We, the comrades of Unit 1012: The
VFFDP, will always remember 81-year-old Ethel Simpson every year on September
13. She was murdered by James Cobb Hutto on September 13, 2010. Hutto was
sentenced to death on May 25, 2013.
Let us remember her on the way she
live on this earth:
"So long as we live, they too shall live and love for they are a part of us as we remember them."- Gates of Prayer
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Ethel Winstead Simpson
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Ethel
Winstead Simpson, 81, died Monday, September 13, 2010 in Edwards.
Visitation is 9-11am Thursday, September 23, 2010 at First Baptist Church in Clinton.
Funeral
services will be at 11 am at the church. A graveside service is scheduled at
2:30 pm at Line Creek Baptist Church Cemetery in Morton. Ott and Lee Funeral
Home in Brandon is handling arrangements.
Ethel was born in Scott County, Mississippi on March 7, 1929 to Effie Cooper Winstead and Thomas Asa Winstead. She graduated from Morton High School and spent 42 years working for Bell South Telephone Company prior to retiring in 1991.
Ethel was a resident of Clinton for the past 46 years and was a member of the First Baptist Church of Clinton. A lifelong enthusiast of travel, music, dance, theatre, and social gatherings, Ethel spent her retirement years being of service to family members in need, volunteering as a host at museum exhibitions and election day voting centers, working in various capacities as a Bell South Pioneer Volunteer, attending Monday Christian Women's Business Luncheon at First Baptist Church of Jackson, and enjoying her association with people in bible studies and social organizations in the Jackson area. Mrs. Simpson was also a devoted and loyal wife, mother, sister and friend.
She is survived by her son, Ken Simpson of Houston, Texas; brother, Thomas Winstead of Pelahatchie; sister-in-laws, Lorraine Winstead of Pelahatchie and Dot Simpson of Morton and numerous nieces and nephews of whom she was proud and loved very much.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 57 years, Henry Simpson; parents, Thomas Asa and Effie Cooper Winstead; brothers, Herbert and Aubert Winstead; and sister, Mae Tucker.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Henry and Ethel Simpson Scholarship Fund at the University of Southern Mississippi Foundation, 119 College Drive #5210, Hattiesburg, Mississippi 39406-0001.
Please view our online guest register at ottandleefuneralhome.com.
Published
in Clarion Ledger on Sept. 22, 2010
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Ethel Simpson
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Killer's
death sentence would have pleased victim, son says
Sentence would please victim, her son
says
May 28, 2013
Written by
Ethel Simpson’s son said he thinks his
mother would be proud to know that her killer has been sentenced to death.
“She was a Republican, she
was a Mississippian, she was conservative politically,” Ken Simpson said a few hours after
James Cobb Hutto, 41, was sentenced to die for the 2010 murder of his
81-year-old mother.
“I believe my mom would be
happy with the results of this trial.”
Jurors deliberated for less than two
hours before delivering the guilty verdict to Hinds County Circuit Court Judge
Bill Gowan on Saturday, but it took them a little longer to decide on the death
sentence. After deliberating through Memorial Day, the jury sentenced Hutto to
death.
The verdict came after six days of
testimony marked by repeated outbursts by Hutto, including disruptive behavior
such as making obscene gestures and using profanity in the courtroom.
For two days this week, Hutto had been
warned about his behavior by Gowan. “Y’all can kill me today. I don’t care. Do
it today. No, I’m just saying, they can do it today,” Hutto said on Wednesday,
according to WAPT-TV.
Ken Simpson said it seemed to him that
Hutto may have been showing out in order to stall the process and possibly seem
crazy.
“I think it’s all an act. I admit he’s
different, and I think he’s dangerous, but conveniently the two things that
haven’t come out of his mouth are ‘I’m guilty’ and ‘I take responsibility,’” he
said.
“In my opinion he was putting on a
show, because it’s better to spend your life in Whitfield than prison,” Ken
Simpson continued. “He says he doesn’t want to be crazy and wants to die, but I
think he wants to be crazy and doesn’t want to die.”
According to WAPT, on Wednesday Hutto
told the court, “There’s other murders, crimes in Alabama, attempted murders,
and all that in Alabama. Now, think about that and be fair about that.”
Police in Alabama also charged Hutto,
a convicted sex offender, with the death of his aunt, Virginia Rardon, 68, of
Birmingham.
Prosecutors urged jurors to “call his
bluff” in reference to Hutto’s repeated requests for the death penalty.
(Page 2 of 2)
“Going through this has been a powerless feeling,
I’ve had to trust the process and be patient and hope it would work out in due
time,” Ken Simpson said. “Some of the things that have come out of Hutto’s
mouth have been insulting and shocking that someone can behave like this and
get away with it as long as he has.”
Hog farmer Charlie Richardson on Wednesday told
jurors that he found Simpson’s bloodied body stuffed in a large grain bin used
for feeding pigs on his farm in Edwards.
Police said after Simpson’s death that Hutto had
told Simpson he had cancer to elicit her sympathy, and that his family had
abandoned him.
Her family, including a brother she lived with in
Clinton, reported her missing to police on Sept. 13, 2010. Police believe she
was killed that night. She and Hutto earlier had been seen entering and leaving
a Vicksburg casino.
Ken Simpson said his mother was a compassionate and
generous person, but that she had the kind of resilience that had helped her to
come back from a car wreck in 2006 that could have killed her.
“She was a resilient human being. I imagine she was
outmatched, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she fought for her life right up to
the end,” he said.
The jury was selected in Oxford last week and
brought to Jackson. Attorneys believed it would have been hard to find jurors
in Hinds County who didn’t know about the case.
“We really appreciate the personal
sacrifice those jurors from Oxford made. I’m sure that their lives were
terribly inconvenienced,” Ken
Simpson said. “She loved Mississippi and I think
Mississippi stood up for her tonight.”
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