A judge ordered Linda Henning released from prison on Friday, 27 years after her arrest in the unsolved 1999 killing of Girly Chew Hossencofft, clearing the way for her to await a new trial outside custody. Henning, 73, had been serving a 73 and a half year sentence since her October 2002 conviction on first-degree murder, kidnapping and other charges.
Judge Cindy Leos rejected prosecutors’ request to keep Henning locked up pending a retrial, according to abqjournal.com. The ruling came just days after Leos tossed out Henning’s 2002 conviction entirely and ordered a new trial, finding that she had been forced to stand trial despite evidence she was mentally incompetent to participate in her own defense. Leos also found that Henning’s trial attorney, Gary Mitchell, provided ineffective counsel by failing to raise the issue of her mental competence at the time.
A Conviction Undone After Decades
Henning has remained in custody since her arrest in late 1999, the same year Girly Chew Hossencofft disappeared from Albuquerque at age 36. Her body was never found, and the case became one of the city’s most notorious unsolved mysteries even after convictions were secured. Henning was found guilty in October 2002 and sentenced to more than 73 years behind bars.
Prosecutors have said Henning acted as the accomplice of Diazien Hossencofft, Girly Chew’s husband, in the killing, according to KRQE News 13. Diazien Hossencofft pleaded no contest in 2002 to murder, kidnapping and other charges in his wife’s death and is now serving a life sentence plus 60 years, per the same account from abqjournal.com.
Competency Questions Drove the Reversal
Leos’s decision to vacate the conviction centered on whether Henning was fit to stand trial in 2002. The judge’s order, issued earlier in the week, found that Henning was mentally incompetent to cooperate in her own defense at the time, abqjournal.com reports. That finding set the stage for Friday’s hearing on whether Henning should be freed while a new trial is prepared.
Henning’s new defense lawyer has argued that her original defense counsel knew she had schizophrenia but did not disclose the diagnosis to the court, according to KRQE. Leos also ordered a new competency evaluation for Henning, one that prosecutors had requested earlier in the week, the station notes.
What Happens Next Remains Unclear
Prosecutors did not say Friday whether they plan to retry Henning for the 1999 killing, leaving the future of the case uncertain even as she walks free for the first time in 27 years. Leos had set this week’s hearing specifically to consider the future of the case and whether Henning should be released from custody, abqjournal.com reported earlier in the week.
For now, Henning will remain out of custody as the case moves forward, with no date yet set for a new trial. The killing of Girly Chew Hossencofft, which captivated Albuquerque more than two decades ago, is once again an open legal question with no resolution in sight.
