TEXAS MASS SLAYER GETS 99 YEARS IN EACH CASE: THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, JULY 17, 1974

The clerk read the sentence six times, once for each of the boys. Elmer Wayne Henley, eighteen, heard 99 years for every one of them, and he was hurried out of the San Antonio courtroom on Tuesday, July 16, 1974, with his jaws clenched. The jury had taken fifty-five minutes. The six were Frank Aguirre, Johnny Delone, William Ray Lawrence, Homer Garcia, Charles Cobble and Marty Ray Jones, all lured to Dean Corll between March 1972 and July 1973. The Salt Lake Tribune ran the Associated Press story on its front page the next morning, beside a wire photograph of Henley.

The paper did the arithmetic for its readers. The judge had to follow the jury and would decide only whether the terms ran one after another or together; with favorable conditions, Henley could be paroled in eight years and four months. Two jurors said there had never been much to argue about. "There was no question . . ." said Alfred C. Prinz, a Civil Service administrator at Kelly Air Force Base. Rosemary Tull said each vote had been "12 to nothing." The district attorney, Carol Vance, apologized that Texas law would not let them impose death: "It's too bad we can't remove two other monsters permanently."

The case against Henley was largely his own. In a written statement he said he had stood by while Corll raped and tortured the youths, then helped kill some of them and get rid of the bodies. The state said Corll had paid Henley and his friend David Owen Brooks, nineteen, to bring him boys; Brooks was still awaiting trial. The defense called no witnesses. The sentences in this story did not survive: the conviction was overturned in 1978, and in 1979 a second jury convicted Henley again and he received six concurrent life terms. Parole has been refused every time since 1980.

This is an AP wire report from the day of sentencing, not a court record. Its phrases "the largest mass murder in modern American history" and "homosexual torture ring" are the paper's own. Its count of 27 dead was the count in 1974; 29 boys and young men are now known to have died. The story places the guilty verdict on Monday, after deliberations about as long as the 55 minutes spent on the sentence; other records give July 16 for the conviction, after ninety-two minutes, and say the six 99-year terms were set to run consecutively. Henley was convicted of six murders, in 1974 and again in 1979, and was never charged over Corll's death, which prosecutors treated as self-defense.

The Salt Lake Tribune of July 17, 1974, carried this as AP wire copy with no staff byline, and the scan comes from Utah Digital Newspapers at the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, which rates the issue "No Copyright - United States." No copyright notice is attached to this story, though a "(Copyright)" line closes the separate story printed directly above it on page 1. The portrait of Henley is credited "Associated Press Wirephoto"; it is a wire photograph, and its rights are separate from those of the text.

The page is faint and grainy throughout, but every word could be read under magnification and no illegible marks were needed. The least certain reading is "including a teen-aged son," where the hyphen and first letters barely show. Rosemary Tull's quotation opens with a single quotation mark and closes with a double one, and Prinz's trails off in a spaced ellipsis; both are kept as printed. The photograph's caption is transcribed at the end of the text.

Transcription

Transcribed word for word from the page scan. Original spelling, punctuation, capitalisation and typographical errors have been kept exactly as printed. Unreadable words are marked [illegible]. Nothing has been modernised or corrected.

Texas Mass Slayer Gets 99 Years in Each Case

SAN ANTONIO, Tex. (AP) — After deliberating 55 minutes, a jury sentenced Elmer Wayne Henley to 99 years in prison for each of six slayings — part of the largest mass murder in modern American history.

Henley, an 18-year-old school dropout, was whisked away with jaws clenched Tuesday after hearing the court clerk read the sentence six times, once for each of the six victims. They were among 27 young men killed in a homosexual torture ring Henley was convicted of taking part in.

Henley's lawyer said he would appeal. The formal sentencing will not be for 10 days, but under Texas law the judge must follow the jury's recommendation, deciding only whether Henley will serve the terms consecutively or concurrently.

Under state parole law and with favorable conditions, Henley could be out of prison in eight years and four months. However, about half the state's convicts serve their full sentence.

The same jury had debated about the same length of time Monday before convicting Henley.

Reach Decision Quickly

One juror, Alfred C. Prinz, 38, a Civil Service administrator at Kelly Air Force Base here, said the jurors had no problem reaching their verdict. "There was no question . . ." he said.

Another juror, Rosemary Tull, who has three children including a teen-aged son, said: 'We took just one vote on each of the guilty verdicts. We had discussions before the vote and each one was 12 to nothing."

In his plea for the 99-year sentence, Dist. Atty. Carol Vance apologized to jurors because they could not assess the death sentence under Texas laws.

"It's too bad we can't remove two other monsters permanently," Vance said.

Still Faces Trial

The state had said Dean Corll, 33, paid Henley and a friend, David Owen Brooks, 19, to procure teen-age boys for Corll's homosexual orgies. Brooks still faces trial.

In a written statement, Henley said he stood by while Corll homosexually raped and tortured the youths, then helped kill some of them and dispose of their bodies.

Henley shot Corll during a sex and drug party last Aug. 8 and called police, relating the sordid details and leading officers to bodies.

The defense presented no testimony during the trial but instead limited itself to attacking the credibility of the state's witnesses.

[Photo caption] —Associated Press Wirephoto Elmer Wayne Henley Mass Slayer Plans Appeal

Notes: The scan is very faint and grainy throughout. "including a teen-aged son" is the least certain reading in the article: the hyphen and the first letters are barely visible. Juror Tull's quotation opens with a single quotation mark and closes with a double one; kept as printed. Readability is fair; every other word was legible at magnification, and no [illegible] markers were needed. The photograph is an Associated Press Wirephoto.