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Tom Henry to See Parole Board Again

Tom Henry to See Parole Board Again

large-book-image-bg-thumbnailI stopped writing blogs last year, when I returned to work after my business non-competition agreement had run its course. My last blog was May 3, 2013, announcing last year’s rejection of Henry’s parole application. I’m still too busy to resume writing blogs – although I’m seriously considering beginning my next book project – but this blog I must write because Henry is about to see the parole board again. In three days, in fact, on Thursday.

A little background: Henry has been seeing the parole board—actually, the IPRB (Illinois Prisoner Review Board)—for nearly twenty years. He was first eligible after completing eleven-and-a-fraction years of incarceration. After his first appearance, he then saw the parole board every three years. Back then, the parole board was allowed to choose a one, two or three year time interval between parole board hearings. That interval is colloquially known as a “set” in prison argot. They always gave him the longest possible set—three years—because he hadn’t done enough time to pay for his horrible crime.

Fast forward to last year’s parole hearing, which was Henry’s sixth. Although he was ultimately rejected for parole, just like each time before, it wasn’t quite like each time before. For one thing, Henry had done 30 years of incarceration and had reached the age of 65. That’s a long time. You can’t commit a crime as an adult, do 30 years, and have much life left—especially if you took a 13-year fugitive vacation from incarceration!

The main difference in last year’s parole board hearing from the five before it was the result. Yes, it was still a rejection, but for the first time in six hearings he got, not one, but two votes in favor of parole. He’d never gotten even one before! And, in a year when a change in the law allowed the parole board to set him longer—up to five years now—they decided to review his case in one year, the shortest time possible.

A meteorologist, therefore, might have described last year’s result as cloudy and drizzling, but no longer pouring, with a forecast of sun poking through thinning clouds.

For each time of the last two parole hearings, Northwestern Adjunct Law Professor Alan Mills has appointed student(s) to assist Henry through the process. The first time the student, Richard Robinette, now an IP attorney at Alston & Bird LLP in Dallas, did a fabulous job; the second time was a pair I won’t name because, well … not so much. I won’t bore you with the disgusting details, because you can read them in my blog of 2013/03/24. This year, once again, Attorney Mills came through with two law students, this time two great ones, Ariel Simon and Andrea Ryken, who have been fantastically caring and helpful to Henry in his parole board preparation.

I apologize for not contributing blogs during the past year and I thank you for your patience.

Regards,

David Hendricks
www.authorhendricks.com

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2013 Parole Decision for Tom Henry

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

Last evening I got a text from Thomas Elliott, Henry’s oldest son, saying “Dad got two votes and a one year set. Dick and Rose are headed to see Dad now.”

“Well, that’s bad news but with good news mixed in,” I replied. “It’s always been a three-year set, except for last time, which was two years, so little by little …”

The rules are that the Illinois Prisoner Review Board (IPRB) can either approve or deny parole. If they deny, they also decide how long before the applicant can reappear. In prison slang, that time period is referred to as a “set.” Henry’s longest possible set is three years. In his many previous parole board appearances, they have always voted unanimously against parole and given him a three year set except for the last time when they also voted unanimously against but gave him a two-year set. This time, apparently, there were two votes in his favor and they gave him a one-year set.

I did a Google search seeking confirmation, but found none. I decided to wait until a newspaper published the decision to blog the information so I could be sure of my facts. This morning a new search revealed an article by Tom Collins of the Illinois Valley News Tribune, who wrote the following:

A double-murderer serving a life sentence was denied parole Thursday — but left his hearing with a couple of votes in support of release, a first for him.

Henry Hillenbrand, 65, is serving 240-year and 150-year sentences for a pair of 1970 murders in Streator. Hillenbrand has stood for numerous parole hearings but never got a single vote in favor of release — until now.

Thursday, the Illinois Prisoner Review Board voted 9-2 against release, marking the first time Hillenbrand gleaned any support for parole. He will be up for parole again in 2014.

I’m sure Tom Henry would want me to thank those of you who wrote him and who prayed for him regarding his parole hearing.

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Where to Buy Tom Henry

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

For months we’ve been struggling to make my book as available as possible. As of yesterday another piece fell into place when Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer became available on Apple’s iTunes store. So now, when you click on the “Buy the Book” link anywhere on my website, www.authorhendricks.com, you’ll be presented with a menu of selections.

If you want to download the ebook, you can do so from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, iTunes, Smashwords, and Kobo. Whether you have a Kindle, Nook, Sony, or any other kind of electronic reader, there are choices available for you. No matter which you choose, the price will be $2.99.

If you’d rather hold a printed book in your hands, you can purchase the paperback from Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and diesel eBook Store. The paperback price is $11.99, but it sells at prices ranging from $8.98 to $11.99. I don’t understand their pricing algorithms, but I’m pleased when vendors choose to discount my book.

If you’re one who likes to try before you buy, you can read part of the book for free on your computer or e-reader. From www.authorhendricks.com you can download the first 50+ pages in Kindle, Nook (ePub) or PDF formats. That free download begins with the Forward. Or, you can sample the book for free from Amazon. Just go to their page where Tom Henry is offered and click on “Send Sample now.” It’s been a while since I looked at it, but I believe their sample starts with Chapter One and extends farther into the book.

There is still no audio book of Tom Henry available, but the writing of this very blog was interrupted by a phone call from a professional book performer, who will send me follow-up information. So we’ll see what the future holds in that regard.

I’m still waiting on news of the results of Henry’s recent Parole Board hearing. I’ll let you know what I know when I know it.

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Henry’s Parole Hearing from his Perspective

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

I found a letter from Tom Henry in our mailbox this weekend. Here’s what he wrote:

3-21-13

David,

This date is a memorable one. Where do I begin? Let’s start on March 20th. I had a visit from Rosie and Richard (his sister and her husband). Rosie said that neither of the law students have contacted her by phone or email. So she said we’re going to drive around tonight and see if we can locate them at a motel. Rosie had their names because I sent them to her. They didn’t find them anywhere.

Thursday morning. The parole hearing was scheduled for 9:00. I was taken to North 2 Cell House around 8:20. About 9:12 I was taken to an area with a desk and a woman named Ms. Donovan put down my file and said to the officer, “we’ll be needing four more chairs.”

She asked the officer to call out to the Electric Eye and have Hillenbrand’s visitors escorted in. He made the call and said a Richard and Rosemary Anderson are on the way in. She told him there should be four visitors, and she told him the names of the two law students. “I’m not going to proceed with this hearing without Hillenbrand’s counsel,” she said. She went to the wall phone and told someone on it to hold Hillenbrand’s visitors and to ask at the Electric Eye if the two law students were signed in. “No,” was the answer.

Around 9:40 she asked me if I know of any reason or have been notified that they wouldn’t be attending. “None whatsoever,” I said. I’m upset myself but doing my darndest not to show it. She says, “We’ll give them some more time and if they don’t show  I’ll continue this hearing to April’s docket.”

So she’s sitting there and I’m sitting there. I’m bored because I don’t have any activity I can do to pass the time. On the other hand, she has my jacket (thick folder with pockets) and opens it and commences reading papers and letters from the right side of it. That got my follicles to stand up under the skin on my bald spot, because the right side contains the petitions against me, letters from the state’s attorney, and letters of protest.

The only view I had was her facial expressions as she read one after another. She was very professional and didn’t comment about them. I’m thinking of all the negative things she’s reading, but I know when she reads the stuff on the left side it will change her thoughts somewhat about the inmate sitting across from her. She closes the folder and diverts her attention back to calling on the phone to inquire about the law students, if by chance they might have called.

She’s standing after getting off the phone talking to the security officer. All this time while I’m sitting there officers and counselors are going back and forth behind me. Some know her and are talking to her, but the distance is far enough I can’t make out that they’re saying.

She returns and sits down and says she’s been to Starved Rock, that she interviewed Chuck Weger at a parole hearing, and before she presented her case to the other members at the en banc hearing she drove to Starved Rock and, using the book, went into the lodge where he worked as a cook and then walked down the trail and went inside the cave where the three women were raped and killed.

She was a defense lawyer and doesn’t use a tape recorder. She takes notes using shorthand. She said she enjoyed doing a lot of her own investigative work. She wants to feel whatever decision she makes when she votes that it is the right one. “I have a responsibility and I take it seriously,” she said. Then she said she read the two C-number prisoners’ books. “I’m an avid reader,” she said. I said, “that way you get the whole picture of things. I seen you reading all those letters in the right side of the folder. I’m waiting for you to read the ones on the left.” She assured me she knows what’s in there and will be going over them.

So more time elapsed and she says, “there’s never been a time that any of Alan Mills’ students never showed up and didn’t even call, like today. I myself can’t contact them. It’s up to you to find out why. I’ll continue this to next month’s docket. It won’t be me, ‘cause I’m not scheduled to come to Menard in April.”

Then she said, “Henry, there’s been mention about a book that’s been written about you. I will be reading it.”

“Miss Donavan,” I said, “I don’t know what kind of grade these law students are getting this semester, but I’m giving them an “F”. They failed me by not calling me after our visit here, not contacting my sister or calling down here letting us know they’re not coming. You know when you’re in court if you feel like your lawyer’s not doing a good job you can just fire him? Is there some paper we can draw up here to make a record that I no longer want their assistance?

“It’s up to you alone to make that choice,” she said.

“Let’s start writing,” I said. (I figure if I get it postponed till next month there’ll be another parole board member here. Ms. Donavan has already read everything in my jacket. She’s been waiting all this time to do her job. Plus, I’m not letting someone who was a defense lawyer get away and possibly get an ex-state’s attorney.)

She instructed the officer to have my visitors escorted in. They came in and we had the hearing. At the conclusion she said to Rosie, “I want to get to the bottom of why those law students didn’t attend.” She gave Rosie her business card and said, “when you contact them and find out, let me know.” Then she closed the file and turned to me and said, “I’ll be reading Tom Henry soon.”

 

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Parole Hearing for Henry Hillenbrand

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

Tom Henry’s parole hearing was scheduled for last Thursday, March 21. Before I tell you what I know about how it went, let me start with a dark joke. (Yes, your Honor, it’s relevant.)

Question: What do you call the guy who graduates from medical school with the lowest grades in his class?

Answer: Doctor

That said, let me tell you a little about the two Northwestern University law students working on Henry’s Parole Hearing. Both were assigned to assist Henry with his parole hearing by the legal director of the Chicago Uptown People’s Law Center, Alan Mills, a Northwestern adjunct Professor. Alan Mills is a prince among men, standing up for the poor and disenfranchised, doing pro bono work for justice for those unjustly treated by the Illinois Department of Corrections, slumlords, and other tyrants. For more information or to donate to this worthy cause go to http://uplcchicago.org.

Back to the law students assigned to help Henry. By assigning two, Alan Mills assured the safety of redundancy, which was good because on the date of Henry’s parole hearing, one was on a school-related trip to South America, so her partner was slated to attend Henry’s hearing to speak for him.

I received an urgent text that evening from Henry’s son, Tom Elliott of southwestern Missouri, asking me to call him. He was agitated. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “The lawyer never showed,” he said, “and the parole board lady asked Dad if he wanted to go on with the hearing and he said yes, since his sister and her husband had driven all the way there for it.”

I could imagine the blow to the gut that must have been for Henry—now that he’s done 30 years with good behavior and is 65 years old and has a realistic chance at parole—to have entered that hearing room and to be told his lawyer didn’t show or even call and to have felt he had to continue with the hearing because of his sister driving over four hours to be there. I felt so bad for him.

I was at dinner with friends at the time, but I immediately emailed Alan Mills from my phone to ask what had happened. He didn’t know, but he forwarded my email to the student who hadn’t showed and the next morning the answer arrived:

“Prof. Mills, I planned on making the trip today, but I had car trouble and couldn’t obtain another car for the day. I spent all of yesterday trying to get my car repaired. By 7pm I knew I wouldn’t be able to have it fixed in time. I didn’t know who to call at that hour to inform Henry I wouldn’t be able to make it. David, extend my apologies to Henry.”

I wanted to scream! Not just because this sounded like a the-dog-ate-my-homework excuse, but even if it were true, he says he “didn’t know who to call.” How about the parole board (IPRB)? Any lawyer representing any parole applicant has to communicate with them and has their contact information. How about Alan Mills, the Professor who assigned him? How about Henry’s sister or his son or me, all of whose contact information he has? How about Henry at the prison? According to his story, he had all day Wednesday to think about this.

Well, hopefully this won’t end badly for Henry. He still has a chance at parole. The letters of support people wrote have gone to the parole board, I’m told. The student who is now in Chile plans to attend the en banc hearing in Springfield. I don’t know when that is scheduled.

As I’ve said before, to all who have shown interest and support, thank you. To those of you who pray, please continue doing so.

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Officer Bombed by Milk Carton

Tom Henry: Confession of a KillerThe following is a story that didn’t make the final cut of Tom Henry, but I like it. It shows Henry’s quit wit and jocular character. So, with no more ado …

“Good shot, Bro! I’ll pay you the two squares tomorrow,” Tom Henry yelled out the cell bars. A ripple of laughter spread throughout the cell house. I looked up from my typing to see an officer standing on One Gallery, rubbing his scalp, and staring at a milk carton on the floor. Tom Henry was laughing.

“What happened?” I asked.

“That officer was just minding his own business when that milk carton hit him right on top of his head.”

Just then the officer himself joined the laughter, looked up at Tom Henry, nodded, as if to say, “good one,” and continued his walk.

Flying milk cartons were not that rare in the cell house in Menard. Milk was served every day, at least once, in individual cartons, brought to the cells by officers during deadlocks. Sometimes they weren’t drunk. Perhaps the inmate was asleep and it got warm. Often they were already warm and starting to sour by the time they were served. Once the milks served throughout the cell house had all been sour and that had caused a riot, complete with cursing, bar rattling, and trash and debris—including human shit—thrown onto galleries.

But this evening there was no riot and they weren’t on deadlock. Some inmate from a high gallery had decided to throw a full milk carton out of his cell, through the bars on the far side of his gallery, so that it would plummet down onto the wide floor of One Gallery. They liked to watch them burst open and the milk ooze out. Often they would save old milk for just this purpose, waiting until it was semi-curdled.

This one had landed without breaking open, thanks to its fall being interrupted by a square hit upon the officer’s bald head, from which it had bounced up about a foot, still intact, then landed on the floor in front of the startled officer’s feet.

Which was when Tom Henry had yelled, “Good shot, Bro! I’ll pay you the two squares tomorrow.” He had no idea who had thrown the milk, but his quick mind had formulated the scenario moments after the milk carton’s impact. The officer, who was familiar with Tom Henry’s quick mind, nodded his acknowledgement of the witticism and moved on.

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

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Where Can I Buy Tom Henry?

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

For months now, when friends and family have asked, “where can I buy your book?” I’ve been saying, “Only Amazon.” Now I have a fuller answer!

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer is now available online as an ebook ($2.99) and online and in stores as a paperback. The ebook is now available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but very soon—possibly by the time you read this—it will also be sold by Smashwords, Apple iBookstore, Sony Reader Store, Kobo, the Diesel eBook Store, and more!

The paperback ($11.99) can be bought online from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but also at all Barnes & Noble brick and mortar stores. Unfortunately, they don’t carry it in stock, but step up to their order desk and they’ll have it sent to your home or to the store—the latter at no charge—within two or three business days. Independent bookstores will also be able to order Tom Henry, but not Books-A-Million.

A funny thing happened that I don’t quite understand—but I’m not complaining. A couple of weeks ago Barnes & Noble reduced their online price of the paperback from $11.99 to $7.65, then just a few days later, Amazon matched that price. As I say, I don’t know why, but I’m happy Tom Henry now costs less.

On a related note, next week I’ll fly to Central Illinois to talk to a few media outlets about Tom Henry. The timing is right for such a trip, both because the book is just now becoming available on multiple platforms, but also because Henry’s parole hearing is scheduled for March 21.

I know that Henry would appreciate the prayers of those of you who pray. For those who have written him since reading the book, thank you.

If you’d like to write a letter to the Parole Board in support of Henry Hillenbrand, it needs to be mailed by March 6. It should be addressed to:

Illinois Prisoner Review Board
319 East Madison Street, Suite A
Springfield, IL 62701

It should be mailed to:

Uptown People’s Law Center

4413 North Sheridan

Chicago, IL 60640

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Bad Reviews of Good Books

Tom Henry: Confession of a KillerBook reviews have become increasingly important in this age of self-publishing. My webmaster asked me to shorten Tom Henry’s Amazon reviews for this website and, while doing this task, I came across a delightful blog on bad reviews of good books.

So far Tom Henry has only garnered good reviews—friends and family first, you know—so I thought I’d write this blog before I get the bad reviews I’m sure are coming, at which time this blog might appear to be sour grapes. I’ve captured a few I really like, but I include the link below so you can read the rest.

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (1961)

“Obviously, a lot people were smoking a lot of weed in the ’60s to think this thing is worth reading.”

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951)

“So many other good books…don’t waste your time on this one. J.D. Salinger went into hiding because he was embarrassed.”

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck (1939)

“While the story did have a great moral to go along with it, it was about dirt! Dirt and migrating. Dirt and migrating and more dirt.”

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

“It grieves me deeply that we Americans should take as our classic a book that is no more than a lengthy description of the doings of fops.”

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (1954)

“The book is not readable because of the overuse of adverbs.”

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)

“This book gets my nomination for the most overrated book in American Literature. It is trite, saccharine and false…. In short, I despise this piece of garbage.”

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner (1929)

“This book is like an ungrateful girlfriend. You do your best to understand her and get nothing back in return.”

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (1960)

“I don’t see why this book is so fabulous. I would give it a zero. I find no point in writing a book about segregation, there’s no way of making it into an enjoyable book.”

I’ll end with the longest but probably the best:

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway (1926)

“Here’s the first half of the book: ‘We had dinner and a few drinks. We went to a cafe and talked and had some drinks. We ate dinner and had a few drinks. Dinner. Drinks. More dinner. More drinks. We took a cab here (or there) in Paris and had some drinks, and maybe we danced and flirted and talked about somebody. More dinner. More drinks. I love you, I hate you …’ ”

Here’s the link, so you can read them all: http://www.themorningnews.org/article/lone-star-statements

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Tom Henry, now a Book with Real Paper Pages

Hi friends. This is my first blog for a while. During the holidays Gazel and I were on vacation. We traveled to Davao, the southernmost of the three large Philippine islands, to relax and visit family.

Now we’re back home and, since we closed the office at the end of the year, we’re back to working in our home offices. To me it feels like I’m retired, which I suppose I am until next August, when my agreement not to compete with the company who bought HOPE Orthopedic expires and I’m free to once again work in my chosen profession of orthotics and prosthetics.

Waiting for me upon my return was the first printed paperback proof of my book. Finally! I spent a few days of slow reading, searching for typos. I found two and neither interfered with readability, so I accepted it. Just last Friday I got notice that the paperback version is now for sale on Amazon.

So Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer is now available in paperback and as an ebook! Whether we do a hardcover version or an audiobook will depend on interest.

Thank you for supporting me in my journey as a first-time author. Now it’s on to six months’ retirement, during which time I might start work on my second book. Or play golf. Or ride my Harley. Or read. Or sleep.

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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Marshmallows and Pizza

Tom Henry: Confession of a Killer

One sign of maturity in humans is the ability to defer gratification. Small children must have what they want NOW! As we become adults, to a greater or lesser extent, we are able to understand how waiting for something might improve our satisfaction on achieving it.

In 1972 researchers at Stanford did an experiment on this very subject. They selected a group of children ranging in age from 4 to 6. Each child they placed in a room where a marshmallow rested on a table. They told the child he (or she) could eat the marshmallow whenever they wanted to, but if they would refrain from eating it for 15 minutes, they would get two to eat.

The researchers discovered what they thought they would; that, as children grow older, their ability to defer gratification increases. But through a follow-up study years later they discovered something they had not anticipated. Those children who had exhibited the greatest control turned out to be better behaved and superior academically.

So it should come as no surprise that prison inmates are among the worst in this respect, none more so than the inmate Tom Henry told me about one night in our cell.

(This short story got cut from the Tom Henry manuscript as part of the editing process whereby 1,100 pages became 350 pages.)

By the time of this story Tom Henry and I were Lifers. The Lifers were an organization of inmates with long sentences. They were chartered by the prison administration as a program to help inmates learn real-world skills. The Lifers sold snack foods and articles of clothing. The Lifer salesmen stopped by each cell each night to take orders for delivery the next night. In each cell house was an oven for heating pizzas and hot sandwiches, and a cooler for keeping ice cream.

Tom Henry was the Lifer runner (cell house order taker) on one and three galleries of the South cell house. One night, upon returning to our cell from Lifer duty he told me this story.

“One of the guys on the bug gallery stopped me last night,” Tom Henry said.

“‘Hey, Lifer man.’ It was a guy who had never ordered. ‘I got fifteen dollars from a visit today. I hate going to that damn chow hall.’

“‘Okay. What do you want?’

“’What will fifteen dollars buy?’ he said. I showed him the menu. ‘I’ll have two supreme pizzas, uh, two sub sandwiches, a vanilla ice cream—pint, uh, let’s see here, uh, two ice cream sandwiches, uh, a six-pack of Pepsi. Do I have enough for that?’

“’Well, hold it a second, man,’ I said. ‘Why don’t you buy one thing each night? Then you can stay out of the chow hall several nights.’

“The guy got real mad. ‘Are you gonna friggin’ take my order or not?’

“I helped him figure out the most he could buy for fifteen dollars and I took his order.

“Tonight, I was taking Lifer orders about an hour after tonight’s food was delivered. As I passed that guy’s cell, he was standing at his door in his underwear, eyes bulging, stomach tight as a stretched drum skin, and on his top bunk was the packaging for two hot sandwiches, two pizzas, two ice cream sandwiches, and a pint of ice cream.  Still on the bed was a whole pizza, minus one piece, and some Pepsi.

“‘Hey Road Dog,’ he said. ‘Want a piece of pizza?’”

Thank you for viewing my blog. Please return often. I value your comments.

Regards,

David Hendricks

www.authorhendricks.com

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