Wilburn Henderson was executed by the State of Arkansas for the murder of Willa Dean O’Neal
According to court documents Wilburn Henderson would rob a furniture store and in the process would shoot and kill the owner Willa Dean O’Neal
Wilburn Henderson was arrested, convicted and sentenced to death
Wilburn Henderson would be executed by lethal injection on July 8 1998
Wilburn Henderson maintained his innocence until his death
Wilburn Henderson Case
Henderson was convicted of the capital murder of Willa Dean O’Neal on February 2, 1982, and was sentenced to death.2 His first trial was declared a mistrial when several jurors admitted they had seen the extensive media publicity about the case. At the second trial, the prosecution presented evidence showing that the victim was found shot to death behind the counter of the furniture store she owned and operated with her husband. The police established she was murdered between 1:40 p.m., when her husband Bob O’Neal, daughter Glenda Fleetwood, and son-in-law Ricky Fleetwood last saw her, and approximately 2:00 p.m., when a mail carrier and several customers discovered the body. The cash register was found open and at least $41 was missing.
A key piece of evidence implicating Henderson was a folded sheet of yellow paper found on the floor of the furniture store.3 The victim’s daughter testified she had not seen the paper there earlier in the day. On the paper were two telephone numbers, the name of a real estate agent, and a description of a lake cabin. Police contacted the real estate agent who stated Henderson had made an appointment to discuss the lake cabin described on the sheet of paper. Henderson did not keep the appointment. This paper was the sole physical evidence connecting Henderson with the scene of the murder.
Henderson, aware he was a suspect, fled to Houston where he was arrested by Houston police. Police by then had discovered that Henderson had taken a .22 caliber pistol out of pawn a few days before the murder, and had returned it after the murder. Ballistics evidence at trial indicated O’Neal was killed by a .22 caliber pistol, but the ballistics expert could not conclusively match the bullet to Henderson’s gun.
Arkansas police traveled to Houston to question Henderson, who confessed he was at the murder scene and claimed he had seen Ollie Brown kill O’Neal. Henderson later recanted the confession and stated he confessed only because he feared the police would harm him. At trial, Henderson testified that he was in Springdale, Arkansas, at 12:00 noon the day of the murder and could not possibly have driven to the murder site in Fort Smith in time to commit the murder. His alibi was corroborated by Selena Henderson, his wife at the time, who claimed to have been with him in Springdale on that day. Henderson explained that he must have dropped the yellow sheet of paper when he was shopping in the O’Neals’ store a few days before the murder.
Based on this evidence the jury found Henderson guilty of the murder. At the penalty phase, Henderson’s mother testified that he was a loving son, and another witness testified that he had been doing good Christian work while in jail. Defense counsel presented no other mitigating evidence. The jury sentenced him to death.
https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/926/706/258368/
