Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Texas Attorney General Media Advisory

AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott offers the following information about 41-year-old Robert Lloyd Henry, who is scheduled to be executed after 6 p.m. on Thursday, November 20, 2003.

On November 4, 1994, Henry, a Potter County native, was sentenced to die for the September 5, 1993, capital murders of Hazel Rumohr and her daughter Carol Arnold, in Portland, Texas. A summary of the evidence presented at trial follows.

FACTS OF THE CRIME

During the 1993 Labor Day weekend, Robert Lloyd Henry murdered 83-year-old Hazel Rumohr and her daughter, 57-year-old Carol Arnold, in their home at 1820 Portland Drive in Portland. Henry and Arnold's son had been good friends during their teenage years and Henry had regularly visited Arnold's home. Henry maintained contact with the victims through Christmas cards.

Between midnight and 9:00 a.m. on September 5, 1993, Henry entered the victims' home leaving no signs of forced entry. While there, he viciously beat and stabbed both Rumohr and Arnold to death. Rumohr, 83-years-old and physically frail due to age and health problems, suffered multiple stab wounds. In addition to the defense wounds on her hands and arms, Rumohr suffered stab wounds in the neck, back, and chest. The cause of her death was a slashing stab wound to the chest which began near her shoulder, continued through her chest cavity, and punctured her heart.

Henry stabbed and beat Arnold severely about the head and neck. The medical examiner described her face as "entirely bruised" and it was unrecognizable to her neighbor of two and one-half years who identified Arnold by her jewelry and clothing. A rope or cord was attached to Arnold's leg, indicating that Henry intended some sort of bondage. Arnold's cause of death was blunt trauma to the head and brain.

Two months after the murders, Henry walked into the Corpus Christi Police Department to turn himself in to an officer he knew and trusted, E.R. Frobish. Henry told Frobish, "I killed two people in Portland, and I want to turn myself in to you." Henry went on to make other confessions to the double murder, admitting he used a knife and had worn work boots with knobby soles. The soles of Henry's work boots matched bloody foot prints at the crime scene. Henry's oral confessions were substantiated by DNA evidence: Rumohr's blood was found in Henry's car, and Henry's blood was found on the victims' washing machine. The chances of the latter match were 1 in 10,000.

PROCEDURAL HISTORY

July 15, 1994 - Henry was indicted for the capital murders of Hazel Rumohr and Carol Arnold.

November 14, 1994 - Henry convicted and sentenced to death.

October 2, 1996 - The conviction was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

November 6, 1996 - Henry's motion for rehearing is denied.

November 8, 2000 - The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals denied Henry's application for state habeas corpus relief.

July 2, 2002 - The U. S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas denied Henry's petition for writ of habeas corpus.

April 8, 2003 - The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals denied Henry's request for a Certificate of Appealability.

October 14, 2003 - The United States Supreme Court denied certiorari review.

September 23, 2003 - Henry's execution was scheduled for November 20, 2003.

CRIMINAL HISTORY

At the time of the offense, Henry had no previous criminal history.

ProDeathPenalty.com

A San Patricio County jury found Robert Henry guilty of murdering Hazel Rumohr, 83, and her daughter, Carol Lea Arnold, 57. The women were found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a hallway in their Portland home Sept. 5, 1993. One year later, Henry, a friend of Arnold's son, was convicted and sentenced to die.

San Patricio County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan, who prosecuted the case, flatly denied any elicit scheme to convict Henry. "Some death row inmates are concerned with their own peace, getting right with their maker and making comments of remorse," Flanigan said. "Others (like Henry) take the position that they were wrongly convicted." Grant Jones, one of Henry's defense lawyers, also denied any conspiracy. He said he and his co-counsel provided the best defense possible. Jones said the most damning testimony was from a former co-worker who said Henry and he had watched a sadistic and masochistic video the day before Henry went to police about the case. Paul Johnson also testified Henry told him, in tears, that he had "made his own bed and would have to lie in it," according to an October 1994 Caller-Times article.

Some days, Kristy Petersen wakes up and thinks about her 2 slain family members, wanting to see the man convicted of their murders die in the Texas death chamber. Other days, she wants the state to spare the condemned man's life. Petersen, 27, whose grandmother and great-grandmother were murdered in 1993 in Portland, has tried to prepare herself to view the execution Thursday of Robert L. Henry. She said she is convinced of Henry's guilt, even though he has maintained his innocence all along. "I go in and out on if I want to see him executed," said Petersen, who was 17 when the murders occurred. "Today I want him to be executed because I am sick of it messing with my life. I have kids, and they don't understand why mommy is upset. And I can't tell them why mommy is upset." On days when Petersen opposes the execution, she said, the voice in her head tells her, "Whether it was him murdering my grandmother, or the state murdering him, murder is murder."

But for Petersen and her mother, Linda Arnold Callais - Arnold's daughter - the end of Henry might not be the end of their emotional pain. There still is one unanswered question they hope will not die on the gurney with Henry. "We've always had the question, 'Why?'" Callais said. "And if he is still proclaiming his innocence, there will still be no answer to the question." Callais said from her home in Louisiana that she does not expect anything from Henry before she and her daughter attend the scheduled execution. Henry, himself, said last week that he had not put together any words for the family. "I don't know what I could say that'll help them," he said.

Texas Execution Information Center by David Carson.

Robert Loyd Henry, 41, was executed by lethal injection on 20 November 2003 in Huntsville, Texas for the murder of two women in their home.

On the 7 September 1993, the bodies of Carol Arnold, 57, and her mother, Hazel Rumohr, 83 were discovered inside their home in Portland. Both women had been severely beaten and stabbed. Arnold's cause of death was blunt trauma to the head. Rumohr's cause of death was a slashing stab wound across her chest. Arnold's body also had a rope attached to her leg.

Two months after the murders, Robert Henry, then 30, walked into the Corpus Christi police station and turned himself in. He told E. R. Frobish, an officer he knew, "I killed two people in Portland, and I want to turn myself in to you." He said that he killed the women after smoking marijuana. The soles of Henry's boots were matched to bloody footprints left at the crime scene. Rumohr's DNA was found in blood left in Henry's car, and Henry's blood was found inside the victims' home. The time of the murders was estimated as between midnight and 9:00 a.m. on 5 September.

Henry and Arnold's son had been friends during their teenage years, and Henry had regularly visited Arnold's home. He had maintained contact with Arnold and Rumohr over the years through Christmas cards.

At his trial, Henry pleaded innocent, despite his confession. A doctor testifying in his defense said that Henry panicked at the police station and told police whatever he believed would end the questioning quickly. Paul Johnson, a co-worker of Henry's, testified that the day before Henry went to the police, they were watching a video together, and Henry told him, in tears, that he had "made his own bed and would have to lie in it."

The motive behind Arnold and Rumohr's murders was never clear. Prosecutors alluded to a possible connection to a bondage fetish, noting the rope that was found tied to Arnold's leg, plus Johnson's testimony that the video he and Henry watched together was an S&M video.

Henry had no previous criminal history.

A jury convicted Henry of capital murder in November 1994 and sentenced him to death. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed his conviction and sentence in October 1996. All of his subsequent appeals in state and federal court were denied.

In a death-row interview, Henry denied any involvement in the murders. He said that the DNA evidence linking him to the murders was contrived by prosecutors working in tandem with his own lawyer. He also said that he never confessed to the murders, and that the confession that the Corpus Christi police had was manufactured. Henry also refuted Paul Johnson's testimony. "I kind of got suckered through the whole system," he told a reporter. "I've maintained through the whole appeals process that all I need is another shot. If I could have a second trial, I could have torn the case up."

Grant Jones, the lawyer who defended Henry at his trial, denied conspiring against him. Henry said that his work, reviewing accident reports, often took him to the police department, where he said he heard conversations about the slayings. "I started having nightmares," Henry said. "I had a nervous breakdown."

Henry, who had previously been scheduled for execution in April 2002, viewed his upcoming execution as "kind of a relief." He said that he believed in reincarnation and that his spirit would take on another body. However, "I want to stay around," he added. "I've got family and friends. Even if you are in here, you can still see them," Henry said. "Once you're gone, that is pretty much it."

Henry declined to make a last statement at his execution. As the lethal injection was being administered, he smiled and nodded at friends and relatives, then mouthed "bye-bye. I love you. Here I go." He then blew them a kiss and immediately snorted and gasped as the drugs took effect. He was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m.

Henry's execution was the first in Texas in ten weeks, and only the second in four months -- an unusually light schedule in a state where two or three executions per month is more typical. However, five more are currently scheduled for the first two weeks of December.

Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

"Prisoner Condemned for Double Slaying Executed," by Michael Graczyk (AP November 20, 2003)

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The convicted killer of an elderly woman and her daughter at their Corpus Christi-area home was executed Thursday night, the first in the nation's busiest capital punishment state in nearly 2 1/2 months.

Robert Henry, 41, replied, "No sir," when asked by the warden if he had a final statement. In the seconds before the drugs began taking effect, he smiled and nodded toward some friends and relatives watching nearby through a window, then mouthed, "Bye-bye. I love you. Here I go." Then he blew them a kiss and immediately snorted and gasped as the drugs took effect. Eight minutes later, at 6:19 p.m. he was pronounced dead. He never looked at relatives of his two victims, who were watching through another window.

Henry was condemned for the fatal beating and stabbing of Hazel Rumohr, 83, and her daughter, Carol Arnold, 57, more than 10 years ago at their home in Portland, across the bay from Corpus Christi. The U.S. Supreme Court last month refused to review his case and no 11th-hour appeals were filed to try to stop the lethal injection.

Henry, a family acquaintance, confessed to the slaying to a police officer some two months after the killings over the Labor Day weekend in 1993 but subsequently denied involvement in the deaths. "I kind of got suckered through the whole system," he said in an interview last week. "I'm getting a bum rap. You can't avoid it... I'm stuck." The victims were stabbed and slashed with what authorities believed was a survivalist knife. Arnold's face was beaten so badly that a neighbor could not identify her except by jewelry and clothing. "Asking him why would be redundant at this point," said Linda Callais, whose mother and grandmother were killed. "I'm not accepting any answers out of him. ... He couldn't say anything to change my mind or make me feel any better."

Henry was the 22nd convicted killer to receive lethal injection in Texas this year and the first since early September.

The 2 1/2-month hiatus has been the most lengthy pause in capital punishment in Texas in some seven years, although officials say the lull is probably a coincidence. Five more Texas inmates are scheduled to die next month, and at least six more are on the execution calendar for early 2004. While the pace of executions may have slowed somewhat, the number of convicted killers sentenced to die has not. At the same time during the past 2 1/2 months, at least five new capital murder convicts have been sent to Texas' death row, which now houses about 450 inmates.

San Patricio County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan, who prosecuted Henry, said physical evidence tying him to the slayings was overwhelming and included his blood, his boot print at the murder scene and a victim's blood in his car. "When the crime was committed, it sure sent a shock wave through the city of Portland," Flanigan said of the community of about 15,000. "You really don't expect this kind of thing to happen. We all think the big city is where particularly bad stuff is happening."

Henry had been friends with Arnold's son during their teen years and had no previous criminal record. His work, reviewing accident reports for a company that sold the information to physicians, lawyers and others, took him often to the police department where he said he heard conversations about the slayings. "I started having nightmares," Henry said. "I had a nervous breakdown."

Houston Chronicle

"Killer of Mother, Daughter To Die Today; Brutal attack took place 10 years ago."

By MICHAEL GRACZYK, Associated Press (Nov. 20, 2003, 12:07AM)

HUNTSVILLE -- Hazel Rumohr's tombstone carries the engraved image of a clown face. There was nothing funny about her death. Rumohr spent decades bringing joy to people as "Jollypop," a professional clown well known around her hometown of Portland, just across the bay from Corpus Christi.

Over the Labor Day weekend in 1993, at age 83, she was stabbed and slashed repeatedly. The same frenzied attack claimed her daughter, Carol Arnold, 57, who was stabbed and beaten so badly a neighbor could not identify her except for the jewelry and clothing she wore.

A family acquaintance, Robert Henry, was convicted of the double slaying at the Portland home where the mother and daughter lived. He is set to die for it tonight. Henry, 41, would be the 22nd convicted killer to receive lethal injection in Texas this year and the first in about 2 1/2 months.

TheDeathouse.Com

"Killer of Two Women Executed in Texas." (November 20, 2003)

HUNTSVILLE, Tex. - A man who stabbed a mother and daughter to death in their home in 1993 was executed by lethal injection Thursday night at a state prison. Robert Henry, 42, became the 22nd condemned killer put to death in Texas in 2003 - and the first in the state since September 10. Henry did not make a last statement or request a final meal. The lethal injection began at 6:11 p.m. and Henry was pronounced dead eight minutes later.

Turns Self In

Henry had confessed to the Sept. 5, 1993 murders of Carole Lea Arnold, 57, and her mother, Hazel Rumohr. The women were stabbed to death in their home in Portland, Tex. Two months after the murders, Henry turned himself in to Corpus Christi police and confessed. Henry told police he killed the two after smoking marijuana, court documents stated. However, he later claimed he was innocent. DNA evidence matched Rumohr's blood found in Henry's car. Also Henry's blood was found in the victims' home, court documents stated.

False Confession? At trial, Henry pleaded innocent, despite the confession. A doctor who examined him said Henry had an "obsessive-compulsive anxiety disorder, combined with his high intelligence," which led him to fantasize that he was responsible for the murders. The doctor said Henry panicked when police began to interrogate him. The doctor said a panic attack caused Henry to say whatever he believed would end the questioning quickly. The doctor also said that based on Henry's performance of psychological test, Henry was probably not capable of committing the murders. But others who examined Henry disagreed. A psychologist countered that Henry might be capable of murder. And, a psychiatrist expressed doubts that Henry could not remember committing the murders.

National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Robert Lloyd Henry, Texas - Nov. 20, 6:00 PM CST

The state of Texas is scheduled to execute Robert Lloyd Henry Nov. 20, at 6:00 PM CST, for the 1994 murders of Carol Lea Arnold and her mother, Hazel V. Rumohr, in San Patricio county. Mr. Henry, a white man, has no prior history of violence, and surrendered himself to police with a full confession soon after this crime was committed. Mr. Henry has filed claims citing ineffective assistance of counsel, specifically, the failure of his lawyers to challenge questionable testimony concerning his mental health.

There has been considerable attention focused on the quality of defense that Texas provides to its indigent prisoners. Recent studies have found that more than 100 people on death row were represented by court appointed lawyers with state bar disciplinary problems.

Two years ago, Texas legislators passed the Fair Defense Act, which, in theory, ensures fair standards for poor defendants. However, a report issued this month by the Equal Justice Center and the Texas Defender Service found that the “quality of legal representation for poor defendants comes woefully short of national standards….the overwhelming majority of [Texas] counties fail to comply with one or more of the Fair Defense Act’s standards.” Furthermore, the standards themselves do not comply with the recommendations set by the American Bar Association.

Texas has executed 310 people since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. The state has killed 21 people in 2003, and does not offer the sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Please contact Gov. Rick Perry and urge him to stop this execution.

Corpus Christi Times

"Henry, about to die, claims innocence; Relatives of the two Portland women he killed still ask, 'Why?' "

By Tim Eaton (November 16, 2003)

Some days, Kristy Petersen wakes up and thinks about her two slain family members, wanting to see the man convicted of their murders die in the Texas death chamber. Other days, she wants the state to spare the condemned man's life.

Petersen, 27, whose grandmother and great-grandmother were murdered in 1993 in Portland, has tried to prepare herself to view the execution Thursday of Robert L. Henry. She said she is convinced of Henry's guilt, even though he has maintained his innocence all along. "I go in and out on if I want to see him executed," said Petersen, who was 17 when the murders occurred. "Today I want him to be executed because I am sick of it messing with my life. I have kids, and they don't understand why mommy is upset. And I can't tell them why mommy is upset."

On days when Petersen opposes the execution, she said, the voice in her head tells her, "Whether it was him murdering my grandmother, or the state murdering him, murder is murder."

A San Patricio County jury found Henry guilty of murdering Hazel Rumohr, 83, and her daughter, Carol Lea Arnold, 57. The women were found stabbed and bludgeoned to death in a hallway in their Portland home Sept. 5, 1993. One year later, Henry, a friend of Arnold's son, was convicted and sentenced to die.

Henry has run out of appeals in the Texas court system. And still, knowing the exact hour of his almost imminent death, Henry said in a death-row interview last week that he did not kill Rumohr or Arnold. Henry said his lawyers and prosecutors contrived DNA and other evidence linking him to the murders. He said authorities were desperate to convict someone in the months following the murder. He was an easy target, he said.

San Patricio County District Attorney Patrick Flanigan, who prosecuted the case, flatly denied any elicit scheme to convict Henry. "Some death row inmates are concerned with their own peace, getting right with their maker and making comments of remorse," Flanigan said. "Others (like Henry) take the position that they were wrongly convicted." Grant Jones, one of Henry's defense lawyers, also denied any conspiracy. He said he and his co-counsel provided the best defense possible.

Jones said the most damning testimony was from a former co-worker who said Henry and he had watched a sadistic and masochistic video the day before Henry went to police about the case. Paul Johnson also testified Henry told him, in tears, that he had "made his own bed and would have to lie in it," according to an October 1994 Caller-Times article. Henry admitted to a police officer whom he trusted that he had nightmares about the women's deaths. But he never confessed, he said Wednesday from behind a glass partition on death row in Livingston. Instead, Henry said, the police manufactured a confession used against him.

With his thick, salt-and-pepper hair, '50s-era horned-rim glasses and long fingernails, Henry also discounted the testimony of his co-worker during the interview. "I've maintained through the whole appeals process that all I need is another shot," Henry said in slow speech. "If I could have a second trial, I could have torn the case up." Unless the governor steps in, Henry will not get that chance.

But he said he does not expect the governor to step in and has begun to come to terms with death by lethal injection. "There is a sense that things are going to keep going on," Henry said. He added that he believes in reincarnation and that the spirit will take another body. "It's kind of a relief," he said. But he quickly clarified he would rather live and possibly contribute something to society. "I want to stay around. I've got family and friends. Even if you are in here, you can still see them," Henry said. "Once you're gone, that is pretty much it."

But for Petersen and her mother, Linda Arnold Callais - Arnold's daughter - the end of Henry might not be the end of their emotional pain. There still is one unanswered question they hope will not die on the gurney with Henry. "We've always had the question, 'Why?'" Callais said. "And if he is still proclaiming his innocence, there will still be no answer to the question."

Callais said from her home in Louisiana that she does not expect anything from Henry before she and her daughter attend the scheduled execution. Henry, himself, said last week that he had not put together any words for the family. "I don't know what I could say that'll help them," he said.

Huntsville Item

"San Patricio County Man Set to Die for 1993 Double Slaying," By Tori Rowe.

A man convicted of the double murder of his friend's mother and grandmother is scheduled to die this evening by lethal injection inside the Huntsville "Walls" Unit. Barring any last-minute injunctions, Robert Lloyd Henry will become the 22nd inmate executed in Texas this year. He will be the first inmate executed in more than two months, one of the longest stretches without an execution in Texas since the death penalty was reinstated in 1982.

According to information provided by the Texas Attorney General's office, Henry, 41, murdered Hazel Rumohr, 83, and her daughter Carol Arnold, 57, at their Portland, Texas home during the 1993 Labor Day weekend. Arnold's son and Henry had been friends when they were teenagers and Henry had kept in contact with the victims through Christmas cards.

Sometime between the hours of midnight and 9 a.m. on Sept. 5, 1993, Henry entered the victims' home. There were no signs of forced entry. He beat and stabbed both victims to death. Rumohr sustained multiple stab wounds and defense wounds on her hands and arms. She was also stabbed in the neck, back and chest. Her cause of death was determined to be a slashing stab wound beginning near her shoulder which continued through her chest cavity and punctured her heart.

Arnold was stabbed and beat around the head and neck areas. The medical examiner described Arnold's face as entirely bruised, and according to the attorney general's office was unrecognizable to her neighbor of more than two years who had to identify Arnold by her jewelry and clothing. A rope or cord was attached to her leg, indicating a possible intent of bondage. Her cause of death was determined to be blunt trauma to the head and brain.

Two months after the murders, Henry turned himself into the Corpus Christi Police Department stating, "I killed two people in Portland, and I want to turn myself in to you." Details of his confession were substantiated by DNA evidence. Rumohr's blood was found in Henry's car and his blood was found on the victims' washing machine. Henry admitted he used a knife and had worn work boots with knobby soles. His work boots matched bloody footprints found at the crime scene.

Henry was convicted on Nov. 14, 1994, and sentenced to death. He was 30 years old at the time of the murders and had no prior criminal history. The execution is scheduled to take place at 6 p.m.