Sex Murders Confession Under Attacks by Lawyers

by Houston (UPI)

Lawyers for the teen-ager charged in six of 27 sex and sadism murders of young boys tried yesterday to suppress statements the youth gave police. Judge William Hatten took the motion under advisement. Elmer Wayne Henley, 17, gave Houston and Pasadena police oral and written statements Aug. 8 saying he, David Owen Brooks, 18, and Dean Corll, 33, killed the youths over a three-year period.

HENLEY said Corll had killed most of the boys himself, and that he shot and killed Corll in self-defense during a paint-sniffing party. Henley is being tried for the death of Charles Ray Cobble, also 17, last July 27. Cobble’s body was one of 27 unearthed from shallow graves at three Texas locations. Brooks will stand trial March 4. Henley’s statements are a crucial part of the prosecution’s case. “WE’LL STILL have a case, but it’s going to be difficult without the confession, since there were no witnesses,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Don Lambright.

Dist. Atty. Carol S. Vance said, however, that Henley knew what he was signing when he gave police the statements. But defense lawyers, in their questioning of Henley’s mother in pre-trial hearings yesterday, contended the youth was not in control of himself. “HE WAS hallucinating,” said Mary Henley. “He talked incoherent. He didn’t know the time or how long he’d been there. “He’s always been kind of a nervous person, but he never acted incoherent or saw things,” she said. “He was shaking all over; he would stop and cry. He was all to pieces.” Defense lawyer Charles Melder said, “Insanity definitely will be a defense.” But he indicated he will not try to prove Henley is now insane and incompetent to stand trial.