A reporter's view of the trial

By Brian Knox
Published July 2, 2006

It’s good to be back in Wise County. Driving to downtown Fort Worth every day for two weeks to cover the trial of Rebecca Simpson has reminded me why I like working in a small town.

But as this trial proved, events that are interesting, and often tragic, are not the exclusive domain of big cities.

The interest in this case has been amazing. Just this past Tuesday I received a call from a British magazine wanting to know if I had phone numbers for Danny and Shemane Watts.

Several days during the trial, a reporter from the television show “48 Hours” was sitting in. Rumors were also circulating around the courtroom one day that “Inside Edition” was also listening in on the testimony.

I saw some interesting events unfold in the courtroom. For instance, I had never seen a priest escorted out of a courtroom for being disruptive. Apparently the priest, a friend of Simpson’s family, was making some noises during the prosecution’s closing arguments in the punishment phase of the trial. One of our intrepid photographers sitting in the hallway said some heated words were exchanged between the priest and the bailiff.

Some readers might have been confused when they discovered our Sunday, June 25, front page photo of Simpson crying in the hallway were taken before, not after, the verdict was read. When I re-entered the courtroom, I might have found out why. One of my journalism colleagues told me she heard the jury had asked for a smoke break before returning the verdict. As Simpson waited with the rest of us to learn her fate, everyone had a good idea what the decision would be. By taking a smoke break, the jury, perhaps unknowingly, was sending a signal that they planned on continuing their service a little while longer, which meant the punishment phase was coming up, something that only happens in a trial when the defendant is found guilty.

It is also always interesting to see what pieces of evidence the jury requests. Within the first half hour, they requested to watch the two surveillance video tapes where the solicitation took place along with statements by the victim of the attempted hit, Shemane Watts, and the man Simpson first approached about a possible hit, Kevin Cash. They also requested to see the Bridgeport Index article and letter to the editor regarding the fight between Watts and Simpson. None of that is too surprising. The videos were obviously the prosecution’s key pieces of evidence. Jurors suspended their deliberations after about two hours.

The following day, after about 15 minutes of deliberation, the jury asked to see photos of Simpson’s home. About 30 minutes later, they had reached their verdict.

So I’m back in Wise County now, where the parking is free and the roads are a little less congested. The pace of life may be a little slower out here, but as this latest trial has proven, we still have our share of crime.

And our citizens, when called upon, perform their civic duty as jurors to make sure justice is served. I witnessed it firsthand, and I was reminded of why our criminal justice system, while not perfect, is still an amazing system.