Bio 

James Lee Henderson was born on March 12, 1973. Texas Department of Criminal Justice records list him as being from Sevier County, Arkansas. He had 11 years of education and worked as a laborer before his capital murder conviction. Before the murder of Martha Lennox, Henderson had a prior criminal record. TDCJ records state that he was convicted in Oklahoma in 1990 for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and sentenced to seven years, then paroled in 1992.

In October 1993, Henderson was 20 years old. He was associated with Willie Pondexter, Deon Williams, and Ricky Bell. Court records state that Henderson and Pondexter were members of the “107 Hoovas,” which was described as part of the Crips gang. The group targeted Martha Lennox, an 85-year-old woman living in Clarksville, Texas. She lived in a home at 601 West Broadway. The men planned to rob her, steal her Cadillac, and drive to Dallas.

Henderson was later convicted of capital murder for his role in Lennox’s death. He was originally sentenced to death, but decades later his sentence was changed to life imprisonment after courts reconsidered his claim of intellectual disability.

Murder Story

On the night of October 28, 1993, James Lee Henderson, Willie Pondexter, Deon Williams, and Ricky Bell decided to break into the home of 85-year-old Martha Lennox in Clarksville, Texas. Their plan was to rob her, steal her Cadillac, and travel to Dallas. The group went to Lennox’s home, kicked open the door, and went upstairs. Pondexter had a gun, but Henderson told him to hand it over. Henderson entered first with the gun and fired a shot through Lennox’s bedroom door.

After the men entered the bedroom, Williams took seven dollars and some change from Lennox’s wallet. Henderson then shot Lennox in the head. He handed the gun to Pondexter, who also shot Lennox in the head. The medical examiner later testified that both gunshot wounds were fatal and that either wound could have caused her death. After the robbery and murder, the group drove Lennox’s Cadillac to the home of Pondexter’s cousin. Court records state that they celebrated the theft and murder. They later drove the stolen Cadillac to Dallas.

In Dallas, Henderson and Williams committed another robbery against several young Mexican men. Police later stopped Lennox’s Cadillac and arrested Pondexter and Bell. Henderson and Williams fled on foot, but Williams was later caught. A short time later, Henderson saw Lennox’s Cadillac being towed and called 911 to report that the car had been stolen. When police responded, Henderson was arrested. He had the murder weapon in his possession.

Deon Williams testified against Henderson at trial. Williams had been 16 at the time of the murder and entered a plea agreement to a reduced charge of murder in exchange for his testimony. He said that after the killing, Henderson and Pondexter talked about the murder and used gang-related language. Williams also testified that while he and Henderson were later housed together in county jail, Henderson said he shot Martha Lennox because she was looking at him in a disrespectful way.

Henderson was convicted of capital murder in 1994 and sentenced to death. His appeals continued for many years. In 2002, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that people with intellectual disability cannot be executed. Henderson later raised an Atkins claim. For years, courts rejected or limited relief on that claim. In 2017, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Moore v. Texas that Texas had used improper standards in evaluating intellectual-disability claims in death penalty cases. Henderson’s case was later reconsidered under that ruling.

On April 15, 2020, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted relief on Henderson’s intellectual-disability claim. The court reformed his sentence from death to life imprisonment. TDCJ later listed him as no longer on death row, with his sentence commuted to life on June 23, 2020.