Man acquitted of armed robbery still faces murder, other charges

A Muscogee County jury Wednesday acquitted a California native of robbing a convenience store in 2014, but he still faces multiple charges that include murder in other cases.

After an hour’s deliberation, the jury found Kevin “Babe” Henderson not guilty of armed robbery and using a gun to commit a felony in the Nov. 11, 2014, robbery of the Circle K at 3274 Victory Drive.

That case was severed from Henderson’s other charges and tried separately.

But it was among the lesser offenses of which Henderson has been accused. He’s charged with murder in the Nov. 12, 2014, fatal shooting of Chad Aaron Herring, 32, who was found slumped over in the front seat of a 2009 Chevy Impala near Brewer Elementary School, 2951 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., with a bullet in his head.

Investigators said they later found Henderson’s fingerprint on the car’s back seat.

Around 6 p.m. that same night, Henderson fired at two teenagers on Evergreen Street and Bowman Street, wounding one in the chest, police allege. The other teen escaped uninjured.

The 11:30 p.m. armed robbery of the Circle K was caught on surveillance video, which was shown to jurors in Henderson’s trial.

Prosecutor Pete Temesgen said the footage clearly shows Henderson’s face, as the robber is wearing no mask and at one point looks directly into the camera before looking down again.

The video shows a man in a black hooded sweatshirt and blue knit cap enter the store and pretend to shop before pulling a pistol and stepping up to the counter, where store clerk Demarcus Grier handed him $80 from the cash drawer.

Grier first picked Henderson’s picture from a police photo lineup and this week identified the defendant in court as the store robber.

Henderson’s defense attorney Nancy Miller argued her client was misidentified and police too quickly rushed to charge him. Grier was under too much duress during the robbery to focus on the robber’s face, she said.

Henderson left Columbus in late 2014 and returned to California. He was arrested there on Jan. 20, 2015.

Other felonies

In the Herring homicide, Henderson faces charges of malice or intentional murder, felony murder for allegedly killing Herring while committing the felony of aggravated assault, aggravated assault and using a firearm to commit a felony.

He also faces two counts each of aggravated assault and using a gun to commit a felony for the street shooting targeting two teenagers.

Because he was on probation from a Sept. 10, 2014, conviction for aggravated assault, he’s charged also with two counts of possession of a firearm by a first-offender probationer.

That case was from 2012, when Henderson at age 18 initially was accused of beating a 16-year-old homeless girl with a pistol and raping her on Dec. 23.

Charges of rape and aggravated sodomy later were dropped, and Henderson pleaded guilty to the assault charge after a new indictment accused him of beating the girl only with his fists. He was sentenced to seven years’ probation. His probation since has been revoked.

Jail charges

While housed in the Muscogee County Jail in 2015, Henderson picked up other charges.

Authorities allege that on May 23, 2015, Henderson got fellow inmate Zachery Holden in a chokehold, stole Holden’s phone card and threatened further violence to extort money from Holden.

The indictment in that case accuses Henderson of aggravated assault, robbery, attempting to commit a felony and two counts of violating the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act, alleging that in his attempted extortion he acted as a member of the Gangster Disciples “with the intent to maintain his position in the gang.”

Holden since has been convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the Jan. 1, 2015, fatal stabbing of his friend Carlos Cordero, 26, at 6228 Potomac Circle, where the two got into a fight. After a jury found him guilty, Holden changed his plea to guilty on Nov. 2, 2016, right before Judge Bobby Peters sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

This story was originally published February 22, 2017 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Man acquitted of armed robbery still faces murder, other charges."