Charles Todd Henderson, the elected district attorney in Alabama's largest county, was convicted today on charges of perjury.

He lied under oath, a Jefferson County jury found, in a divorce case unrelated to his would-be job as DA.

He will never be able to take the oath of office. He will never be able to assume his job as the county's top law enforcement official. He will face disbarment and up to 10 years in prison.

Because he lied.

And you know what? That's not even the worst of it. Because, as testimony made clear, he lied to keep a domestic relations judge from finding out he was trying to manipulate her court. He lied to cover up the fact that he was having an affair with the mother of a child he was appointed to represent as guardian ad litem. He eventually married that woman - the former Yareima Akl - so she could not be compelled to testify against him.

Henderson took it hard after the verdict, trembling and hugging his wife. Staffers in the district attorney's office, on the other hand, struggled not to burst into applause. Because they feared this guy as the top law enforcement officer in any county. Particularly theirs.

And who can blame them? He lied, but that was just the tip of the slimeberg.

He failed the child he was sworn to faithfully and independently represent. He put his own prurient interests above the law and his honor and a child.

Charles Todd Henderson hugs his wife, Yareima, after his conviction of perjury charges.

He's lucky he was only charged with perjury. If selfish, repugnant, repulsive behavior were crimes he'd be a serial offender. A four-time loser.

Henderson began a relationship with Akl while the woman was embroiled in a heated divorce. She worked on his campaign and they became close. They began to date and spend the night together and call each other girlfriend and boyfriend.

And in the midst of it, acting as if he did not know Akl or her 10-year-old child, Henderson asked a judge to appoint him as the child's guardian ad litem in the divorce. He was supposed to look out for the child's interests as the parents fought it out. It's a position that must be unbiased, that cannot be tied to a parent.

When Jefferson County Domestic Relations Judge Patricia Stephens found out Akl worked on his campaign she removed him as guardian. When she learned he lied about the extent of the relationship she changed her whole ruling and awarded custody to the father.

"I was in stunned disbelief," she said on the witness stand Thursday.

Stephens was a devastating witness. She cried as she recounted a closed-door meeting with lawyers after Henderson testified that he and Akl never spent the night together. She was shown evidence then that it was a lie.

"In that off-the-record interaction I was apprised of the fact there was a relationship between Henderson and Akl prior to his being appointed guardian ad litem," she testified. "It was inappropriate."

"In this case the question becomes 'is this an attempt to manipulate or mislead the court," she said as the tears began. "I take what I do very serious. I take my reputation as a judge very serious."

So forgive me if I give short shrift to the chorus of Democrats who swore in the last few weeks that Henderson, himself a Democrat, was a victim of some kind of political prosecution.

This guy has as much business being district attorney as I have being president of the Optimist Club. None.

He put his hand in the air and violated one oath already. To a child. Imagine what he'd do to the people of Jefferson County.

John Archibald's column appears in The Birmingham News, the Huntsville Times, the Mobile Register and AL.com. Write him at jarchibald@al.com.