Simpson on the stand

Defendant testifies in murder-for-hire trial

By Brian Knox
Published June 22, 2006

Rebecca Simpson took the stand in her own defense Tuesday and gave a much different account of her meetings with Kevin Cash, the man who prosecutors said she first talked to about murdering the wife of her former lover.

Simpson said she was at the Dry Creek Store in Bridgeport Oct. 18, 2004, when Cash approached her vehicle. She said Cash said he worked for a private security agency and had a “high record of shooting” as a sniper. Simpson said Cash already knew about the fight between Simpson and Shemane Watts on Oct. 13, 2004, at The Gym in Bridgeport.

After Simpson told Cash about threats she said she was receiving from Shemane Watts and her husband, Danny, it was Cash who started suggesting different plans of actions, she said. After suggesting she take self-defense lessons, he made a second suggestion.

“He said he had a permanent solution to neutralize threats,” Simpson said.

He gave Simpson his card and wrote his cell phone number on the back. Later, after Simpson had listened to what she said was a threatening message left on her phone by Danny Watts, Simpson called Cash but got his voicemail. The message gave another person’s name and number to call – Cash’s associate, David Snow, Simpson said.

She called Snow and explained the situation. She arranged to meet Snow Oct. 20 in Denton. The day before that meeting, Simpson said she received an angry call from Cash who said “I was his client” and added that he had a “permanent solution to a temporary problem.”
Simpson said Cash told her to call and cancel the meeting with Snow. She set up a meeting the next day with Cash instead, and he suggested they meet at the Costco in Southlake.

When Simpson and Cash met on Oct. 20, it was Cash, not Simpson, who was worried about the conversation being recorded, she said. Simpson said Cash bragged about his shooting ability and the four levels of neutralizing threats. The first level was harassment, and the fourth level was murder.

Simpson said Cash asked about personal information regarding Danny and Shemane Watts, and it was he who suggested Shemane’s murder could look like a suicide attempt.

She agreed to pay Cash $500 to put a substance in the Watts’ car to make it sputter, a level one harassment.

Also during her testimony, Simpson gave her version of the fight at The Gym – a version that she was upset was not told in the Oct. 21, 2004, issue of The Bridgeport Index, she said.

She said it was Shemane Watts who came outside, grabbed her arm and told her to quit harassing her and her husband. After a verbal altercation, Simpson began leaving the building when Watts kicked at her several times, hitting her in the hand, she said.

She said she retaliated by trying to throw three punches, but none of them connected, Simpson said.

Simpson also talked about her affair with Danny Watts. She said she began the affair in 2000 after he “made me feel attractive,” she said. “He slipped me notes and made me feel good about myself.”

The affair was continuous until 2002. At that point, she said, the affair was “on again, off again” until he married Shemane Watts. She said she had sex with him one time after he was married.

It was Danny Watts, Simpson said, who pressured her about leaving her husband, Ross.

Simpson said that on Sept. 18, 2004, after their affair had ended, Danny Watts stopped by her home to take a shower. She reluctantly let him in, she said, since only she and her 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, were home. Simpson’s daughter drove him back to The Gym, Simpson said, because she did not want to be seen with Danny Watts since rumors of their affair had circulated around town.

When her daughter returned, she told Simpson something which caused concern. Prosecutors Christy Jack and Kim D’Avignon objected to her revealing what was said to Sarah Simpson since it would be considered hearsay.

“I was worried. He’s a 35-year-old man saying this to my 16-year-old daughter. It was inappropriate,” Simpson said. She later said she called Danny Watts a pedophile.

A few days later, she noticed a voicemail from Danny Watts on Sarah’s cell phone during the early morning hours. She said she made several attempts to call Danny Watts to ask him about the message.

Simpson said that in one attempt to call Danny Watts, Shemane Watts answered and threatened Simpson’s daughter.

“She told me she had keys to my daughter’s car and she would put drugs in it,” Simpson said.

On three occasions, Simpson said Shemane Watts acted like she was going to hit her with her car, once when Simpson was in the car with her children and twice when she was crossing a street.

After Simpson threatened to go to the sheriff’s department about Danny Watts’ inappropriate relationship with her daughter, Simpson said he threatened her.

The next day, Oct. 18, Simpson saw Kevin Cash at Dry Creek Store in Bridgeport, she said.