Henderson trial starts

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The trial of Richard Henderson Jr. opened yesterday. Henderson is accused of killing his entire family on Thanksgiving 2005.

The defense, of course, is pursuing an insanity defense…

But Franklin Roberts, one of Henderson’s court-appointed attorneys, told the jury a different story as he outlined his client’s defense. He contended the slayings in the family’s Myakka City mobile home were a tragedy brought on by Henderson Jr.’s severe mental illness.

“The horrible act of someone who was insane at the time it was committed,” Roberts said of Henderson, charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his father, Richard Sr.; mother, Jeaneane; grandmother, June; and younger brother, Jacob.

As Henderson occasionally jotted notes, Roberts described him as a man with a troubled youth full of drug abuse, suicide attempts and self-mutilation.

“Early in life, something was wrong,” Roberts said. “He had trouble keeping up in school . . . was disruptive in class. He is not someone who simply at one moment in time – suddenly exploded.”

Doctors will take the stand, Roberts said, and testify Henderson was insane when he killed his family.

But just as the prosecution asked how can Henderson be insane when he did this?

Henderson, while playing video games with his 11-year-old brother, took a metal pipe, struck him on the head and pushed the boy out a window. Then, in separate rooms, Henderson attacked his 82-year-old grandmother, his father, 48, and his mother, 42, killing each with “lethal amount of force” to their heads.

Sandy Stringer, Henderson’s other grandmother, called the home for her daughter, Jeaneane, on the night of the killings.

But Henderson Jr. answered instead.

Lying, he said that his mom was in the shower and would soon go to bed.

The day after the killings, Iten said, Henderson took his parents’ van, picked up his girlfriend and her friend and the three spent the next two nights in an Ellenton hotel. There, he told his girlfriend that he had killed people. But he lied about who, Iten said. He said he had killed his ex-wife, Brittany Wilde, and then killed his grandmother after she walked in on the attack.

He also later told friends he planned to head for Mexico, Iten said.

If he was insane he would have told his girlfriend that he killed Snap, Crackle, and Pop and was running away to Crunchland. (If he did kill Snap, Crackle, and Pop wouldn’t that make him a cereal killer?)

Henderson isn’t insane he’s just a cold-blooded killer.

Comments

11 responses to “Henderson trial starts”

August 7, 2007

Jim

if he pulls off the insanity plea, I hope he gets electro-shock to get his mind right.

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August 8, 2007

Joyce Henderson

This is “Aunt Joyce” here. You people keep watching things. I have an interview scheduled with Rebecca Blue of the Bradenton Hearald and let me tell ya……..I’m going to publish some stuff. And yes………..he has threatened my life. B.T.K. member is what he put at the bottom of the letter to me. Beat Torcher Kill…..yeah, people….. a SERIAL KILLER! And he still thinks he can make everybody believe he’s INSANE……… He ain’t foolin me!

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August 8, 2007

Anonymous

If you are a relative then I can see how this troubled young man got to the place where he is now. There is so much ignorance about mental illness. The best thing you could do for yourself and your family is to become educated. It’s a tragic story. I have a daughter who suffers from mental illness and I cannot imagine what would happen to her if she was not on her meds, not receiving counciling, and doing drugs and alcohol.

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August 8, 2007

BelchSpeak

Anoymous, you coward- Why not use a name? *How dare you blame the victims’ family* for what this killer did?

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August 8, 2007

Trench

From what I understand the family did all they could to help him out. You can’t help an adult who doesn’t want to be helped.

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August 8, 2007

Jim

To the jackass who isn’t even brave enough to use a name… Your child is mentally ill because it has to live with a stupid moron like yourself.

maybe you missed something from this story, but Henderson KILLED his parents and planned to move to Mexico after bragging to his girlfriend that he is a killer. THAT is not the work of someone who doesn’t know what they are doing, it is the work of a psycho who NEEDS to be behind bars to keep him from killing more people.

I am sure the fact that you raised a retard and are a retard helps you in being an expert on retards, but “Aunt Joyce” is doing the right thing by submitting proof that Henderson is not a drooling idiot (like your stupid kid), but rather a maniacal son of a bitch who planned and executed several murders. He knew exactly what he had done. If he didn’t, they would have found him playing in grandma’s blood and hugging mommy’s crushed skull, not planning an escape from justice.

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August 8, 2007

The Virgin Mary a.k.a. Anonymous

Calm down,Jim. Maybe you need to get on some meds yourself. I chose NOT to submit my name in order to respect the privacy of my daughter, who is not a “retard” or “drooling idiot”, by the way. Also because I don’t want some redneck blowing up my mailbox because I expressed an opinion that made their blood boil. And to all the above that agreed with Jimbo – if you are all so brave why not go ahead and put your real last name and phone number? Com’on now, really, I could have put any name down and none would be the wiser and yet this is what you all zero in on.

As for my blaming Richard Henderson’s family for his murdering rampage – my words were misconstrued. I do not know Richard Henderson or did I know his family and I would NEVER make such a judgment. This was tragic. And, as angry as all of you are, relatives and friends, I find it tragic that Richard Henderson’s mental health went unchecked by society as a whole. He was torturing animals and threw rocks at his grandfather’s head as a child – who is culpable? He spoke of wanting to kill others? My God, what does it take before someone listens and takes action. No, you cannot make an adult take medication or seek help, but from all the comments I’ve read from family and friends on this blog the signs were glaring way before he reached 18. Do I blame his family for not having him institutionalized? No more than I would blame Ted Bundy’s mother or Jeffrey Dalmer’s parents. Maybe they were numb with grief or dispair, felt helpless, overwhelmed, like trying to bale water out of a sinking boat… I really don’t know. I am only stating the obvious when I say that Richard Henderson did not receive the attention his mental illness waranted or we would not be having this discussion today.

So was he insane or was Richard Henderson a “SERIAL KILLER” as “AUNT JOYCE” stated. There was no pattern, no other people murdered. Is he a “psycho” as you stated? What was his diagnosis? No, Jim, I’m not claiming to be an “expert on retards”, as you so eloquently put it, but it would seem that a man coming off a drug binge who also suffered his entire life of a serious mental illness could snap and do something horrific.

My daughter is autistic – a neurobiological disorder – and also suffers from bouts of severe depression, anxiety, and mood swings. She’s been hospitalized for attempted suicide, been on and off a host of pyschotropic meds, seen many different drs, psychiatrists, counselors, you name it. She’s currently not on anything, at her request, but that’s not to say that won’t change. We listen to her and she tells us when the pain is more than she can bear and then we do something about it. It’s a lot of work. She’s makes good grades, is an accomplished athlete, speaks two foreign languages, and devotes time to helping the elderly. I do not take the full credit for her successes in life thus far, however. I have family, friends, teachers, ministers, and support groups to thank. It’s a constant fight to help her find her way in the world and there have been many times when I felt that I let her down. Peace comes with understanding and there is still a lot for me to learn about how the brain functions. It’s an ongoing process. That’s all I meant when I was responding to “Aunt Joyce” and I should have made that clear. It was also 4 in the morning when I made that post. My daughter is terrified of thunderstorms and woke me and I couldn’t go back to sleep. I turned on my computer to read the news and clicked on the Richard Henderson story and it resonated with me because of my child. I wondered what she would do if she ingested drugs and alcohol for several days and then was coming off of it. I’ve been with her when we were titrating her off of a powerful med and it was ugly – for her and the family.

Finally Jim, lay off the name calling. You’re wasting space and, quite frankly, it’s juvenile. Unless you are a juvenile and in that case, just for the names you called my daughter, …..
Bite my ass.

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August 9, 2007

Jim

I am not impressed. Make up a better story next time.

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August 9, 2007

LORIE

I TRUELY AGREE WITH WHAT YOU WROTE JOYCE YOU WOULD KNOW ME IF YOU MET ME I AM TO A COUSIN TO JEANEANE, I WAS TRUELY UPSET THAT THEY WANT TO GET A INSANITY PLEA HE IS NOT INSANE HE KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. HE DID LOT’S OF THINGS IN HIS LIFE BUT IF THEY LET HIM PLAY THEM LIKE HE IS NOW THEN THEY ARE NOT SEEING JR. AS HE IS .BJ LOUIE WOULD SAY THE THE SAME THING . HE KNOW’S ME AND I WOUNDER HOW EVERY ONE IS DOING I KNOW ANUNT SANDY IS GOING THROUGHT A TOUGH TIME RIGHT NOW. SO ARE WE AND IT DRIVES ME CRAZY THAT THEY ARE NOT SEEING THAT HE IS PLAYING WITH THEIR MIND’S , THEY NEED TO OPEN UP THEIR EYE’S HE IS A GROWN MAN HE DECIED NOT TO EXCEPT ALL THE HELP HIS FAMILY GOT FOR HIM AND HE DECIED NOT TO TAKE HIS MEDICEN’S…. SO WHO IS IN THE FAULT.

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August 13, 2007

Quite No More

I’ve been watching this case and this site since learning about these murders in 2005. I know one of the “girlfriends” of this monster and haven’t commented out of respect for her family. But after reading both of your postings I must respond to your “ignorance” of “mental illness” other than it pertains to your daughter. I have direct daily iteraction with a person who suffers from mental illness, and if you have “supported” your daughters decision to go off of her meds with no interferance, you don’t know half of what you claim to about meds and mental illness. I think you should go back and research this case before you “Pass Judgement” on this monsters family. He wasn’t coming off of a drug binge when he commited this atrocity. I also don’t think anyone could misintereprate your “judgement” of his family in your first posting. Its clear to me that you think if they had done “more” then maybe this wouldn’t have happened. As to no “previous” murders, who really knows that for sure and if he had made it to Mexico or wherever,I have no doubt his next “episode” would have classed him as a serial killer. I truly believe that along with the ” ultimate good” in this world there is true “ultimate evil” and nothing anyone does or says will be able to change that evil. It seems to me that the family tried all of the good that they could. Again before you post your “wisdom” again go back to the beginning and don’t “judge” what you don’t know or understand. To “Aunt Joyce” and her family, may good and healing come to you, and please do “anything and everything” you must to proctect the rest of your precious family.

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August 16, 2007

Anonymous

Take your own advice and don’t judge what you don’t know – my daughter was taken off her meds while under her drs. care. She wanted to be taken off because …. none of your business. I think I made it clear that I AM NOT AN EXPERT on mental illness. Pyschotropic meds over a period of time can have a toxic effect on the body. That I do know because I’ve seen it.
Okay, I’ll concede that I was being judgmental re Richard Henderson’s family. I was wrong. They can’t help what they don’t know. You’ll never understand mental illness because of your prejudice. It’s obvious in your post.
As for following his case, I don’t need to. I wrote because I do not believe that Richard Henderson belongs where he is. He was clearly mentally ill. But you are a simple person and we will never agree. You believe in good and evil – that said it all. Maybe Satan made him do it.

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