Rebecca Simpson trial pushed back until June

Ranger testifies about meetings with ‘hit man’

By Brian Knox
Published April 20, 2006

A Bridgeport woman accused of trying to hire someone to kill another Bridgeport resident will have to wait a couple more months for her fate to be decided.

Rebecca Lynn Simpson is facing solicitation of capital murder charges after investigators said she tried to hire an undercover officer to kill Shemane Watts in October of 2004.
Because the alleged solicitation took place in Southlake, Simpson’s trial will take place in Tarrant County.

The trial had originally been scheduled to begin on Monday, April 17, but prosecutor Christy Jack, an assistant district attorney in Tarrant County, said the trial has been continued until June. An exact date has not yet been set.

A few weeks before the alleged solicitation of murder, Simpson and Watts were involved in an altercation in downtown Bridgeport. No arrests were made following that incident.

Simpson was arrested in November 2004 on the solicitation of murder charge and later released after posting $100,000 bail.