Attorneys for Schlitterbahn’s Jeff Henry ask judge to suppress statements, drugs
Attorneys for Jeff Henry, a co-owner of Schlitterbahn water parks, are asking a Johnson County judge to suppress statements he allegedly made to police, as well as drugs recovered during a pending criminal case.
During a brief hearing Tuesday afternoon, Johnson County Judge Thomas Kelly Ryan heard testimony from one of the officers who responded last year to a hotel room where police found Henry with two women, one whom has been described as a victim of human trafficking, as well methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.
The judge previously ruled that there was probable cause that Henry possessed meth with the intent to distribute, illegally possessed prescription drugs and drug paraphernalia, and bought sex.
Police said one of the women was brought to the hotel for sex with Henry, and that he allegedly paid for it with $240 and 10 passes to the Schlitterbahn water park.
Merriam police officer Gerry Eickhoff testified Tuesday that when he responded on the evening of July 13, 2018, to the Drury Inn at 9009 Shawnee Mission Parkway, he saw Henry sitting at a desk in the back corner of the room looking at papers. Officers had been called there after guests and management complained about a man pounding on the door of a hotel room for about an hour.
The officer said he tried to engage Henry in small talk.
“But he was not very talkative,” Eickhoff said.
Henry’s attorney contend officers entered the hotel room without any legal basis and unlawfully detained Henry inside. The defense has claimed the officers failed to properly provide Henry with his Miranda rights when he was being questioned.
Eickhoff testified Henry never asked to leave the room, but would not have been allowed to if he had. The officer, whose role was securing the scene, said he didn’t read Henry his Miranda rights.
In court filings, Assistant District Attorney William Hurst said the officers were not required to read Henry his rights because he was not in custody at the time. Hurst asked the judge to deny the motion.
In another motion to suppress the drug evidence, defense attorney Christopher Brown cited a police officer as testifying that, before she conducted some interviews in the case, Henry appeared to be “just minding his own business” in the room.
Henry’s attorney has previously questioned another officer about how she entered the room, whether Henry’s rights were explained to him and to what extent evidence recovered was tested for DNA.
Ryan did not rule on the motion. Another hearing was set for Sept. 27.
Henry has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The pending charges came at a troubling time for Henry. He had been in Kansas City, Kansas, for a court hearing the day before on criminal charges in connection to a case in Wyandotte County in which he was accused of recklessness in the death of a 10-year-old boy on the Verruckt water slide in Kansas City, Kansas.
The indictment against Henry in the Verruckt death case was dismissed by a Wyandotte County judge who ruled that the Kansas attorney general had shown a grand jury improper evidence.
This story was originally published September 3, 2019 at 5:46 PM.
