The Douglas County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St.

UPDATE: Jurors sent home, trial pushed back for man who allegedly solicited undercover officer online

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A jury trial began Monday for a Lawrence man charged with online sexual solicitation of a person he allegedly thought was a teenage girl, but who was really an undercover officer posing as one.

The jury selection process occupied most of the day Monday in Douglas County District Court.

The defendant, Michael L. Henderson, 37, was charged in October 2016 with one count of electronic solicitation, a felony. According to the charges, he allegedly solicited a person he thought was 14 or 15 to commit an unlawful sexual act.

That person was not actually a teenage girl, but an undercover officer posing as one, according to court documents in the case.

In previous court filings Henderson contended the police sting was unfair and prompted by “repeated baseless accusations” by a woman that he had molested her child, according to a motion to dismiss the case filed by his appointed attorney, Nicholas David.

In September 2016, Henderson posted a personal ad on Craigslist’s men seeking women section stating he was looking for a bowling partner, David said. The aforementioned woman responded under a fake name and posed as an underage girl in an attempt to entice Henderson, though he “never solicited unlawful sexual acts” from her, David said.

The woman then contacted the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, which worked with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office to contact Henderson, David said. In that correspondence, Henderson allegedly solicited unlawful sexual acts from a Johnson County detective on Oct. 25, 2016, and agreed to meet in person the next day, when he was arrested.

“The police generated an entirely new crime for the sole purpose of prosecuting Mr. Henderson,” David said in the motion.

The state has contended that Henderson was predisposed to commit the crime of electronic solicitation, and thus law enforcement’s conduct was not “outrageous,” according to previous court filings by prosecutor Alice Walker. Walker said evidence in the case pointed to the possibility of child sexual abuse and also included prior sexually charged social media posts and online dating profiles.

Walker said that in Henderson’s comments to the undercover detective, he talked about sex and offered to bring condoms when they met.

Henderson’s trial was scheduled to last as long as five days in the courtroom of Judge Paula Martin.