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Henderson v. DeTella

97 F.3d 942 (1996)

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Henderson v. DeTella

United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
97 F.3d 942 (1996)

  • Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Henderson v. DeTella

Facts

Ladell Henderson (defendant) shot and killed Dennis Leonard, then shot Leonard’s niece, Mona Chavez, three times in the head. Chavez survived and identified Henderson as the shooter at trial. On cross-examination, Henderson’s defense counsel asked Chavez about her relationship with someone named Quintin Jones and whether she had used the drug “speed” around Jones and Henderson. Chavez said she knew Jones but denied having a romantic relationship with him and denied ever using speed. When the defense tried to impeach Chavez’s credibility by having Jones testify that he saw Chavez use drugs numerous times, the prosecution objected. The defense had not proffered any evidence suggesting Chavez had been using drugs at the time of the shooting or establishing when Jones supposedly saw her use drugs. The judge barred the line of questioning, noting that the only reason the defense was using it was “to dirty up the witness.” Henderson was convicted of murder and attempted murder and filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus on several grounds, including that barring questioning of the prosecution’s key witness about her drug use violated his Sixth Amendment right to confront witnesses against him.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Rovner, J.)

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