After two previous continuances, the murder trial of Bishop Henderson, 20, has been set back once again. Henderson is the only person charged in the August 2019 backyard shooting in Hobbs. Three people died and four were injured.

Dead at the scene were Khalil Carter, 18, and Kristal Avena, 24, both of Hobbs. Lamar Lee Kane Jr., 22, of Washington, D.C., was also killed.

The night of the shooting Henderson was serving as a DJ for a party attended mostly by college students. The Hobbs News-Sun states that witnesses saw Henderson holding a gun and “…firing into the air and pointing at someone at a beer pong table.” The Hobbs Police Department’s criminal complaint states that Henderson said he started shooting after shots were fired over the backyard fence into the party.

Last Monday, April 12^th the Honorable Lee A. Kirksey, Fifth Judicial District Court judge, granted the request of Henderson’s attorney, Sandra Gallagher of Portales, to again continue the trial. Reasons for Gallagher’s request were that not all evidence has been evaluated nor have all necessary interviews been conducted.

Court docket records show that Henderson’s trial is now scheduled to start November 8^th, 2021.

The three-victim murder took place on August 25^th, 2019. According to a Hobbs Police Department statement on Facebook, on January 14, 2020, after evidence was examined, interviews were conducted and the shooting scene was reconstructed, “…sufficient probable cause was obtained to charge Bishop Henderson [with the murders].”

Henderson has been charged with “Three Counts of Murder” and “Three Counts of Aggravated Battery”. He is incarcerated, without bond, at the Lea County Detention Center.

Since January of 2020 when Henderson was charged, he has been represented by four different attorneys. Carl Barry “Barry” Churchfield, who passed away unexpectedly in Lovington two months ago on February 14^th, originally represented Henderson. Churchfield, well known as a Hobbs defense attorney, withdrew from the case in September of 2020, and the Lea County Public Defenders office took over the case until it was transferred to Martin Juarez, an Albuquerque Assistant Public Defender. Juarez later withdrew from the case. Finally, Attorney Sandra Gallagher, who currently represents Henderson, was appointed to the case.

Henderson’s jury trial will not begin until more than two years after the night of the shootings. Justice for the families of the dead and the injured remains in limbo, and gun violence in the United States is still a major topic of controversy.

President Joe Biden called gun violence an “epidemic” on Friday, April 17^th. DW.com states that, Biden asked Congress “…to take action to curb gun violence.” Biden’s demand is a response to the recent Indianapolis mass shooting at a FedEx center that killed eight and wounded several others.

According to KRQE television news, Democratic state senator Sedillo Lopez stated earlier this year: “New Mexico is the 10th worst state for gun deaths and children between the ages of zero and 19 are killed by guns at a rate almost 60 percent higher than the national average ….”

Congresswoman Yvette Herrell, (R), who represents Lea County as part of her district, is a strong proponent of Second Amendment rights. Herrell has not publicly responded to Biden’s call to Congress to take action against gun violence as of publication of this article.