Henschel could have been tortured if mute in English court decades ago

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Photo: Vanessa Henschel

A Briarcliff woman with a history of attacking people both inside and outside the Baxter County jail and sitting mute during court appearances continued her silent treatment during a session of Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.

Twenty-eight-year-old Vanessa Henschel has used her fists, a knife, a backpack, a forearm and a tool used to clip tree limbs against her victims. Victims have included a former friend, her father, jailers and fellow inmates. According to court records, the attacks were unprovoked.

For some time now, she has refused to speak to her own attorney, judges, prosecutors and psychological examiners.

On Thursday, it was announced Henschel had been scheduled to undergo a psychological examination requested by her defense lawyer, but did not cooperate and the examination could not be completed.

Circuit Judge Gordon Webb attempted to illicit comment from Henschel, but with no luck. As he has said before, Webb told Henschel that by her silence “the only one you are hurting is yourself.”

Henschel is fortunate not to have lived in England hundreds of years ago. In British jurisprudence of the day, if a defendant refused to speak, a jury would be brought in to determine if the person was naturally incapable of speaking, or was a “mute of malice,” meaning a person who willfully chose to be silent.

If found to be the latter, the defendant was tortured until one of two things happened – the person spoke or died.

Nothing like a “mute of malice” procedure exists in U.S. law since not speaking during a legal proceeding is a guaranteed right under the Constitution. But, a defendant refusing to speak to a defense lawyer is a complicating factor, if the case ever goes to trial.

In late January, Henschel was locked up for attacking a homeowner at a residence along County Road 15, after using the man’s truck without permission to make a trip into town and back.

While in jail on charges stemming from the January incident, Henschel struck a female jailer on the left side of her face and head using her left fist and forearm.

The jailer recovered from the blow and attempted to restrain Henschel, but the inmate continued to be combative. After help arrived, Henschel was put in a restraint chair for a brief time, before being returned to her housing area.

Henschel’s attack on the jailer resulted in charges of second-degree battery and impairing the operation of a vital public facility.

In the January case, Henschel is charged with aggravated residential burglary, theft of property, aggravated assault and third-degree battery.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in the case, the Baxter County Sheriff’s Office received a report of a burglary at a residence along County Road 15 in late January.

The homeowner said he arrived home to see his truck being driven up his driveway. He said he saw a female, later identified as Henschel, exit the truck and go inside the garage. He told investigators he followed her and made contact in the garage.

After some conversation, Henschel is reported to have punched the homeowner in the head and then armed herself with a pair of “limb clippers” and attempted to attack him.

The homeowner went to a neighbor’s house to call 911.

The first Baxter County investigator on the scene recognized Henschel from previous encounters. The investigator asked Henschel what she was doing on the property. As opposed to her court appearances, she spoke to the investigator, telling him she lived there.

The investigator asked her where she had gone in the homeowner’s truck and she said she had been to “town and back.”

The homeowner and the investigator walked through the residence. They saw the window over the kitchen sink had been broken and blood was found on the sink and floor.

It appeared Henschel had helped herself to snacks and a soft drink and rested in one of the bedrooms. They also found dresser drawers pulled open, and $60 in cash was missing from a closet. The homeowner’s wife said items of her clothing and jewelry were also missing.

It was determined Henschel had been wearing some of the missing clothing and jewelry at the time she was arrested.

Henschel is also facing the revocation of a suspended sentence she received stemming from an incident Feb. 2, 2016. She was accused of entering a room at what was then the Town and County Motel and stabbing a former friend. Henschel was charged with first-degree battery.

According to the probable cause affidavit in that case, the victim’s boyfriend let Henschel into the room based on the past relationship between the Briarcliff woman and his girlfriend.

He then went outside to retrieve articles from a vehicle when he heard screaming and ran back to the room. He told investigators he found Henschel astride his girlfriend stabbing her. The boyfriend struck Henschel, knocking her off the victim.

The victim, who received non-life-threatening injuries, was stabbed in the neck and torso. She told police there was no conversation between her and Henschel prior to the attack. She said she was in bed, and Henschel jumped on top of her and starting stabbing her, saying, “I’m sorry” during the attack.

Henschel underwent a psychological evaluation during the course of the stabbing case and was found fit to proceed. She spent 530 days in the Baxter County jail, prior to being sentenced in the stabbing case.

Henschel has also been in trouble for punching her 62-year-old father. In mid-July last year, a Baxter County sheriff’s deputy responded to an address along Bonnie Lassie Drive in Briarcliff to meet with Henschel’s relative.

The father reported earlier in the day his daughter had punched him numerous times on the side of the head and hit him in the face with her backpack. The father said he left the residence to get away from her.

When he returned home in mid-afternoon, he found his daughter gone and his flat screen television damaged.

Henschel was eventually located at an address along North Highland and taken into custody.

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