Another abortionist jailed for murder: DeHenre murder verdict in wife slaying stands

High Court upholds DeHenre conviction
Ex-Laurel doc will spend 20 years behind bars
By Charlotte Graham, 7-2-2010

LAUREL — While most Americans will celebrate freedom this Independence Day, Jones County Assistant District Attorney J. Ronald Parrish’s celebration will include a lot more.

Parrish will celebrate the fact that a local physician who was found guilty of manslaughter in January 2008 for the shooting death of his wife failed in an attempt to win his freedom.

In a 5-4 vote Thursday, the Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the 20-year sentence of Dr. Malachy DeHenre. The physician, a Nigeria native, was found guilty of manslaughter during his second trial for the shooting death of his wife, Nayasha, at the couple’s Laurel residence on Jan. 23, 1997. DeHenre’s first trial ended in a mistrial, with an 11-1 vote by the jury for acquittal.

“I learned that at 1:30 p.m. today, the Mississippi Supreme Court, confirmed the conviction of Dr. Malachy DeHenre in the killing of his wife,” said Parrish. “No case I’ve handled since I’ve been here gives me as much gratification as this one.

“The man is a despicable nasty person,” added Parrish. “He not only killed his wife, that’s what he was convicted for, but I think people need to know about him. He also killed two other women during botched abortion. One was in Alabama and one in Jackson, Miss. And according to him, he performed 30,000 abortions on unborn children.”

According to a Dec. 15, 2006 LL-C article, DeHenre had his license to practice medicine in Alabama suspended for malpractice after an Alabama woman died as a result of an abortion DeHenre performed on her there in 2003.

Also, DeHenre’s New Woman Medical Center, an abortion facility in Jackson, was closed in 2005. In December 2005, Hinds County Circuit Judge Winston Kidd required DeHenre to pay $500,000 in damages to a woman who was injured in a failed abortion. And in March 2005, the Mississippi state medical board suspended his medical license over botched abortions.

“On my way home one day, I stopped and picked up a newspaper,” said Parrish. “That’s something I usually don’t do, but it was different this day.

“There was (DeHenre’s) big smiling face and a story that said he was getting his medical license back. I wondered why this guy was running around here free, especially after the horrific way he killed his wife who I have heard nothing but praises about.

“The day I saw and read that article was a bad day for him,” added Parrish.

Parrish said he came back to work the next day and obtained the files for the case. He looked at all of his options and discovered that he could re-open the case. He searched the files night and day and as the old adage goes, the rest is history.

“There was enough evidence there to merit a new trial,” said Parrish. “He thought he had gotten away with this despicable crime, but I was determined not to let him get away with it.”

In his appeal, DeHenre said his 2008 trial should have been halted after a prospective juror called him an abortionist. He argued that a mistrial should have been declared during jury selection because of the abortionist remark.

According to court records, the unidentified prospective juror told the court “every man is entitled to a fair trial, but when DeHenre left here he became an abortionist.” The juror was dismissed from the courtroom.

Although DeHenre’s attorneys asked for a mistrial, Jones County Circuit Judge Billy Joe Landrum refused the request after getting an agreement from other jurors that they would not be biased against DeHenre because of the juror’s statement. Following the guilty verdict, DeHenre’s attorneys decided to appeal the conviction.

In its decision to reject DeHenre’s appeal, the Court stated that “a trial court may declare a mistrial for misconduct that substantially and irreparably prejudices a party’s case…in this case, a prospective juror referred to the defendant, Dr. Malachy DeHenre, as an abortionist. We must decide whether this isolated statement required a mistrial. We find it did not.

“Any harm caused by the statement was reparable, and the trial court took immediate action to cure any potential prejudice,” the Court concluded.

Although not all justices did not vote to uphold the conviction, Parrish said he is simply delighted that the majority ruled in his favor.

“I feel a whole lot better now knowing that he will remain behind bars, hopefully for the entire 20 years,” said Parrish. “But if he doesn’t stay behind bars the whole time, I have consolation in knowing that when he gets out he will be handcuffed and shipped back to Africa where he came from.

“This man was in the country illegally,” he said. “I’m just so proud of the five justices who stood up to the plate and did what was right.

“It’s a happy Fourth of July!” said Parrish.

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FROM PREVIOUS NEWS STORIES:

Abortion doctor accused of killing wife

On December 15,2006, the Hattiesburg American reported in an article, (Doctor pleads not guilty to killing his wife ), that abortionist Malachy DeHenre was arrested after a new indictment accused him of shooting his wife, Dr. Nyasha DeHenre, in the head in their Laurel home in 1997. At his first trial in 1999, the jury voted 11-1 to acquit him, resulting in a hung jury.

According to a WDAM News 7 news report, (Doctor to face 2nd trial for wife’s slaying: 12-18-2006), DeHenre is also being charged with the rape of a then 21-year-old patient when he was practicing at the Family Health Care Center in 1992.

DeHenre has a long history of trouble in his performance of abortions and treatment of women. He performed abortions in Alabama before he lost his license to practice in that state, according to a Washington Post story , (Alabama Abortion Clinic to Stay Shut: 6-15-2006).

The Post reported that DeHenre formerly worked for the Summit abortion clinic in Alabama which, was closed in 2006 after state inspectors found them dispensing RU-486 without a doctor present. The article says that in December of 2004, the Medical Licensure Commission of Alabama indefinitely suspended the license of Malachy M. DeHenre. The commission ruled that DeHenre’s conduct in four cases from 2000 to 2003 was “immoral, unprofessional or dishonorable” and that he endangered his patients through “gross malpractice.”
In March of 2005, DeHenre’s license was indefinitely suspended by the Mississippi Medical Board. It had been temporarily suspended in 2004 after one of DeHenre’s Alabama abortion patients died. A 2004, Clarion Ledger report entitled, Abortion death cited in action against doctor Ala. suspends license of Jackson abortion practitioner, reveals that the Alabama State Board of Medical Examiners found that the patient was discharged from Summit Medical Center 20 minutes after having an abortion on Nov. 25, 2003. Less than six hours later, her husband contacted the medical center and reported that his wife had abdominal pain and a low temperature.

She was taken by ambulance to a Birmingham hospital, where she died. She sustained an unrecognized uterine perforation during the abortion, the board said. “Subsequent hemorrhagic shock led to her ultimate demise,” according to the board’s report to the licensure commission.

According to the Clarion Ledger, (Suspended doc: Didn’t like doing 35,000 abortions: 3-18-2005), after his suspension in Mississippi, DeHenre said that he did not like performing some 35,000 abortions, but did so because he needed the work. “I ask for your forgiveness,” Dehenre said. “I don’t want to be an outcast. I want to be among the medical community.” The Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure told the press that they received “more than one complaint, ” in the case.

After DeHenre’s 2006 arrest he was denied his bond request and will be held in the Jones County Adult Detention Facility in Ellisville until his trial, which will likely be held in the spring of 2007.