Christian Circuit Court Judge Andrew Self granted a motion to dismiss the second-degree manslaughter indictment in an overdose death case after hearing testimony from Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Boling Monday morning.
On Friday, Seth Henderson’s defense attorney, Olivia Adams, presented arguments that Boling had falsified his testimony specifically about text messages pertaining to her client to the grand jury. She called two detectives with the Christian County Sheriff’s Department who testified during the hearing, and everyone agreed the text messages presented to the grand jury by Boling did not involve Henderson before the overdose death. Judge Self said before making his ruling he wanted to hear from Boling and he set a hearing for Monday morning.
During Monday morning’s hearing, Adams asked Boling direct questions about the testimony he provided to the grand jury. Boling admitted he didn’t look at the discovery page by page because it was Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jared Smith’s case. Boling also said in hindsight that it probably would have been more appropriate to indict Henderson for drug trafficking than manslaughter.
click to download audioAfter hearing arguments from Adams and Smith and based on testimony from the detectives and a review of the grand jury tape, Judge Self granted the motion to dismiss the indictment and found that Boling had provided false or misleading information to the grand jury that led to the indictment.
click to download audioHenderson was indicted on a charge of second-degree manslaughter in connection to the overdose death of 23-year old Corbin Bowling in January of 2021.
The co-defendant in this case, Joshua Long, was sentenced to three years in February after he pled guilty as part of a plea agreement with the Commonwealth that required him to testify against Henderson during his trial set for next month. After Monday morning’s ruling, Judge Self vacated Henderson’s trial date.