Henley Draws Six 99-Year Sentences in Slayings
by Jim Barlow
Elmer Wayne Henley, convicted in the sex-torture Houston mass murder ease, was sentenced today to six 99-year prison terms. A jury convicted Henley on Monday of six of the 27 murders and then deliberated 55 minutes today before returning its decision on the sentence. Henley’s attorney said the convictions will be appealed. Under Texas law, Henley could apply for parole in eight years and foul months. Multiple sentences of more than ten years each are considered as one sentence for parole purposes. “I apologize to the jurors that the laws of the state of Texas do not permit the death penalty in these cases,” Assistant District Attorney Carol Vance said before the jury retired. Both the prosecution and defense each presented 20-minute arguments.
Ed Pegelow, a defense lawyer, urged the jurors to consider as they debated Henley’s sentence that he was only 15 years old when he became involved with Dean Corll, 33, the man police say was the mastermind in the Houston mass murders. “Dean Corll was able to gain mastery over Elmer Wayne Henley and keep him under control.” Pegelow said. “Dean Corll was the man who had perpetrated this monstrous tragedy for at least a year and a half before Wayne became involved. Defense lawyer Will Gray said the prosecution and defense agreed in advance to submit no new evidence for the jury to consider in passing sentence The jury of six men and six women issued its guilty verdict against tile 18-year-old high school dropout just under an hour after getting the case on Monday.
Henley showed no emotion as Court Clerk Mildred Voelkel read each of the six verdicts which declared Henley guilty of murdering Charles C Cobble, 17; Marty Ray Jones, 18; Frank Anthony Aguire, 18; Johnny Delome, 16; William Ray Lawrence, 15 and Homer Garcia, 15. Henley’s mother, Mary Henley, 35, broke into sobs. Later she told newsmen “It’s what I expected. Do you think it was fair? No, it wasn’t fair. We’ll wait here for the sentencing and then we’ll start our appeals.” Gray already had indicated he plans an appeal regardless of the sentence He filed 59 objections to the charge read to the jury by District Court Judge Preston Dial, and he voiced more than 100 objections during the trial itself. Bettie Shirley, mother of Marty Ray Jones, said she was happy with the verdict. She had run screaming and sobbing from the courtroom during the final prosecution arguments. Police said Henley, one of two defendants in the case, had procured young boys—some his friends and neighbors—for Dean A Corll, who homosexually raped and tortured them. They said Henley and the second defendant, in the case, David Owen Brooks, 19, then helped Corll kill and bury the victims. Brooks is charged with four counts of murder. No trial date has been set.
Henley shot Corll last August 8 during a sex and torture party at Corll’s apartment in the Houston suburb of Pasadena. The slaying was ruled self-defense. In his statement, Henley said he first got $200 for each youth he brought to Corll, but later received only $5 or $10 a piece. “If you take a friend’s life for five or 10 dollars, you’ve got to get a little more out of it.” Don Lambright, an assistant district attorney, said “The only thing I can think about is that it was fun to watch him lay and scream and squirm.”
