Simpson bond lowered to $100k

By Brian Knox
Published November 25, 2004

The bond for Rebecca Simpson of Bridgeport was reduced from $1 million to $100,000 Monday in 271st District Court in Decatur by Gainesville Judge Jerry Woodlock.

She remained in the Wise County Jail Tuesday afternoon.
Simpson has been in jail since her arrest Nov. 1 in Bridgeport.

She is accused of trying to hire a man to kill Bridgeport resident Shemane Watts and injure her husband Danny.

Mollee Westfall with the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office, filling in for Christy Jack, the prosecutor in the case, argued that Simpson had not called bondsmen in an attempt to post bail.

Simpson testified that she had nothing to use to post bail because of a restraining order issued by Wise County Court-at-Law Judge Melton Cude which prohibited Simpson from being able to use any of her or her husband’s assets.

“I have no money at all,” Simpson said.

Simpson’s attorney, Bill Burdock of Saginaw, later called himself to testify that he had attempted to find a bail bondsman to work with Simpson but had been unsuccessful

Simpson said if the bond was reduced to $10,000, and a judge in their divorce hearing agreed to allow her access to the couple’s assets, she could post bail for that amount.

Burdock asked the judge to reduce the bond to $10,000.

Westfall asked Simpson if she told jail employees when she was booked into jail that her jewelry was worth $100,000.

Simpson said she couldn’t recall saying that but did estimate that her jewelry could be worth up to $100,000, according to the purchase price.

Burdock called four Bridgeport residents who have known Simpson for several years to testify that she has not been a violent person and would follow the court’s orders to appear in court if she was released from jail.

Simpson also testified that she had been scheduled for neck surgery the week of Nov. 8 and would reschedule the surgery if she was released from jail. When asked by Burdock what the recovery period would be, Simpson said she would be in bed for a week and then limited in her activity for several weeks, including no lifting of anything heavier than a newspaper.

Burdock argued that the surgery would be further evidence that Simpson would not be a flight risk if released from jail.

In her closing argument, Westfall urged the judge to consider the “aggravated factors of the offense” when deciding on the lower bond amount.

“All she would have to do is pick up the phone to get something like this in motion,” Westfall said. “The bond should remain high.”

When asked by the judge what a “high amount” should be, Westfall said $100,000.

Woodlock agreed to lower the bond to $100,000 with the condition that Simpson is not to have any contact with Shemane or Danny Watts.

In a divorce hearing Monday afternoon, Simpson and her husband, Ross, agreed to put up 260 acres of land the couple owns in Oklahoma for collateral in hopes of meeting the bail bond requirements.

Both District Attorney Jana Jones and District Judge John Fostel have recused themselves from the case. Ross Simpson is a former law partner with Fostel and Jones has also worked with Ross Simpson in the past.

In addition to the first-degree felony charge of solicitation of capital murder, Simpson is also facing assault and interfering with an emergency phone call charges – both Class A misdemeanors – stemming from a separate incident involving Shemane Watts in Bridgeport Oct. 13. According to investigators, Watts and Rebecca Simpson were involved in an altercation at The Gym, owned by the Watts. In a statement to police, Shemane Watts said she was struck in the head, and when she tried to call police, Rebecca Simpson grabbed the phone and threw it into the street.

Rebecca Simpson is scheduled to be in county court Dec. 8, according to Wise County Attorney Greg Lowery.