NFL -- Ex-Ram Henley Pleads Guilty

LOS ANGELES - As part of a plea agreement, former Los Angeles Ram cornerback Darryl Henley faces a sentence of 41 years and three months in prison after admitting in federal court that he conspired to murder a federal judge and a prosecution witness and that he bribed a prison guard to smuggle a cellular telephone into his cell.

A subdued Henley, 29, repeatedly was asked by U.S. District Judge James Ideman if he fully understood the length of time he would be guaranteed of serving in prison if he signed the plea agreement.

"That's 495 months in prison, do you understand that?" Ideman asked the former football star yesterday. "That is something like 42 years."

Henley calmly replied: "Yes, sir."

Watching from the front row of the courtroom was Henley's 26-year-old brother, Eric, who followed his brother at the podium and entered a guilty plea to charges that he participated in a conspiracy to distribute 25 kilograms of cocaine. Eric Henley probably will be sentenced to seven to eight years in prison, prosecutors said. Both sentencings are scheduled for January.

The guilty pleas entered by the brothers, in negotiations for several weeks, signify a major breakthrough in a complicated three-year legal case that began as a drug-trafficking trial but grew increasingly complex over time.

Darryl Henley was convicted of cocaine trafficking along with four co-defendants in 1995. While he was awaiting sentencing in the downtown Los Angeles jail, authorities learned he had ordered the killing of U.S. District Judge Gary Taylor, who presided over his trial, and of Tracy Donaho, a former Ram cheerleader who testified against him.

Henley used a cellular phone smuggled to him by a jail guard to both orchestrate drug deals and hire a killer, prosecutors said. In both cases, the deals were arranged with undercover federal agents posing as criminals. The prosecution said federal agents had tape-recorded Henley discussing the heroin deal with an undercover agent as a way to finance the pair of $100,000 contract hits.

Notes

-- Defensive end Michael Strahan, the New York Giants leader in sacks last season, opted against free agency and signed a new four-year contract.

-- Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino practiced for the first time since suffering a broken ankle Sept. 23. Marino, 35, might suit up against Philadelphia on Sunday.