Oct. 07-- Prosecutors are asking a federal judge to go forward with a hearing on alleged perjury by convicted former Tulsa Police officer Jeff Henderson during a case that later freed a man from his drug conviction, records filed Friday evening show.
Henderson filed an explanation for his alleged perjury last month under seal.
U.S. District Judge James Payne has not yet addressed a motion filed by defendant Tony Becknell Jr. on Friday seeking to unseal Henderson's explanation -- making the document open to the public.
The perjury allegations arose this summer after Henderson testified as to the name of a previously unidentified informant he said he had used in the investigation that led to a prison sentence for Becknell.
Evidence later showed that the person Henderson identified as the informant could not have been a part of the investigation because he was in the Tulsa Jail during the time period in which Henderson claimed he met with the man.
In the government filing filed Friday evening, prosecutors responded to Henderson's explanation, saying Henderson focuses on calling the alleged perjury an "innocent mistake" and miscommunication during the trial.
Further, prosecutors are arguing that Henderson's explanation focuses on showing that the person he identified was an informant, despite the alleged informant testifying in court that he had never been an informant for police.
"Henderson's efforts to explain the 'facts' demonstrating that the individual was an informant completely miss the point that Henderson unequivocally testified that the individual was the informant in this case," according to the government's filing.
According to the filing, one of the pieces of evidence that would show the person Henderson identified was in fact an informant is the man's internal police report.
Prosecutors quote Henderson's sealed filing claiming that the man was an informant based on police "shorthand" that indicates a person is a police informant because the document states the person "was released pending further investigation."
Prosecutors called the use of "shorthand" concerning, saying the fact that TPD reports are written in a secret code misrepresents the actual state of events, according to the prosecution filing.
Friday's response to Henderson's explanation requests a hearing on the alleged perjury and for Henderson to be held in contempt of court with a sentence to run consecutive to his current sentence.
Henderson was convicted last year on six counts of perjury and two counts of civil rights violations for his role in a police corruption probe. He is serving a 42-month sentence and is assigned to a federal prison in South Dakota, but he is now in the Tulsa Jail due to his role in the Becknell case.
Prosecutors quote from Henderson's explanation saying that he is "truly embarrassed and regrets his testimony."
Jarrel Wade 918-581-8367
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