North Dakota oil truck operator faces sentencing for contract murders

Source: Reuters

North Dakota oil truck operator faces sentencing for contract murders

By Tracy Simmons
May 24, 2016

SPOKANE, Wash. (Reuters) - A former trucking company operator from North Dakota's Bakken oil patch was due in federal court in eastern Washington on Tuesday to face sentencing for his conviction on charges of orchestrating the contract killings of two business rivals.

A U.S. District Court jury in Spokane found James Terry Henrikson guilty in February of 11 felony counts, including murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, solicitation to commit murder-for-hire and a drug offense.

The conviction, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, stems from the slayings of two associates of Henrikson - Douglas Carlile, who was shot in Spokane in December 2013, and Kristopher Clarke, who was bludgeoned to death in February 2012. Clarke's body has never been found.

Prosecutors cast Henrikson in court documents and at his trial as a vindictive, ruthless businessman determined to eliminate anyone he viewed as an impediment to his various enterprises in western North Dakota's petroleum fields.


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