More News

The April killing of a Gaithersburg woman, allegedly by a felon who was released from prison early with a reduced sentence and good behavior credits, is prompting renewed scrutiny of state laws that allow such leniency.

Shawn M. Henderson, accused of shooting Lindsay Marie Harvey and leaving her body near her apartment complex's Dumpster, violated his supervised probation several months before the woman's death, but his probation supervisor did not seek his arrest until the day after he was charged with the slaying.

A county police officer has since called that belated request for an arrest warrant "the C-Y-A memo" — or the cover your rear memo. This situation along with Henderson's sentence reductions have prompted a movement of police and victim advocates who are calling for reforms in what they call the state's revolving-door criminal justice system that helped kill Harvey, 25, a DNA analyst at the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville.

Henderson, 26, had violated the terms of his probation twice in the four months preceding Harvey's April 13 death, missing a scheduled appointment with his probation officer and failing to provide adequate employment records, according to the warrant request. There is no indication in Henderson's probation file that his supervisor had previously sought a warrant based on those violations, a review of the file shows.

The after-the-fact request sent to Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Durke G. Thompson asks that he revoke Henderson's probation, charge him $710 in outstanding court fees and return him to prison to serve the remaining 50 years of his original sentence.

Observers of the state probation system say such occurrences are not unusual.

Time unserved

Thompson had encountered Henderson before.

In December 1999, Henderson, then 17, was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and nine related charges following a two-day crime spree.

In two armed robberies and one attempted robbery, Henderson slashed the throats of three people in attacks from behind, according to police charging documents.

"I could have lost my life," said one victim interviewed by The Gazette after Harvey's death. "I just feel so cheated in this thing, for so many reasons," he said. He has a 2.5-inch scar across his neck, and has been told that the cut just missed his jugular vein.

Henderson and another man were charged in the cases, and prosecutors offered a plea deal.

"I did not see the person's face," the victim said.

Henderson pleaded guilty in 2000 to three robbery counts, and Thompson sentenced him to 60 years, suspending all but 12 years of jail time, according to court records. The other man was sentenced to 22 years.

Henderson was released from prison April 14, 2006, more than five years ahead of schedule, according to David Blumberg, chairman of the Maryland Parole Commission. A controversial court process called reconsideration combined with a liberal state policy on good behavior credit led to Henderson's shortened prison stay.

Reconsidering judgment

If Henderson had served 12 years, he would have been released in November 2011, Blumberg said. But Henderson earned more than three years and nine months in diminution credits – or time off for good behavior — and Thompson shaved another two years from his sentence in October 2004.

According to a controversial rule unique to Maryland, a Circuit Court judge can reduce a sentence at any time and for any reason within the first five years of sentencing. To be eligible, the convict must file a request for reconsideration within 90 days of sentencing.

Henderson had served less than five years when his reconsideration was granted.

"You're lucky you're not here on a 40-year sentence, because if I had to resentence you I might have done that," Thompson told Henderson during that hearing, according to a recording of the session, saying that he had sentenced him to less than half the maximum possible under his plea agreement. "You were represented by a very good lawyer and he got you a great deal." Thompson said it was evident that Henderson had made efforts to reform. In prison, he had studied in a special education program, completed a vocational trade program where he learned electrical wiring, masonry and carpentry skills and attended a rehabilitation program twice a week.

Reconsiderations, argue victims' rights groups, give offenders a second shot at sentencing well after the emotion of trial has passed. State law requires prosecutors to notify victims who have requested notice if reconsideration is scheduled and document the notification, or the hearing cannot take place.

Neither Thompson nor the prosecutor at Henderson's hearing confirmed notice during the session, according to the recording. And though court records show prosecutors notified one victim, another interviewed by The Gazette said he was not contacted despite having registered.

A changed man

At Henderson's 28-minute reconsideration hearing in October 2004, four people spoke on his behalf. Donna Henderson of Gaithersburg said her son had "matured a whole lot since he's been incarcerated." Another family member said he would give Henderson a job upon release and yet another said he was teaching Henderson to read through the mail.

Sherryl G. Statland, Henderson's public defender, said her client had foresworn drinking and drugs.

"Every day I look at myself and beat myself up because I know right from wrong, and my family did not raise me to a bad person," Henderson told the judge.

Assistant State's Attorney Rakesh Patel was the only person to speak for the victims, and argued against a reduced sentence.

"In each of the cases, the victims had already handed over what the defendant had asked them for," Patel said. "After that, he cut their throats."

By reducing Henderson's sentence, Thompson made him immediately eligible for parole. The decision resulted in a Nov. 12, 2009, release date for Henderson that was further reduced by good behavior credits.

"You got a big break at the beginning, you got a big break at the plea, and you got a break today," Thompson told Henderson.

‘Endless second chances'

About eight months later, the Maryland Parole Commission heard the same information as Thompson, but denied Henderson early release, saying his crimes were too violent, Blumberg said.

"Although this was his first major, it was very serious in nature," he said.

But diminution credits, which are calculated by what many agree is a generous good-behavior policy that allows one day less in prison per credit earned, reduced Henderson's sentence by nearly four years.

During six-plus years in prison, Henderson accumulated 1,337 credits, including 546 good conduct credits, 313 industrial/educational credits and 478 special project credits, typically granted for fulfilling drug treatment and other programs, Blumberg said.

Montgomery County Police Capt. John A. "Mitch" Cunningham, who heads the department's records and crime analysis division, has called the justice system that freed Henderson "the land of endless of second chances" and is outraged by the situation.

"To me, the Henderson case is emblematic of Maryland's system of revolving door justice which puts too many people at risk to being victimized by violent criminals," said Cunningham. "That's the frustrating piece for me and everybody I work with."

Since Harvey's death, he and colleague Capt. Patricia Walker, director of the major crimes division, have spent countless hours tracking Henderson's case and researching the statewide impact of Maryland's diminution policy.

More than 30 other states have truth-in-sentencing laws demanding that violent criminals serve at least 85 percent of their sentences if not released on parole, he said. Maryland, one of the few states with no such policy, appears in U.S. Census Bureau data as the nation's fifth most violent state — a factor many attribute to repeat offenders and lenient sentencing.

Both Cunningham and Walker have undertaken a quest to get legislators, returning to session next month, to tighten what they say is the state's liberal policies that enable violent criminals to serve only a fraction of their prison time.

Henderson is scheduled to stand trial for Harvey's death in February. Two others are also charged. Public defender Audrey Creighton will represent Henderson at trial. She could not be reached for comment Tuesday.