A suspected serial rapist stands trial in New Orleans | Courts

Jury selection in the case of Navarri Henderson took place in New Orleans on Monday. The alleged serial rapist is set to stand trial for the rape of two strangers in Algiers.

Henderson, 26, is accused of raping a jogger at the Mississippi River levee in Algiers Point on Dec. 28, 2016. His accuser in that case said she was jogging in the 700 block of Patterson Road when a man grabbed her from behind, beat her and raped her. She suffered a dislocated hip, broken wrist and broken nose, prosecutors said.

In August 2018, a pregnant woman reported to police that she was walking toward MacArthur Boulevard and a man pushed her behind a grocery store, choked her until she lost consciousness, raped her and robbed her.

Police said DNA evidence linked Henderson to those violent crimes after he was arrested in 2019 for allegedly hitting his girlfriend, who was also pregnant. Henderson was accused of breaking her jaw, and he is due in court this week on that charge as well.

In January 2020, he was charged with two counts each of first-degree rape and aggravated kidnapping, as well as second-degree robbery, domestic violence against a pregnant victim and obstruction of justice. A conviction on any of the rape or kidnapping offenses would carry a life sentence.

Orleans Parish Criminal District Judge Nandi Campbell is presiding over the trial.

Doubts about Henderson's mental capacity arose after WWL-TV reported on his family's history, which included a father who was in prison for attacking and raping strangers.

The court initially found Henderson sane in 2020. However, according to online court records, he was declared insane last November before Campbell declared him sane after a new evaluation in April.