Henley, is expected to plead guilty to narcotics charges.

Darryl Henley used cellular phones smuggled to him by a jail guard to both orchestrate drug deals and hire a killer, Harris said. In both cases, the deals were struck with undercover federal agents posing as criminals.

Henley, who had been a star at UCLA, was one of the Rams’ best defensive players when his fall from grace began in 1993.

That December, Henley was charged with operating a cross-country drug network from his Brea home. Prosecutors said he used his fame to persuade former Rams cheerleader Tracy Donaho, then 19, to carry suitcases of cocaine across the country in the summer of 1993.

But Donaho attracted the attention of federal narcotics investigators by paying cash for a one-way ticket from Ontario International Airport to Atlanta for a predawn flight.

At the 1995 trial, Donaho testified against Henley. He and four co-defendants were convicted but have since sought a new trial.

Henley was awaiting sentencing in the downtown Los Angeles jail when, prosecutors say, authorities learned that he had ordered the killing of U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor, who had presided over his trial, and of Donaho.

According to prosecutors, Henley initially planned to kill a juror in that case, but changed his mind and chose Taylor instead. The indictment describes tape-recorded conversations in which Henley tells an undercover agent, a man he believed to be the brother of an inmate, that he wanted Taylor killed “by use of an explosive device to minimize the amount of evidence tying Henley to the murder,” according to court records.

Henley told the same undercover agent that he wanted Donaho killed after Taylor and her body disposed of “in a way that it would never be found,” court documents state.

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

The indictment against Henley also alleges that he tried to find someone who could “front” 25 kilos of cocaine to Henley and Detroit buyers.

Over the next month, Eric Henley and Jimmy Washington, 49, an alleged Detroit drug distributor, talked and met with an undercover agent they believed was a drug dealer to arrange the transport of cocaine from Los Angeles to Detroit, 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 the indictment. Proceeds from the deal would be used to finance the pair of $100,000 contract killings.

Anderson agreed not only to supply the cellular phone but to ferry the heroin to the Midwest, using his credentials as a federal corrections officer to evade authorities, the indictment states. Henley agreed to pay Anderson $15,000 a 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 learn the location of Donaho, who was serving a 14-month sentence at an Orange County halfway house for her part in the trafficking scheme.

Henley, then 29, pleaded not guilty in June to a 13-count indictment alleging that he plotted the killings, set up major drug deals and bribed Anderson to help with them.

Anderson pleaded not guilty to the same 13-count indictment, but is not expected to change his plea today. Also named in the indictment is Washington.

The Henley brothers will not be sentenced today, but sentencing will be discussed, Harris said.