Former Bucks County DA poised to be next Pennsylvania Attorney General

A former top Bucks County prosecutor who helped convict Pennsylvania’s first female attorney general is poised to become its second female top law enforcement officer.

Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday that he intends to name Michelle Henry, his current first deputy, to succeed him as Pennsylvania Attorney General.

Henry, 53,  served in the Bucks County District Attorney’s office for 21 years prosecuting some of the county’s most high-profile criminal cases and briefly serving as its District Attorney.

This news organization was not immediately successful in reach Henry for comment Thursday, through the AG office.

Among her most notable wins was in the 2007 retrial of convicted murderer Richard Laird, who was sent back to death row for the 1987 hate-crime slaying of a gay man in Bristol Township.

She was appointed as Bucks County’s District Attorney in 2008, after her predecessor, Diane Gibbons, was elected to the Common Pleas Court with two years left in her term.

Gibbons, now a senior Common Pleas Court Judge in Bucks County, expressed confidence that Henry will do well in her new job.

“I worked with Michelle for a long time and am very happy for her,” Gibbons said in a statement. “She is an excellent attorney and should do very well.”

Henry opted not to run for election to remain DA in 2009, instead she continued to prosecute high-profile cases, as the second highest ranking attorney in the office.

Among those cases were one of the youngest serial rapists in county history, Joshua Benson, who at 18 was arrested and later convicted of sexually assaulting 10 teenage girls from 2011 to 2013. She also prosecuted Dale Wakefield, who was convicted in 2014 in the stabbing and beating death of an 71-year-old homeless Army veteran at the Doylestown train station.

Henry, a former chief child abuse prosecutor, was instrumental in the founding and creation of the Children’s Advocacy Center. The nonprofit agency works with local law enforcement, victim advocates and health-care centers to investigate and treat children who have been abused.

Henry's profile rose significantly in 2016 when she was tapped to assist the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office in the prosecution of former Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane on perjury and related charges.

Less than six months after the Kane conviction, Shapiro offered Henry the job of the state’s first female First Deputy Attorney General. In January, 2017 she left Bucks County for Harrisburg.

In her current role, Henry is responsible for overseeing legal, criminal and civil matters in the Office of Attorney General. Henry was the first female to serve as first deputy attorney general in modern Pennsylvania history, according to Shapiro’s office.

Henry will assume the title of “acting” Attorney General on Tuesday when Shapiro is sworn in as the new governor and she will serve out the remaining two years of his term.

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Former Bucks County DA Michelle Henry to take on new top cop role