HIAWASSEE – Before a trial date can be set in State of Georgia v. Kenneth Henderson, the Towns County Courthouse is hosting five days of pre-trial motion hearings that began on Monday and are expected to conclude by Friday, July 31.
Among the issues to be decided is whether suspended Towns County Sheriff Ken Henderson has immunity from criminal prosecution for his actions leading up to and including the Dec. 13, 2024, arrest of Hiawassee Police Officer José Carvajal.
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If the judge grants Henderson’s immunity motion, the case goes away.
As with the original indictment that was dismissed over a potentially improperly empaneled grand juror, Henderson’s defense team has also filed a motion to quash the superseding indictment that was handed up by a Towns County Grand Jury on May 19.
The contested grand juror issue has been resolved, but like the first motion to quash, the defense is arguing that the second grand jury “was unlawfully selected and constituted” based on certain uses of a third-party vendor in the grand juror selection process.
Henderson’s attorneys are also accusing the prosecution, led by specially appointed District Attorney Pro Tempore Frank Wood of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, of having “improperly instructed the grand jurors on the law applicable to the charges alleged in the presentment.”
After reviewing a transcript of the grand jury proceedings, the defense believes Wood, in a “confusing manner,” incorrectly “advised” grand jurors by reading lengthy code sections that were irrelevant to the charged crimes, thereby depriving Henderson of his due process rights.
For these perceived procedural defects, the defense is asking that the judge toss the superseding indictment.
The state has several outstanding motions to be decided as well, including a motion for a change of venue to try Henderson outside of his home jurisdiction of Towns County.
Most venue change requests are filed by defendants in Georgia, as state law provides judges with broader discretion to decide such matters for people accused of crimes. Prosecutors, on the other hand, must meet distinct requirements before being granted a venue change.
There are two requirements for a venue change by prosecutors, only one of which must be met, and Wood argues that both have been satisfied.
The first is recusal by the elected district attorney for the county in which crimes have been alleged; Enotah Circuit District Attorney Jeff Langley recused himself in July 2025 citing conflicts of interest, as he oversees cases investigated by the Towns County Sheriff’s Office.
Secondly, Wood believes “an impartial jury cannot be obtained in the county where the crime is alleged” because Henderson “has publicly released information prejudicial to the administration of justice which has the potential to have tainted the local jury pool.”
Wood references three front-page news items previously published in the Towns County Herald: an article for which Henderson provided comments; an editorial authored by Henderson himself; and an article featuring comments by one of Henderson’s defense attorneys.
“These public releases by a sitting (and now suspended) local government official are prejudicial to the administration of justice and have a high potential to taint the local jury pool in a small county where the Defendant served as the elected Sheriff from 2021 until his suspension,” the state’s motion reads.
Continuing, “The statements go beyond a mere defense; they affirmatively accuse the prosecution and state officials of misconduct and a vendetta, creating an atmosphere of community bias against the State.”
If venue change is granted, the case will be transferred “to another nearby county/judicial circuit where a fair and impartial jury can be obtained,” as presented in Wood’s motion.
Henderson’s attorneys have filed a motion in opposition to venue change, leaning on Georgia law, state and federal constitutional law, as well as case law to argue the state has not met the burden of proof showing that an impartial jury cannot be obtained in Towns County.
There are also outstanding motions on both sides to decide whether certain testimony will be admitted at trial, including statements made by the sheriff and others before and after the alleged offenses.
Henderson has pleaded not guilty to the seven charges in this case, including three counts of violation of oath by a public officer, false imprisonment, and false imprisonment under color of law – five felonies.
He is facing two misdemeanor charges as well: simple battery, and simple battery on a police officer.
The suspended sheriff was arrested earlier this month in an entirely separate GBI investigation alleging that he illegally wrote himself a check for $17,000 out of a Sheriff’s Office bank account. The theft case is awaiting the indictment process.
