Man found not guilty in deadly shootout at Fort Worth auction house

A 26-year-old man who had been accused with his older brother in a deadly shootout at a Fort Worth auction house in 2014 was found not guilty Thursday of capital murder.

Ra’an Henderson remained in the Tarrant County Jail Friday, still charged with burglary in connection with an earlier break-in at the 4A Good Auction House and an unrelated aggravated robbery charge.

Henderson and his brother, 30-year-old Romon Henderson, had both been accused in the robbery and fatal shooting of Sheila Johnson, a 54-year-old Air Force veteran who worked at the auction house.

Johnson, who sometimes slept at the business because of a string of break-ins, was found dead of multiple gunshot wounds on April 13, 2014. The auction house’s owners discovered her after learning that she did not answer the door for an appointment.

The crime scene indicated Johnson had put up a fight before her death, emptying the magazine of a .22-caliber rifle in a shootout with her killers.

“This was a tough case, in which a significant amount of the evidence was circumstantial,” said Samantha Jordan, a spokeswoman with the Tarrant County district attorney’s office. “Our prosecutors presented it ably, and ultimately, the decision was in the hands of the jury.”

Tim Moore, Ra’an Henderson’s defense attorney, insisted his client was never at the auction house when Johnson was slain.

“There was no evidence to show that he was actually in the location where the shooting occurred,” Moore said. “There wasn’t fingerprints, no DNA, no cellphone tower records to put him at the scene.”

Moore said prosecutors Tracey Kapsadelis and Page Simpson’s main evidence in the case revolved around 10 .45-caliber cartridge casings found at the crime scene.

He said a ballistics expert for the state testified that the casings had been fired out of a gun that Ra’an Henderson had stored at his girlfriend’s residence and later asked her to get rid of during a jailhouse visit following his arrest.

The girlfriend, who prosecutors agreed not to charge in the case in exchange for her cooperation in the investigation, testified that she had thrown the gun into a drainage ditch but later led police to its location.

Moore said Ra’an Henderson was only trying to protect his brother, whom he suggested to jurors was the real guilty party.

“He had gone to his girlfriend’s house with the gun and made the statement that Romon did something stupid and Ra’an was crying when he said it,” Moore said. “...He was just helping his brother out.”

Romon Henderson remains in the Tarrant County Jail awaiting trial in the case.

A brother’s implication

Romon Henderson had been jailed on an unrelated aggravated assault warrant when he agreed to speak with homicide detectives investigating the auction house slaying. Police had wanted to question him after information surfaced that he might have been involved in a previous theft at the auction house.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, during that interview with detectives, Romon Henderson acknowledged that he and his brother were at the auction house when Johnson was killed.

He told detectives that the brothers had gone there intending only to rob the place. He said his brother had warned him that a woman was inside the business and “that they were going to hold a gun on her and collect money and property.”

Romon Henderson told investigators the brothers were beginning to enter the business through an open when numerous shots began to be fired.

“Romon Henderson stated that as he entered the business, he observed a female shooting from an elevated are to his left and observed Ra’an Henderson shooting at the female,” the affidavit stated.

Romon Henderson told police he fled, followed by his brother.

Moore said Romon Henderson did not testify during the trial, nor did jurors hear his recorded interview with Fort Worth police.

It’s not clear why prosecutors did not attempt to introduce the recorded interview at trial.

Four-hour deliberation

Moore said the jury deliberated about four hours before handing down their verdict Thursday. He said jurors he spoke to after the trial said they were most influenced in their decision by the lack of evidence placing Ra’an Henderson at the crime scene.

“They worked really hard and were very thorough of their examination of the evidence and decided there just wasn’t any evidence to show he was present when this offense was committed,” Moore said.

Moore described Ra’an Henderson as “very elated” by the trial’s outcome. Because prosecutors had waived the death penalty in the case, he had faced life in prison without parole if convicted.

“He has insisted from the beginning that he was not guilty of this offense so he was relieved,” Moore said.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Man found not guilty in deadly shootout at Fort Worth auction house."