Published: September 26, 2008 12:57 am            

COURTS: Simcoe trial awaits verdict

BY NEALE Gulley

gulleyn@gnnewspaper.com

Attorneys who have for more than two weeks argued an 11-count indictment against attempted murder defendant Thomas Simcoe issued their closing statements Thursday.

County Court Judge Sara Sperrazza heard passionate remarks from both sides, and said she will review complete transcripts of the case, if necessary. Sperrazza said she will issue a ruling within two weeks.

In the meantime, she denied dismissing any charges, as requested by the defense prior to hearing summations. The judge said she has compiled roughly 200 pages of notes throughout the trial.

“The question that remains is, have these charges been proven beyond a reasonable doubt?” Sperrazza said as the attorneys prepared their remarks.

Evidence used by both prosecutors from the district attorney’s office and Simcoe’s defense attorney will factor into her lone decision in lieu of a jury, a condition requested by the defendant before the trial began.

The most serious charges faced by the 42-year-old North Tonawanda man are two counts of attempted murder for violence against his wife and a North Tonawanda police officer in his family’s home a year ago.

Simcoe, estranged from his wife, Stacey, had been living at his parents’ house at the time, but was asked by his wife to come over and help finalize divorce papers just hours before a scene erupted at the 41 Courtside Drive home, where Stacey and Thomas Simcoe once lived together. That incident would send the two of them and a North Tonawanda police officer to the hospital, Stacey with life-threatening injuries.

Prosecutors emphasized years of alleged physical abuse by the defendant. They referred to Simcoe as a “master manipulator” who would stop at nothing to keep his wife from leaving him, using suicide “gestures” over the years. He had, prosecutors contend, resorted to increasingly desperate measures, culminating in brutality without regard to his own children nor the desperate “bloodcurdling” cries of his 15-year spouse as she pleaded with him to cease the assault.

Even the defense has conceded the disturbing nature of the confrontation.

“There was a horrific incident that would have taken place at 41 Courtside, and the court has the testimony from a number of individuals who, in various unfortunate ways, were affected,” Simcoe’s attorney Phillip Dabney Jr. began.

He then questioned the credibility of consistent testimony by a neighbor, the couple’s young son (home at the time of the attack) and Stacey Simcoe, herself, saying they had discussed the incident several times over the past year.

That testimony painted Mr. Simcoe as the sole aggressor, although after taking the stand this week, the defendant insisted it was his wife who first threatened him.

Dabney cited testimony by the boy — as related through one of the three responding officers on the scene after “several” 911 calls — that the defendant had told his son his mother would be OK.

“Why is that important?” Dabney asked. “Because my client is being charged with attempted murder.”

There is also the suicide aspect of his defense, that Simcoe reportedly told the first officer in the house to shoot him. Simcoe said he was obsessed with killing a man he believed was having an affair or seeking an affair with Stacey, and then planned to take his own life. He had also left a tape recording under her bed, including conversations with one of her friends, for her to hear.

“I submit, If my client wanted to kill Stacey, how is it that he would have been able to do that?” Dabney said.

On the subject of the confrontation with police later, Dabney said:

“I submit for the court’s consideration, if there was an intent of murder that night it was Mr. Simcoe’s attempt of suicide. You don’t bring a knife to a gun fight.”

Prosecutors, in their statements, then fought to keep the massive body of evidence against the defendant at the forefront: In closing arguments, they contended that Simcoe brandished a knife against a police officer before resisting arrest, beat his wife mercilessly, bit off a large portion of her lip and had a rope ready in his pocket, which he twice used in attempts to strangle her.

The defense claimed Simcoe had the rope in order to kill the man he expected was having an affair. Nothing has been presented to dispute her claims that she did not have an extramarital affair.

Once paramedics were called, Assistant District Attorney Lisa Baehre reiterated, and before there was time to think, a barely conscious Stacey told one of the officers caring for her “I thought I was having a bad dream ... he did this to me in my sleep.”

“He did this to me in my sleep,” Baehre repeated.

Attorneys will be given 24-hours notice prior to a ruling.

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114.

        

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