For the second time in three years, a Lake County jury has found a Waukegan man guilty of stabbing his estranged wife to death.
The jury deliberated two hours Thursday before finding Larry Simpson, 32, guilty of first-degree murder in the May 1994 death of Carla Simpson.
“We’re thrilled,” said Assistant State’s Atty. Randie Bruno.
Simpson faces 20 to 50 years in prison, Bruno said. Judge Stephen Walter will sentence Simpson Nov. 21.
After his first trial in September 1994, Simpson was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
But last spring, the Illinois Appellate Court for the 2nd District ruled that Simpson, who was taking seizure medication at the time of the first trial, should have had a hearing to determine whether he was mentally fit to stand trial.
Because no such hearing took place–as was required by law–the appeals court sent the case back to the Lake County Circuit Court, said Assistant State’s Atty. George Strickland.
During the second day of testimony Thursday, prosecutors called Waukegan police officers, a friend of Simpson’s and his mother to the stand–all of whom testified that Simpson had confessed to the crime shortly after Carla Simpson was killed on May 17, 1994, Bruno said.
Simpson took the stand on his own behalf, as he did during his first trial.
“He testified that he didn’t intend to kill her,” Bruno said. “He said he snapped and he didn’t mean to kill her.”
Simpson’s attorney, Alex Rafferty, could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
In Wednesday’s testimony, Simpson’s brother, John, said that he had driven with Larry Simpson to Carla Simpson’s home on the 800 block of Oakley Avenue in Waukegan. Carla Simpson, 27, who lived with Larry Simpson’s two children and another son, had been separated from her husband for several months.
Carla’s third child, Jeffery Mallard, who was 9 at the time of the murder, testified Wednesday that Larry pushed him out of the way before entering his mother’s bedroom. He said he later heard his mother scream.
Prosecutors said Larry Simpson stabbed his wife 18 times.
