75-year-old White Man Pleads Not Guilty to Murder of Black boy
/
From [HERE] and [HERE] A 75-year-old man who allegedly shot and killed his 13-year-old neighbor has pleaded not guilty and waived his preliminary hearing. He faces accusations of shooting Darius Simmons right in front of his own mother.
"I gotta...gotta problem with my arm," said a very talkative Spooner at the court hearing on Monday. Simmons' family sat right behind Spooner during the hearing. Representatives of Simmons' family talked afterward. "We saw a defendant who came to court laughing, giggling and motioning for coffee, showing no remorse," said Bishop Tavis Grant, who represents Rainbow Push.
According to the criminal complaint, Simmons was retrieving the garbage from the curb when he was confronted by Spooner. Spooner, the victim of multiple burglaries, claimed Simmons was the culprit of at least one of the burglaries.
Spooner asked Simmons for his belongings back, including two shotguns. Simmons denied having anything to do with Spooners’ stolen property. Simmons’ mother Patricia Larry told police that she also told Spooner they had nothing to do with his stolen property.
The criminal complaint says that’s when Spooner pulled out his gun and fired two shots at Simmons. When police arrived Spooner said, “Yeah I shot him.”
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide after examining the gunshot wounds on Simmons’ body.
The first degree murder charge carries a possible sentence of life in prison. Representatives for Simmons' family say they want hate crime charges against Spooner.
"We feel that Darius' race played a factor, and we want it examined," explained Bishop Grant. "We'll keep coming back until we get justice for Darius Simmons."
The shooting has drawn national attention and criticism. Even police have come under criticism about allegedly questioning Simmons' mother for two hours while her son lay dead in the street.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is asking for an investigation into those allegations about officers mistreating Simmons' mother.
Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn responded to those allegations on Monday.
"We didn't have a Sanford, Fla. here. We weren't dithering. We got the facts as fast we could, took immediate action and made a high-profile arrest that night. That was our goal. If we could have done it in a more sensitive manner, we'll certainly look into that," said Flynn at a police roll call on Monday morning.
