[IN] Deputy who killed wife Nikki Henderson gets 25 years

Ex-deputy who killed wife gets 25 years
Indianapolis Star
February 14, 2008
A Marion Superior Court judge sentenced a former special deputy to 25 years in prison Wednesday for shooting his wife to death. A jury convicted Ray Spradley, 44, of voluntary manslaughter Jan. 31, rejecting prosecutors' request for a murder conviction. He shot Nikki Henderson 11 times in March 2006, but his attorney argued that Spradley acted in self-defense because Henderson, 29, had physically abused him several times. Spradley faced 20 to 50 years in prison on the manslaughter count. At Wednesday's hearing, Judge Grant Hawkins gave him five years less than the presumptive sentence of 30 years. Spradley, who had been a part-time deputy for the Marion County Sheriff's Department, had a clean criminal record. "I am truly sorry," he said, looking toward Henderson's mother, Patricia Dewalt, who earlier asked the judge for the maximum penalty. "I did not mean for this to happen, and I did not know this was going to happen... I loved your daughter."



Man Sentenced To 25 Years For Wife's Death
Ex-Special Deputy Could Have Received Up To 50 Years
The Indy Channel
February 13, 2008
...Spradley could have been sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for the manslaughter charge; the minimum was 20 years. Had he been convicted of murder, he would have faced a sentence of between 45 and 65 years. Police reports indicated Spradley had called authorities four times to tell them he was being beaten, and he once had a restraining order against Henderson, 29. Henderson was arrested once on suspicion of domestic battery... On the afternoon of the shooting, his attorney said, Spradley had taken a gun away from Henderson. Henderson took the gun back, and Spradley again took it away from her before shooting her 11 times, the attorney said. Henderson and Spradley had been married for about four months when the shooting happened. Spradley was a special deputy at the time. He worked security at the City-County Building.

2006

[police officer involved domestic violence law enforcement fatality fatalities murder indiana self-defense]