Murder for hire case on docket

Simpson scheduled to appear in Tarrant County

By Brian Knox
Published June 11, 2006

Rebecca Simpson is scheduled to be on the trial docket in Tarrant County Monday, and a trial could start as early as that day.

She is charged with attempting to hire a hit man to kill another Bridgeport resident in October of 2004.

Simpson is one of 42 defendants listed on the trial docket, according to an officer with the Criminal District Court No. 4, and the determination of who goes to trial will not be made until Monday morning.

The prosecutor in the case, Tarrant County Assistant District Attorney Christy Jack, said via e-mail last week that she could not comment on the case because the judge has issued a gag order.

Monday’s trial docket will be heard by Judge Mike Thomas in CDC No. 4 at the Tarrant County Justice Center.

According to the arrest affidavit, Simpson offered an undercover officer $2,000 for the murder of Bridgeport resident Shemane Watts and another $1,000 for an assault on her husband, Danny Watts.

Since the alleged solicitation of murder took place in Southlake, the case is being heard in Tarrant County.

A few weeks prior to the alleged solicitation, Simpson and Shemane Watts had been involved in a physical and verbal altercation at The Gym in Bridgeport according to Bridgeport police records.