Thursday, June 30, 2011

A response to a commenter's question about another Steve Simpson incident

So Tuesday's post about the Court of Appeals ripping Republican Attorney General nominee Steve Simpson drew quite a bit of response, most of it about what that opinion says about Simpson's attitude towards women. In essence, Simpson's rulings prevented a jury from hearing that the deceased in a murder trial had been raping the defendant's 13 year-old daughter right before the killing and kept the jury from considering self-defense or defense of others. I'm not ready to make any sort of conclusion about Simpson's psychology, as I'm not a psychologist. But a commenter to that post asked about another incident out there that should be explored.

On Memorial Day weekend in 2010, Simpson, then Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, drove to the Harrison County jail to help free a friend who had been jailed for beating up his wife. Though the judge in the case had ordered the man held for a cooling off period, Simpson managed to have him released on his own recognizance. “Hindsight is 20-20,” Simpson told the Sun Herald at the time. "I hope it never gets to the point that a public servant can’t make a personal judgment when friends call for help.” And what did the man who Simpson helped actually do? According to police reports, Gulfport police were called to the man's house after a party that Simpson also attended to find the man asleep in bed and his wife with a bruised left eye. The wife told police that her husband had too much to drink and they got in an argument at home; she said she was struck in the nose and fell and after she asked him not to hit her again, he struck her in the face two or three more times.

If you're keeping score at home, that's one instance of refusing an abused woman a defense to a murder charge, and another of skirting a judge's order to get an accused abuser out of jail.

5 comments:

mississippi citizen said...

I wonder if Steve Simpson would have gone down to the jail and gotten the guy out if it had been one of his daughters that was beaten and the guy was her spouse or boyfriend?

MelBrooks said...

This article is very upsetting and offensive. I am not sure which is worse, the wife beater or the public official that uses his authority to bail the wife beater out of jail. This guy was so angry that he struck his wife, the mother of his children, not once but multiple times in the face. How can you hit the love of your life in the face as she pleads for mercy? How could Simpson see bailing this guy out of jail as the right thing to do?

Kristina said...

Steve Simpson doesn't value women? Are you kidding me? This blog spot is absolutely biased and without the true facts. He is a wonderful father, husband and friend. I wish you would get the facts straight and stop with the slander. It sounds desperate.............

Kristina said...

Steve Simpson is a woman hater? Are you kidding me? This article is so offensive to me and it is obvious that you do not know the facts. Steve Simpson is a fabulous father, husband and friend. Any person that knows Steve Simpson knows that this article is so biased. Get the facts before you write this stuff. Please.

Cottonmouth said...

Kristina, the facts are the facts, and they're "straight" here. Simpson bailed an accused wife-beater out of jail against judge's orders by using his influence over the sheriff. That's bad no matter how you look at it.

And his rulings in the Sanders case are indefensible. Just ask every single sitting member of the Court of Appeals. If there'd been any defense to his rulings in that case, there would have been at least a dissenting opinion. There was not.