Hutto convicted of capital murder in slaying of Clinton woman, 81
A Hinds County Circuit Court jury on Saturday found James Cobb Hutto guilty in the September 2010 murder of an elderly Clinton resident. Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before delivering the verdict to Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Bill Gowan.
The verdict came after six days of testimony marked by repeated outbursts by Hutto, including disruptive behavior in court on Saturday.
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.
He was convicted of capital murder in the death of 81-year-old Ethel Winstead Simpson, whom he lured from the Baptist Healthplex in Clinton in September 2010, allegedly murdering her later that night after the two traveled to Vicksburg casinos. Hutto also is facing murder charges in the death of his aunt in Alabama.
“There’s other murders, crimes in Alabama, attempted murders, and all that in Alabama. Now, think about that and be fair about that,” Hutto said in Wednesday’s outburst, WAPT reported.
Simpson’s partially decomposed body was found on an Edwards hog farm a couple of days after she was reported missing. On Wednesday, prosecutors showed jurors surveillance video that shows what appears to be Hutto and Simpson at Riverwalk Casino, and separate video of what prosecutors say is Hutto at another casino, Ameristar.
“He arrived at the casino at 1:15 a.m., played slot machines, talked to a few casino employees, cashed out tickets,” testified R.E. Dyer, of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, according to the WAPT report.
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 Edwards farm.
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 Clinton police on Sept. 13, 2010. Police believe she was killed the night she and Hutto went to the casinos.
Police in Mississippi and Alabama charged Hutto, a convicted sex offender, with Simpson’s slaying and the death of his aunt, Virginia Rardon, 68, of Birmingham.
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.
Hutto has been known to have outbursts in the courtroom. On one occasion in an Alabama court, Hutto called himself “the hit man” in an appearance shortly after being apprehended, a reference to his on-again off-again forays into ultimate fighting.
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