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Henry is broke, lawyer claims
Former Bengal wants taxpayers to help pay
By Kimball Perry • [email protected] • July 9, 2008
Despite making about $2.5 million since 2005 as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals, Chris Henry is so broke he wants taxpayers to pay for a trial record.
"He's broke," said Perry Ancona, the former player's attorney. "He doesn't have any money to pay for a transcript."
Ancona filed a motion asking for taxpayers to pay for a written transcript of Henry's trial. Henry was arrested after a March 31 incident and charged with criminal damaging and assault.
A judge threw out the criminal damaging charge, saying Cincinnati prosecutors couldn't prove the allegation. A mistrial was declared last week on the assault charge when jurors couldn't come to a unanimous verdict. Jurors said they voted 6-2 to acquit Henry.
But prosecutors said Tuesday they would retry Henry on the misdemeanor assault charge.
Henry's trial was set for Monday.
Henry, a wide receiver drafted in the third round out of West Virginia University, signed a five-year contract for about $6 million. The contract included annual salaries plus playing-time and other incentives.
He received about $1 million to sign plus an average of just over $500,000 for the first three years. He was to be paid $520,000 this year by the team but the team released him after his arrest.
But Ancona said Henry is destitute.
"He has no funds whatsoever and can't even meet his current obligations," Ancona told the judge.
Henry's $360,000 Florence house - he bought it in 2005 during his rookie year - was auctioned in May when he failed to pay the mortgage.
Henry's SUV was repossessed last month while he was in court.
Henry, who is suspended by the National Football League, was arrested after a March 31 incident in Clifton Heights in which he was accused of punching Gregory Meyer, 18, in the head.
Ancona said in court Tuesday that Meyer tried to "shake down" Henry by asking for $100,000 to make the charges go away.
Prosecutors said they had one extra witness who would testify at a new trial. The witness was unavailable at the first trial because he was out of the country.
The assault charge against Henry carries a maximum sentence of 180 days in jail.
Henry wants to continue a professional football career and needs to be acquitted to do that.
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How fucking sad, Henry is broke as a joke and can't even afford a court transcript because he can't stay out of trouble long enough to collect his paycheck. If I had a job where I could collect $6 million over 5 years and all I had to do was stay out of trouble I sure as hell would be acting like a saint. I guess he spent too much time hanging out with Odell Thurmon. Too bad, the Bengals need all the help they can get. It would have been nice to have Henry this year.
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