Bob Henry- A History of Qualifications

By Bob Henry

Bob Henry has broad experience in both criminal and civil law.

But I specialized in representing the Superintendent of Public Instruction in closing "diploma mills." One of my most famous cases involved the case of Windsor University in South Central Los Angeles. In addition, I tried the first OSHA citation under the state OSHA law involving the construction of Saddleback College.

Moreover, another speciality reserved for me was filing suits against criminals who set up phony businesses, paid into the unemployment insurance fund, fired the fictitious employees, and collected and cashed the checks. I also tried the historic case that held that the mentally retarded who were involuntarily committed by their parents in the minority had the right to a jury trial and redetermination of their commitment status on reaching the age of majority. This was O'Brien v. Superior Court. In addition, toward the end of my tenure in civil, I was also made responsible for the new developmental disabilities persons access law.

In 1978, when I ran for Congress, the Federal Hatch Act was thought to apply to prevent me from running for Congress and staying in the Civil section. The criminal section was eager to get me because the new death penalty law had just passed and it seems that I was always called on to be in the vanguard of new legislation.

As well as doing more than 600 felony appeals since then, more than 50 federal habeas petitions by state prisoners, approximately 5 trials in conflict cases, I have handled approximately 8 death penalty cases at one time or another. My record in direct appeals that I have handled before the California Supreme Court is four wins and no losses, among the highest in the office.

Under Attorney General Lungren, who named me "Deputy of the Year" in 1992, I was one of the two Capital Case Coordinators in Los Angeles. Recently, the California Supreme Court has ordered a return to an Order to Show Cause in the case of In re Anderson Hawthorne, which will be historic as it will be the first California case decided by the California Supreme Court following the decision in the United States Supreme Court in Atkins v. Virginia holding that it violates the Eighth Amendment to execute the mentally retarded. Hawthorne, a Bloods gang leader who pistol-whipped the leader of a Crips gang at the Crips hang-out in front of other Crips and made his getaway only to come back two weeks later and kill two by opening fire at a crowd of them, is claiming to be mentally retarded.

My death penalty cases, although criminal, also require extensive civil type litigation such as discovery, depositions, etc.

In fact, when the Registrar-Recorder belatedly notified me on New Year's Eve that my ballot designation of "State Criminal Prosecutor" would not be allowed on the ballot, I had to re-transition back to my civil days, file a writ of mandate and won it on January 9, 2004.

In addition, I filed a complaint for injunction in the federal district court, for a TRO, as well, on the basis that the statute allowing counties to impose a pro-rata share fee (which amounts to $65,000.00 in Los Angeles) for having a candidate's statement on the ballot violates equal protection by allowing discrimination between candidates in different counties, a basis never pursued before.

As such, I believe my qualifications and experience exceed that of my opponents.