Wild details about what Eugene “Big U” Henley has been up to behind bars have been revealed as the U.S. government requests to keep him detained instead of going to his son’s funeral.
In a request to the judge in his RICO case, U.S. attorneys argue that Big U is too dangerous to be freed for a day while he is currently detained pending trial.
“Ultimately, the defendant's release — for any amount of time — creates far too great a risk to justice in this case, and to human life,” reads the document obtained by Complex. “Defendant should remain detained for the safety of the community and the victims and witnesses to his crime.”
In the government’s argument about why he should remain behind bars, the extent of the rules that Big U has violated behind bars were revealed to the judge. One major issue was his phone usage. Attorneys claim that Big U used other inmates’ numbers and accounts to make hundreds of calls in violation of prison rules.
In most of the calls, inmates would verify their voices before handing Big U the phone to use as he saw fit. To further beat the system, attorneys allege that Big U told callers not to greet him using traditional Islamic phrases.
The majority of the illicit calls, prosecutors explain, were to his girlfriend — not to his wife. Calls to his spouse, they noted, were always made on his personal account, not via other inmates.
On some of the calls to his girlfriend, Big U apparently discussed how to thwart jail mail policies so he could receive illicit photos. He’d also engage in phone sex with her. In addition, they came up with a "scheme" where she would sign up for a single paralegal class, so she could be eligible to visit him in custody.
There were non-romantic reasons for the calls as well, prosecutors continue. They say Big U used "coded communications" to discuss, among other things, sending messages to his co-defendants who are free until trial; demanding that "no one in the case be allowed to plead guilty" unless he does; getting in touch with a confidential informant in the case; and planning to pay six figures to hire lawyers, investigators, and paralegals — despite having a court-appointed attorney.
This news about Big U’s actions comes as he waits for a judge to rule if he can attend and participate in the Islamic burial rites of his 34-year-old son, Jabari Henley, who was murdered on Halloween. The hearing to decide whether he will be able to attend is taking place on Monday (Nov. 17).
In Big U’s application to the court to appeal for compassion, his attorney wrote that, “The death of one’s child represents an unparalleled human tragedy. The opportunity to attend and participate in the funeral rites is not merely a matter of personal preference, but a fundamental expression of human dignity.”
Big U is currently being held in pre-trial detention at MDC in Los Angeles.