Convicted bank robber to get life for witness slayings

<p>A man will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for killing two people who provided authorities with information that helped send him to prison for a Georgia bank robbery.</p><p>Federal prosecutors had sought the death penalty for Thomas Henderson, 55, of Columbus, but a jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict in the sentencing phase Thursday.</p><p>On June 26, the jury found Henderson guilty of two counts of killing a federal witness and two counts of using a firearm in a crime of violence.</p><p>Robert Bass, 47, was shot outside his apartment in suburban Pickerington in 1996, and Ecolia Washington, 38, was shot outside her Columbus home in 1998. Henderson had been released from prison in 1995.</p><p>Authorities said Henderson and Washington robbed a bank in Macon, Ga. Washington testified against Henderson in his federal trial in 1981, and Bass gave investigators information about the bank robbery, prosecutors said.</p><p>U.S. District Court Judge Algenon Marbley will sentence Henderson once a presentence report is completed.</p><p>Henderson already is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison. He pleaded guilty to drug, money-laundering and weapons charges in 2002.</p>