United States v. Henry

Facts

The Janaf Branch of the United Virginia Bank/Seaboard National in Norfolk, Va., was robbed in August 1972. Witnesses saw two men wearing masks and carrying guns enter the bank while a third man waited in the car. Henry was eventually arrested as the suspect by government agents in Atlanta in 1972. Two weeks later he was indicted for armed robbery. He was held pending trial in the Norfork city jail. Counsel was appointed. Shortly after Henry was incarcerated, Government agents working on the Janaf robbery contacted one Nichols, an inmate at the Norfolk city jail, who for some time prior to this meeting had been engaged to provide confidential information to the FBI as a paid informant. Nichols was then serving a sentence on local forgery charges. At Henry’s trial, Nichols testified that that Henry described to him the details of the robbery. The jury was not informed that Nichols was a paid Government informant. On the basis of this testimony, Henry was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 25 years.