(MONTGOMERY)–Attorney General Luther Strange announced the indictment Friday of Jefferson County’s district attorney-elect, Charles Todd Henderson, on a felony perjury charge. Henderson surrendered this afternoon at the Jefferson County Jail.
Attorney General Strange’s Special Prosecutions Division presented evidence to a special grand jury in Jefferson County, resulting in Henderson’s indictment. This action was taken following an investigation by the Attorney General’s Office on information received from the Alabama State Bar in December of 2016.
Henderson is charged with one count of perjury under Code of Alabama §13A-10-101, which is a class C felony. Specifically, the indictment charges that Henderson did swear falsely and gave a false statement material to a proceeding before Judge Patricia Stephens in the case of Charbel Akl v. Yareima Carmen Valecillos Akl on September 26, 2016.
No further information about the investigation or about Henderson’s alleged crime other than that stated in the indictment may be released at this time.
If convicted, Henderson faces a maximum penalty of one year and one day to 10 years, and a fine of $15,000.
Furthermore, Code of Alabama §12-17-188 provides the following: “When it shall be made known to any court that an indictment is pending therein against the person who is acting as district attorney of the county in which the court is held, the court shall make an order suspending such district attorney. The district attorney so suspended shall not act as district attorney until such order of suspension shall be set aside.” The presiding judge of the Jefferson County Circuit Court will appoint a temporary replacement after he is officially sworn into office on January 17.
