By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-20 19:12:25 | Updated at 2025-04-05 15:39:26
2 weeks ago
A former soldier sobbed while on trial for shooting his wife dead after her birthday party and claimed he'd only done so to escape the abuse she heaped on him.
Jordan Henning, 34, is facing trial for the June 2023 murder of his wife Ashley, 37, which was caught by the security cameras in their Kentucky home.
The former Fort Knox soldier sobbed last week as he claimed he suffered years of physical and mental abuse that included Ashley kicking him down the stairs and biting him.
Ashley, who was an Army Sergeant First Class, is also said to have grabbed Henning's testicles during sex and clutched Henning's penis moments before he shot her after the couple held a party to celebrate her birthday.
'I just broke, I don’t know, next thing I remember, I’m standing over top of her shooting, and I didn’t know how it got to that point,' Henning told jurors.
Horrifying security camera footage played at a court in Louisville captured the killing, WAVE reported.
Henning, who denies murder, was seen walking down the stairs of their home behind Ashley and following her behind a living room wall, when a gunshot rang out.
Moments later he was seen reloading his handgun before shooting her again. Afterwards, he was filmed spitting on Ashley's corpse.
The couple's 13 year-old daughter was upstairs in bed at the time of the killing recovering from pink eye.
Jordan Henning sobbed in court last week as he denied murdering his wife Ashley, instead claiming she'd been killed after her alleged domestic abuse made him snap
Henning sobbed after being shown footage of himself shooting Ashley once after her 37th birthday, then reloading the gun and shooting her again
Nest doorbell cameras from inside the couple's home captured the sound of the first shooting and Henning reloading his gun before embarking on the second
Henning was angry, loud and aggressive on the Nest camera footage - a marked contrast to his contrite demeanor in court.
The Louisville court saw footage of the deadly shooting in the couple's Rineyville home. It shows an enraged
'I watched myself on that video,' Henning said. 'I don’t know who that was.'
An expert psychologist hired by Henning claimed Ashley's alleged abuse incidents were like 'drops in a bucket.'
Dr Justin Anderson told the court that these, coupled with Henning's military background, created the 'perfect storm' that ended with Ashley being killed.
Henning was grilled by his attorney about why he'd reloaded the pistol and returned to shoot Ashley again after initially gunning her down.
His attorney said this could suggest the second shooting was thought out and showed Henning was in control of himself.
'No, I wasn't thinking at all,' Henning replied.
Prosecution witnesses cast Henning in a different light.
Ashley was an Army Sergeant First Class and was based at Fort Bragg. Friends dispute Henning's claims she abused him and painted him as paranoid and violent
Henning's former friend Jimmy Watts claimed the soldier was a paranoid prepper who had a list of 10 people he'd kill in the event of an apocalypse so he could steal their supplies.
Ashley's friend Janie Savat rubbished claims Henning shot his wife because of mental health issues.
She said Henning had previously joked about blaming PTSD if he ever ended up killing someone.
Closing arguments in the case are set to be heard Thursday.
