EX-RAM HENLEY GETS 41 YEARS IN MURDER PLOT.

Byline: Janet Gilmore Daily News Staff Writer

While in federal custody on drug charges, former Rams football cornerback Darryl Henley bribed a guard and tried to hire someone to kill a witness and the federal judge in his case.

So when Henley was sentenced Monday to about 41 years in prison for those crimes and others, U.S. District Court Judge James M. Idelman took no chances.

Idelman recommended that prison officials place Henley in one of the nation's highest-security facilities - an Illinois prison where inmates spend 23 hours a day in lockup.

``It is obvious that he is even more dangerous in custody than out of custody,'' the judge said. ``If there was ever a guy who needed to be locked down 24 hours a day, it's Henley.''

Had the case gone to trial and ended with convictions on all charges, Henley could have faced up to life in prison, prosecutors said. But on Monday, under two separate plea agreements, several charges were dropped and Henley accepted a combined sentence of 41 years in prison.

In all, Henley was sentenced to 21 years, eight months for a drug trafficking conviction and 19 years, seven months for the murder-for-hire scheme.

A Santa Ana jury convicted Henley of cocaine trafficking in March 1995, and he was sent to a federal jail in Los Angeles to await sentencing. Within a few months, Henley befriended a guard there who would become his partner in crime.

According to prosecutors, the two plotted to sell more than $1 million worth of heroin and conspired to arrange the killing of U.S. District Judge Gary L. Taylor, the judge who presided over Henley's Santa Ana trial; and Tracy Ann Donaho, a former Rams cheerleader who testified against Henley at that Santa Ana trial.

Undercover agents with the FBI set up sham drug deals with Henley and the guard. They also discussed the contract killings with the former UCLA star; Henley agreed to pay $100,000 for each death.

``If the court was sentencing Mr. Henley, the sentence would be different, I assure you,'' said Idelman.

``The defendant is obviously a complete and hardened criminal, so any speech to him is a waste of time.''

Henley, 30, stood soberly before the judge with his hands folded together in front of him as several court security officers stood nearby. He declined to speak in his own defense.

Guard Rodney Anderson, 30, who pleaded guilty to plotting with Henley, was previously sentenced to 33 years in prison.

Also convicted and previously sentenced for drug trafficking with Henley were Jimmy Washington, 50, of Los Angeles and Henley's brother Eric, 27, of Waco, Texas. Washington was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Eric Henley was sentenced to five years.

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PHOTO Darryl Henley

Will go to lock-down prison