Circuit Court Judge Retiring in Charles

Charles County Circuit Court Judge Christopher C. Henderson, who has served for 12 years, will step down this fall.

In a letter last week to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D), Henderson, 60, said he plans to retire Oct. 30. Although his term does not expire until 2013, the judge said he decided to leave soon after he reached the minimum age under which he can leave with full pension benefits.

"It's time to move on while I still have time to enjoy myself," Henderson said. "I'm done on Oct. 30, and on Halloween I leave for French Polynesia and Australia."

Henderson, who was appointed in 1996 by Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D), is regarded as a fair, methodical judge who has a commanding presence in the courtroom despite his soft-spoken nature. An experienced trial lawyer before being appointed to the bench, he also served on the Charles ethics board and the advisory board for the Cheltenham Youth Facility in Prince George's County.

"He has an astute legal mind as well as extensive practical experience and conducts a jury trial in a very fair and orderly manner," said Rudolf A. Caricco, a La Plata trial lawyer who chairs the county's judicial appointment commission.

Charles Circuit Court Judge Steven G. Chappelle said Henderson was a "brilliant judge" and handled some of the most complex legal issues of the past 12 years.

"He is widely respected in the legal profession and recognized for very scholarly, thoughtful opinions, but he's also a man of the highest integrity," Chappelle said.

In Henderson's best-known trial as a judge, he heard the state's case against James M. Gray, a Calvert County carpenter accused of killing his wife in 1995 because of her plans to divorce him. Gray was accused of beating his wife over the head, shooting her three times and stabbing her in the heart before cutting off five of her fingers and taking her rings.

Henderson sentenced Gray to life in prison in 1998, after the longest criminal trial in county history, but the state Court of Appeals ordered a new trial, faulting a key evidentiary ruling by Henderson. In 2003, Gray was convicted again after a jury deliberated for less than five hours, and Henderson again imposed a life sentence.

"People don't have to cut off fingers if they are a robber or a mugger," Henderson said during the sentencing. "You are the ultimate poster boy for domestic violence."

Caricco and other members of the judicial appointment commission will begin seeking candidates for Henderson's interim replacement and will submit a name to O'Malley before the General Assembly convenes in January.