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| Charles Todd Henderson |
Charles Todd Henderson was booked into the Jefferson County Jail last Friday afternoon and released 12 minutes later on $2,500 bond. Henderson already had been sworn in and was scheduled to take office at 12:01 a.m. today. But the indictment means, under Alabama law, that Henderson will be suspended almost immediately upon taking office.
Riley appointed Brandon Falls as DA in 2008, and Falls was elected to a six-year term in 2010. That makes him a prominent member of Riley Inc., the term used for Riley acolytes, who (in many instances) have helped litter the Alabama political landscape with corruption. Falls was a heavy favorite to be re-elected in November 2016, but Henderson (a relatively unknown Democrat from Pleasant Grove) pulled an upset that rattled the Birmingham metro law-enforcement community.
Did it rattle someone enough that they conspired to bring dubious (bogus?) charges against Henderson? That's how it looks from here.
The charges against Henderson grew from his appointment early last year as guardian ad litem (GAL) in a divorce/child custody case styled Charbel Akl v. Yareima Carmen Valecillos Akl. A GAL usually is appointed to look after the best interests of a minor child in a court case. The indictment charges that Henderson gave a false statement under oath, material to a proceeding before Judge Patricia Stephens. From a report at al.com:
But on March 9 an attorney for the father, Virginia Meigs, filed a motion seeking to remove Henderson as guardian because of his relationship with the mother and an alleged bias against the plaintiff/father. "The mother/defendant has been actively participating in the political campaign of the Guardian Ad Litem ... for some time," according to the document.
Judge Stephens on May 20 removed Henderson as Guardian Ad Litem, a move that Henderson fought.
Then at the Sept. 26 trial at which Henderson allegedly perjured himself, the issue of whether there was a romantic relationship between Henderson and the mother, Ms. Akl, surfaced.
On Sept. 28, the day after the trial ended, the mother's attorney, Daniel Chambers, asked to withdraw from the case. Chambers' motion included information about evidence that the "defendant (mother) and the former Guardian Ad Litem (Henderson) have been in a romantic relationship."
Politics and romance allegedly have a role in the Henderson case. We might learn that Henderson did, in fact, commit perjury -- although this still would look like a case of selective prosecution because perjury, in our experience, happens all the time in court, with very few individuals ever being punished for it. In May 2012, we wrote a post titled "Lying under oath has replaced baseball as America's most treasured pastime." I've witnessed perjury numerous times in court cases, and I've yet to see a sign that anyone takes it seriously.
It apparently becomes serious when the alleged perjurer has beaten Bob Riley's personal choice for DA in Alabama's largest county. Could the issue become serious enough that individuals in the "justice system" might make up charges out of thin air? When you consider that these charges originated with the Alabama State Bar and the office of Attorney General Luther Strange -- both major centers of Riley influence -- the answer is yes. Jim Parkman, Henderson's attorney, noted that in the al.com article:
The indictment on first degree perjury was issued by a special grand jury called by Assistant Alabama Attorney General Matt Hart, who was the same man who led the prosecution of former Alabama House Speaker Mike Hubbard.
"The timing of this indictment is strange," Parkman stated. "At 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday, seconds after Martin Luther King Jr. Day comes to an end, Mr. Henderson is set to begin work as Jefferson County's new District Attorney. However, mere days before that should happen, the Attorney General's Office convened a grand jury that returned an indictment thereby preventing Mr. Henderson from setting foot in office."
"The Attorney General's Office in Montgomery seized the democratic process with this indictment," according to Parkman's statement. "They decided votes don't matter. they decided to take democracy out of Jefferson County. It's a perversion of the process that cannot and will not stand. The power of a few should not quell the will of the majority."
Parkman did not stop there:
Parkman stated that the charge is false and Henderson can't wait to get into court to fight the charge. "We call on Luther Strange and his office to do the right thing and bring this case to trial as quickly as possible so that the truth can be heard. Dragging out this process - denying Mr. Henderson the right to take office because of a pending indictment - is nothing short of oppression because it denies the clear will of the people." he stated.
How is this for irony? I have absolute proof that Jessica Garrison, Luther Strange's mistress and campaign confidant, lied under oath in her defamation lawsuit against me. I also have evidence that strongly suggests Strange himself lied under oath in the same case. If Jefferson County had a real DA (say, Charles Todd Henderson) and not a Riley surrogate like Brandon Falls, such cases might be pursued. Is that part of the reason Henderson is under indictment? (Note: The false statements under oath from Garrison, and likely false statements from Strange, came in a hearing well before the November 2016 election. Were Garrison and Strange convinced Falls would win re-election, and went into "cover our ass" mode when their protector lost to Henderson? We will be covering the Garrison/Strange testimony in a series of upcoming posts.)
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| Brandon Falls (From wbrc.com) |
What are the chances Henderson actually lied under oath? I'd say they are small. What are the chances that, if Henderson committed a wrongful act, it's the same thing that has been ignored in thousands of other cases, but became a criminal charge against him for political reasons? I'd say extremely high.
19 comments:
Where there is smoke, there is always a fire. Henderson parading a married woman (wife/defendant)(Yareima Valecillos Akl) during his entire primary and general election campaign as if its nothing, speaks volumes of Hendersons character. Was the wife/defendant a piece of meat to Henderson or was he in love with her to pursue deceiving Judge Patricia Stephens and lie under oath for the benefit of the wife/defendant.
Another case of sex, romance and politics for Henderson.
If you believe "where there's smoke, there is always a fire," then I assume you would apply that to the Rileys also. My God, there has been a forest fire around them for years. As I'm sure you know, we don't indict people in this country because of a smoke/fire correlation.
@8:52 . . . Henderson isn't charged with "parading a married woman around during his campaign." He's charged with perjury. One has nothing to do with the other.
I agree, this has "RILEY" written all over it.
Suppose to have a press conference at 1:30 today with the law firm representing him. May be worthwhile to tune in.
If Brandon Falls had won the election, Henderson could have perjured himself as GAL from here to kingdom come, and nobody would have cared.
@11:56 --
Thanks for sharing. Do you know if Bham radio or TV are carrying it live?
This is a simple demographic issue for the Rileys. Jefferson County's black population has grown from 39.3 percent in 2000 to 42 percent in 2010. After eight years of disaster under George W. Bush, black voters are motivated to turn out, and they vote for Democrats. A lot of whites identify more with their municipality (Vestavia, Hoover, Homewood, etc.) than their county, and I'm guessing their voter turnout is going down. Hence, Republicans are struggling to hold onto any county offices, and with a Democratic DA, the Rileys are not so cozy as they would be with Brandon Falls in office.
@11:56 again. I do not, but I saw it was reported by both Al.com and ABC3340. If not on TV, I would imagine Twitter feeds for those outlets would be "live" tweeting it.
Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for passing the word. Should be interesting to see what is said. I assume Parkman will do most of the talking.
You nailed it, @12:21. Voter turnout among whites is poor in county elections, so it's one of the few areas in Alabama where Democrats have a chance. In fact, they not only have a chance, they are starting to dominate in Jeffco. The probably scares the pants off white elites like the Rileys.
It sounds to me like Henderson might already have information about Riley corruption, and that's why they want him out of office.
interesting times one would say. suddenly these boys are going all legal. Oh, right the Dems won and the Republicans lost. Puts a whole different spin on things.
blogs are a wonderful thing in a democracy.
watched a documentary last evening about the fight for African Americans to have the right to vote in Mississippi. Doubt if things were much different in Alabama. So now that African Americans have the vote and use it, their choice gets arrested. Not much as changed in some matter since 1962.
Around 20th May 2016, Judge Patricia Stephens, a democratic party Judge, removes Charles Todd Henderson, as the GAL in the Divorce case. Now why would Henderson, the democratic candidate for DA of Jeff Co at the time be removed as GAL by a democratic party Judge. For deceiving her. The Judge trusted Henderson and appointed him as GAL around 26th January 2016 upon the request of the mother/defendant. The Judge had no idea Henderson was having an affair with the mother dating back to around August of 2015. Henderson for the mothers sake tried to railroad the father/plaintiff by coming in as a GAL.
The wife/defendant and Mr. Charles Henderson outrageous, scandalous shenanigans, colluding, CONNIVING, DECEITFUL plan to request on 01/06/2016 assigning Mr. Charles Henderson as GAL in this divorce case is wicked, repulsive, disgusting, shameful, appalling and shocking and sick. Due to the fact that Henderson was having an affair with the mother/defendant months prior to being assigned the GAL by Judge Stephens. I guess it's ok for Henderson to treat the wife/defendant like a piece of meat since Henderson is one of your boys. Shame on you.
@1:44, a few points:
1. Don't know who you are, or what your agenda is, but you seem to have one. Your version of events is very different from what Henderson attorney Jim Parkman presented at press conference.
2. Henderson is charged with perjury, and I don't see anything in your comment that addresses the key issue.
3. Not sure what makes you think Henderson is one of "my boys." Never met the guy and never heard of him until this story came out. I am familiar with Riley Inc. railroad jobs, and this certainly looks like one to me.
Ok. Lets refocus our discussion. Let's for a moment concentrate on the actions of Charles Todd Henderson. We can review the indictment in detail as follow up to this chain of professional discussion.
1) Henderson meets the wife/defendant around August 2015, falls in love with her, parades her all over his campaign, introduces the married woman as his girlfriend.
2) Henderson, now deeply involved and in love with the wife/defendant colluded with the wife to request him being the GAL around January 2016, to manipulate his new position as GAL for the benefit of the wife.
3) Henderson should have NEVER accepted the position of GAL due the involvement of the wife/defendant in his campaign.
4) Soon thereafter, their romance and affair is discovered, then Judge Stephens removes Henderson as GAL.
5) Henderson tries to cover up the relationship with the wife/defendant due to his arrogance and his position as DA cadidant in heavily democratic JEFF CO.
6) His coverup is not bullet proof, the father/plaintiff hits a silver bullet, this the reason the wife/defendants attorney Chambers resigns a day after the Silver bullet is identified.
The above are public filings with Judge Stephens. Look it up. These are public facts and filings causing the Democratic Judge Stephens preventing the democratic DA candidate from interacting with the same child he was previously assigned to represent.
There is nothing dubious above, all facts.
The silver bullet is Henderson in trying to hide his relationship with the mother, commits perjury thinking he is above the law in JEFF CO.
What question to you is; let's assume Henderson did indeed lie under oath, 100%., do you think he should be indicted. Yes or No?
I need a Yes or No answer, regardless of your position with what you call the Riley Inc.
Let's skip your question for the time being and get to the real question in the matter, and I will direct it at you:
If Henderson had not beaten Brandon Falls in the Nov. election, would Luther Strange have brought perjury charges against Henderson? I know the answer to that question, and if you are a semi-honest person, you do, too.
First, you should and must answer my question and then I promise to respond to you question. I asked first, so it's only fair that you respond first.
My question is simple. If indeed Henderson lied under oath to hide his romantic relationship with the wife/defendant, should he be indicted. Yes or No.
Let's get this straight: This is my blog, and I make the rules. One of those rules is I don't answer dumb, nonsensical questions. I'm not going to assume someone committed a crime. Second, the indictment doesn't even say what Henderson lied about. Third, you refer to "public filings" and "public facts." There is a big difference between those two. Just because Luther Strange directed some flunky to put something in an indictment . . . well, it might be part of a public filing, but it does not make it fact.
A final point: I don't care if you asked first or not. I started this blog in June 2007, and it's come from my sweat and blood, not yours. I make the rules, not you. If you want to contact me directly, ID yourself, and discuss these matters, I would be happy to do so. Otherwise, I don't take directions from you.
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