Jeffrey Henry, the 62-year-old co-owner of Schlitterbahn Waterparks and Resorts who was being held in the Rucker-Carrizales jail on murder and 17 other charges in connection to a Kansas criminal case in the death of a 10-year-old boy waived extradition today and will soon be headed to Kansas.
Henry waived any rights to fight extradition in the 107th state District Court Wednesday afternoon before Magistrate Judge Luis Sorola.
Henry was arrested by U.S. by U.S. Marshals in South Padre Island and booked Monday at Cameron County Rucker-Carrizales corrections facility on three charges: murder, 12 counts aggravated battery and five counts of aggravated child endangerment. He is currently being held without bond.
The extradition hearing was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the man's attorneys petitioned the court to expedite the matter so Henry would not remain behind bars in a culturally strange environment.
Sorrola said he will hear a writ of habeas corpus next Tuesday if Kansas authorities have not picked Henry up.
"This is a Kansas case and we're not going to have the taxpayers of Cameron County footing the bill for Mr. Henry if Kansas is the one who wants him," Sorrola said.
According to the Herald, Henry's lawyer's complained that the Schlitterbahn co-owner wears a colostomy bag that hasn't been changed in three days, which could cause a serious infection. They said Henry has not eaten or had a drink for three days as a precaution. The newspaper reported that Sorrola ordered the Cameron County District Attorney's Office to take him to the doctor and get checked out immediately after the hearing.
By Henry waiving extradition, Kansas has 10 days to come and get him and he will remain in custody until they take custody.
"He has never been in jail before and he speaks no Spanish," said an attorney close to the local defense. "His family would rather that he be close to home where they could be assured of his safety."
The attorney said that upon arriving in the county facility, corrections guards ask inmates for their gang affiliation. That is done, he said, to prevent placing gang members in cells controlled by rival gangs and could result in potentially fatal confrontations.
"This guy is a millionaire," he said. "He doesn't know what's going on in there. We know he doesn't like being in there"
Henry's arrest followed a Kansas grand jury's indictment last week of the Schlitterbahn park in Kansas City, Kansas, and its former operations director, Tyler Austin Miles, on 20 felony charges. The charges include a single count of involuntary manslaughter over the death of Caleb Schwab in 2016. He has been released on a $50,000 bond, according to the AP.
The charge of murder had local attorneys scratching their heads since some elements of the crime such as proximate cause seemed to be missing in the state charges. However, they say that even after the boy's family reached settlements of nearly $20 million with Schlitterbahn and various companies associated with the design and construction of the waterslide, the fact that the boy's father is a Kansas state legislator may have played a role in the filing of the criminal charges by the state's attorney general.
Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt once served in the state legislature as a member of the Kansas Senate in the 15th district with Scott Schwab, the boy's father, who represents the 49th State Rep. District from Overland Park, a suburb in Kansas City.
"While we as a family continue to mourn and heal from Caleb's passing, we wanted to again thank the community of Kansas City for its continued prayers and support," Schwab, said in a statement Tuesday. "Clearly the issues with Schlitterbahn go far beyond Caleb's incident, and we know the attorney general will take appropriate steps in the interest of public safety."
Schlitterbahn spokeswoman Winter Prosapio was quoted in the Kansas Star promised to aggressively fight the criminal charges against Miles and the park, and respond to the allegations in the 47-page indictment "point by point."
"We as a company and as a family will fight these allegations and have confidence that once the facts are presented it will be clear that what happened on the ride was an unforeseeable accident," she said in an emailed statement.
The indictment against Miles and the park alleges that Verruckt ride met few, if any, industry standards and that Miles delayed or avoided necessary repairs, even after the ride's brake system failed.
The indictment also said Henry helped design the giant waterslide even though he had "no technical or engineering credentials" and that he set a "rushed timeline" for its construction.
5 comments:
Not much sense fighting extradition as long as the warrant is valid. The substance of the charge can't be challenged, just the validity of the warrant. They will never make a murder charge on this guy, but they might make negligent homicide or whatever is the Kansas equivalent.
"Culturally Strange", what a hoot! He doesn't like being locked up with a jail full of Mexicans babbling in a strange tongue.
Ahh!!! but they love that money being spent at their facility...no complaint there about being Mexican.
Wrong grasshopper because their values are the same. No clash here.
6:56 AM....If you don't think the Anglos from out of the Valley have difference values in some areas, then you need to expand your travels.
There is indeed a large overlap of cultural values between Anglos and Mexicans, but there are also plenty of non-shared values.
I think the comment was referring to prison not other values outside prison, and your other comment - don't need to be reminded, it is taken for granted...
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