ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (Court TV) — A judge told Jordan Henning that he saw no evidence he was a victim of domestic violence as he rejected Henning’s petition to reduce his prison sentence.
Jordan Henning appears in court during a post-conviction hearing on May 21, 2025. (Court TV)
Jordan was convicted of manslaughter in the death of his wife, Ashley Henning, who was shot to death in the couple’s Kentucky home on Ashley’s 37th birthday. Jordan had been charged with intentional murder, but a 12-person jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter after he took the stand and testified that he “broke” during a fight with his wife after enduring years of abuse.
Jordan appeared in court on Thursday to petition Judge Larry Ashlock to reduce his sentence based on a Kentucky law that allows victims of domestic violence to serve a lesser sentence when they kill their abusers. Jordan, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison, will be eligible for parole after serving 85 percent of his sentence. Had the judge approved his petition, he would have been eligible after serving 20 percent: four years.
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Jordan testified at the hearing and detailed an incident in 2016, when they were still living in Colorado. Jordan said that he was trying to leave after an argument and Ashley kicked him in the back, knocking him down concrete stairs. Janie Savat, Ashley’s friend who testified at Jordan’s trial, returned to the stand and said that while Ashley had pushed him down the steps, it was a reaction to his waving a gun and threatening to kill her ex-husband.
Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Eric Carr, who led the prosecution at Jordan’s trial, introduced printouts showing Jordan’s account on a website for people with sexual fetishes. While the account was created two years before Jordan and Ashley were married, Carr pointed out that Jordan continued to update his profile, join groups and post even after his marriage. Carr also pointed to many of Jordan’s listed “interests” as evidence that there was no domestic abuse.
“The specific acts he claimed to be abusive by Ashley are things that he lists on this website,” Carr said. “Some of the things he’s claiming are abuse are not abuse. These are kinks that he’s into.”
Judge Ashlock denied Jordan’s petition to reduce his sentence, pointing to the video of the shooting itself as the most substantial evidence in the case. “Mr. Henning was not a victim of domestic violence,” he said. “There was nothing, and I mean nothing, in that video from Ms. Henning that indicates to the court that there was any domestic violence on her part.”
The courtroom erupted in applause following Judge Ashlock’s ruling, while Jordan showed no visible reaction to the news.
