Over the summer, Henderson was convicted on more than a dozen capital murder charges for killing his pregnant wife, her mother and two children.
Henderson was convicted of killing his second wife, Kristen Henderson with the help of his first wife.
The jury found him guilty of killing their unborn child and Kristen’s mother, nephew and son before burning the New Market home in 2015.
On July 6, the same jury recommended the death penalty to the court.
Three days of testimony, two days of deliberations and it all came down to this: Christopher Henderson convicted on 15 capital murder charges in total.
”It wasn’t totally unexpected. The facts of this case were tough from the onset,” defense attorney Bruce Gardner said.
Henderson has been held without bond until today’s hearing where the judge had the opportunity to break from the jury’s recommendation and decide to sentence Henderson to life in prison.
Kristen Henderson’s brother, Keith Smallwood, said his family members who were killed, were good people.
“These were people that were happy to be alive and part of a strong family that we all loved each other so it’s been hard but it’s also been - we’ve been resolute because we know where they are and we know they’re smiling,” said Smallwood.
Kristen’s sister, Kelly Smallwood Sokolowski, lost her own child to Henderson. That’s the 14-month-old victim Eli.
“Eli...the light of my life. My one and only child. But I did have a dream. My daddy passed away in September of last year and I had a dream and my daddy was holding Eli in that dream. I know that I will see them again that’s one thing that was taken away from me that I’m thankful for. I’m not scared of death anymore because I know what’s waiting on me,” said Sokolowski.
Smallwood shares what it was like facing Henderson in court.
“I don’t know whether he cares or whether it matters to him, probably not. But it does to me, to let him know I’m not going anywhere,” said Smallwood.
“The facts of this case were tough from the outset, I’ve known that for the last six years,” said Henderson’s defense attorney Bruce Gardner.
Overwhelming evidence that led to conviction includes Henderson’s phone search history, body camera footage, and surveillance video that places Henderson and the other suspect in this case, Rhonda Carlson, at the crime scene.
In Carlson’s plea deal from the state, she agreed to testify against Henderson, taking the death penalty off the table for her.
Carlson admitted to helping plan the murders but denies actual involvement in the killings.
The attorney representing Christopher Henderson said he doesn’t believe any defendant should get the death penalty.
“It’s just astonishing to me that in an American courtroom we’re still talking about killing people. I’ll be asking the jury to think less with their head and more with their heart about what is fair in this case. And fair is a life sentence for Chris Henderson,” Gardner said.
That’s because Gardner says co-defendant Rhonda Carlson is just as responsible for the murders.
“The biggest mitigating factor, in this case, is the fundamental unfairness, in my view of two people equally guilty,” Gardner explained.
, Staff, October 14, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
