Rebecca Simpson



It is cases such as this one that reminds me just how stupid criminals are and the lengths that they will go to cover their own behinds. Rebecca Simpson had it all. She was the wife of a prominent, well respected attorney in the small town of Bridgeport Texas. She had anything money could buy and raised her children in a well manicured, luxury home. She had even had a boyfriend for several years that apparently had gone undetected, until it seems she decided that his wife needed to die and he needed to suffer also.

Prosecutors would later claim that the motive behind Rebecca looking to hire someone to kill Shermane Watts and beat up her husband, Danny, came after a newspaper article in the small town paper highlighted a public argument that Rebecca had with Shermane. Reports were that Rebecca approached Shermane at the gym owned by Danny and that she had announced to her that she had been having an affair with Danny. Rebecca held a lot of clout in the small town and many say that she always expected to get exactly what she wanted and it seems that she still wanted Danny, all to herself. Rebecca was not used to people standing up to her but Shermane did just that. It appears that punches were thrown but it does not sound as if any arrests were made, but the newspaper got wind of it and considering her standing, and likely the fact Bridgeport was so small, the story made the front page in October of 2004.

Soon after the confrontation she met a man named Kevin Cash who was a security guard. According to Cash she approached him about self defense classes and possibly looking into vandalizing the Watts' vehicles. These two claims Rebecca admits to. It was what followed that she disputed. Cash would later testify that at some point the idea was brought up by Rebecca to have Shermane Watts killed and Danny Watts beaten up and that at the point in which Cash believed Rebecca to be serious he contacted the local authorities. It was then that an undercover officer was put on the case and met with Rebecca. The two had two meetings, on October 26th and 28th, that were recorded and later shown to a jury.

In June of 2006 Rebecca Simpson went on trial and charged with solicitation of capital murder. Her husband filed for divorce soon after her arrest. As is the situation in many trials the prosecution and the defense had different ideas as to what occurred prior to the crime being committed. One area in which all agree is that Rebecca Simpson began an affair with Danny Watts in late 1999 or early 2000 when they met at a gym that he owned in Bridgeport. In June of 2003 Danny would marry Shermane but the affair apparently continued. It appears that the affair last until September of 2004 but it is unclear how or who ended the affair. Although I never found anything that stated that Danny Watts was the one to end the affair, a majority of cases that progress as this one did indicated that it was likely his choice. What we do know is that the following month Rebecca Simpson is confronting his wife at the gym and she's announcing the affair to her. This sound much like a scorned woman. However, Rebecca would tell the undercover officer, as well as the court later, that in September of 2004 she had confronted Danny Watts about what she says she considered the “propositioning” of her sixteen year old daughter. She would claim that after that time that both of the Watts would begin threatening her and her family.

As far as these allegations against Danny Watts pertaining to Rebecca's daughter, I could find nothing that led to this conclusion aside from the words of Rebecca. I found nothing that showed any sort of proof of these allegations nor did I hear of any testimony presented that spoke of the supposed propositioning nor the threats made. My research indicated that she told someone she had contacted the police and nothing was done but again I found no proof that the authorities were even contacted about the supposed threats. To be fair, even if there was evidence that there had been a filing made with the police, the fact that nothing was done would indicate that the allegations were unfounded. The fact that the Simpson's were so prominent in the community leads me to believe that if there were threats being made as she has alleged that the police would have been contacted. Even if the threats were not true and yet Rebecca wanted to get back at the Watts' I feel that the police would have been contacted. However, my research indicates that this was only first mentioned to the undercover officer, who Rebecca believed to be a hit man as she was preparing a defense for her actions.

In the videos that were shown to the jury Rebecca Simpson can be found telling the supposed hit man that she wanted Shermane Watts' murder to look like a suicide. She indicated that she wanted her wrists slit and wanted to ensure that she would not be rescued by anyone before she had a chance to die. She also wanted Danny Watts beaten up and it looked like a drug deal gone wrong. She agreed to pay $3,000 to make this happen. After making the deal and exchanging money Rebecca Simpson was arrested.

At her trial her defense attorney attempted to make Kevin Cash look like the instigator. Despite Cash's testimony Rebecca would testify that it was Cash who came up with the idea for the murder, telling her that would permanently solve her problems. Rebecca would claim that she attempted to tell Cash this was not what she wanted but that he would not listen. When confronted with the video evidence and the comments she made she insisted that Cash told her if she did not go through with the plan that the man would become angry and harm her family so she had met with the supposed hit man. She would go on to insist that she had no intention of allowing the hit man to follow through with the plan and intended to stop it before anyone was harmed.

The jury would find her guilty of solicitation of murder and the judge would sentence her to twenty-five years, but that was not the end of the story. It seems that prosecutors had offered Rebecca a five year sentence if she pleaded guilty to the charges. According to the prosecutor they repeatedly offered this to the defense and were turned down. It was the belief of the prosecutor that Rebecca never would have accepted a plea in which required her to serve jail time. However, whether true or not, apparently the courts believed that Rebecca's attorney never told her of the plea deal that was offered and when she appealed her sentence she used the standby argument of “inefficient counsel” and the courts agreed. They overruled her conviction and ordered a new trial. At this point the prosecutors still offered the original deal and Rebecca took it this time.


The Texas Department of Corrections only show current incarcerated inmates and does not list crimes of those who have been released so I cannot say for sure when Rebecca was released from prison but it appears it was sometime in 2011 based on my research.

Comments

  1. Extreme jealousy is (IMHO and the opinion of others; see: Othello Syndrome) a form of mental illness that causes otherwise good people to do the unimaginable. Sounds like that's what Rebecca was afflicted with.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Um.....Rebecca Simpson does not sound like an "otherwise good person", though. Someone who is willing to carry on an illicit affair for a number of years is really not very nice and tends to be very self-absorbed. How else could you lie and live a double life for such a long time? You give her too much credit.

      Delete
    2. Um.....Rebecca Simpson does not sound like an "otherwise good person", though. Someone who is willing to carry on an illicit affair for a number of years is really not very nice and tends to be very self-absorbed. How else could you lie and live a double life for such a long time? You give her too much credit.

      Delete
    3. Thank you, Karen... Too much Sympathy is given to the evil beings of the world... Take care...

      Delete
  2. Don't know if anyone remembers the Connecticut super scandal of the corporate world in the 80s
    Dorothy Harris and her poor witless husband who hadn't a clue his wife was having it off with the old boys at Color Film in Norwalk Connecticut. The whole place was a den of iniquity. Bill Jayson was having an affair- well at least one and the Hagob Meneshian was living this very traditional life with his very traditional wife in Tony Greenwich and all the while having a 10+ year relationship with a woman in Westport- -Patti and Alden Lareau- major party goers ...shallow as anything.
    and then the guy who was said to have been very well endowed Jason Wingate and his wife Gay- she loved to play hostess- you'd never think for a minute if you saw them in church that she was getting a 'handful' Seriously. If that had been me, I'd have looked a LOT happier. Still maybe he wasn't 'giving' it at home he was having a fling with Dorothy Harris too. It was one big sex fest. Not great sex just drunken and pool parties where all the keys were thrown up in the air. These people 20 years on now are 'God fearing' (lol) church goers.And the picture of Booze induced flabby faces and still drinking. Its really amazing to sit back and see the hypocrisy. And they'd be the first to criticize you.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi. how do i write to Matthew?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Now where she lives, where this woman works, I wonder.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That was my mother and sisters Joe killed that day. I wad living with them and I just left town on that day. When I got back the next day, my family was dead.

    Law

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't even imagine what that was like for you. Please know that when people like me hear and read this stuff, we send up heartfelt prayers for you. I know you'll never get over it. I just hope that you've been able to find a way to get through it.

      Delete
    2. I just saw this case on a television program. I just want to know if Rebecca married the new wealthy fiancee? She had it all and still came out doing well, so crazy.

      Delete
  6. Rebecca's not the only selfish, disloyal, pathetic loser in this story. Her "boy toy", Danny, is a spineless prick that deserves a serious karmic ass whooping! To start with, it takes a special kind of @sshole to engage in an affair with a married woman with 3 children. I sincerely hope his next wife cheats on him for years with a younger guy. Secondly, no sooner had this moral-poof finished saying his wedding vows to Shermane, and he's already jumping back in bed with this psycho twat?!?! Finally, what kind of man would allow his new wife to take the abuse that Rebecca dished out to Shermane without putting an immediate stop to it (no matter what that required)?? I'll answer my own question......only a spineless boy. Even after Rebecca tries to have Shermane killed, Danny still confesses on the stand that he "has feelings" for Rebecca. WTF??? Frankly, there were two travesties of justice in this situation. (1) The fact that Rebecca did not get the full 25 years in prison that she deserved; and (2) that Rebecca didn't hire a real hitman to beat the living hell out of this spineless loser, Danny.

    ReplyDelete
  7. They could have asked me for character references we dated back in high school for about 2 years she was always different or should I say crazy the story's I could tell

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I'd be really interested in hearing some of these!

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gregory "Chad" Wallin-Reed

The Shanda Sharer Story

Laverne Katherine "Kay" Parsons