Post by guest on Feb 13, 2009 9:57:26 GMT -5
OH - Killer gets mercy from family
Killer gets mercy from family
By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer. com • February 12, 2009
In so many ways, Jeffrey Barrett and Rodney “Ron” Simpson were
opposites.
Simpson was so gentle he refused to kill pesky raccoons trapped at
his sister’s house, catching and releasing them.
Barrett is an admitted stone-cold murderer who never will be released
from prison after his Thursday guilty plea – a plea that, thanks to
Simpson’s family, might have spared Barrett’s life.
Simpson was a loving father.
Barrett bragged to his mother how he beat Simpson to death and then
threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
Simpson chose not to drink and drive.
Barrett killed to feed his drug habit.
“We don’t forgive Jeffrey Barrett. We don’t believe that the
forgiveness is ours to give. It was a horrible, horrendous crime,”
Iris Simpson Bush said today.
She is Simpson’s sister and urged Hamilton County prosecutors – who
were seeking the death penalty against Barrett – to accept a plea
deal that allowed Barrett instead to be sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
At a Thursday hearing before Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler,
Barrett pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery and aggravated
murder of Simpson and was sent to prison for life.
“We have no gain in (the murderer’s) death. His death wouldn’t help
us,” brother Rick Simpson said.
Ron Simpson, a manager of hundreds of rental properties, was at an
East End bar Aug. 17, 2007, when he chose to sleep in his parked
pickup truck instead of driving after drinking.
Hours later, Barrett was looking for drug money and jumped into
Simpson’s truck and robbed him, dragged him out and used a metal
fence post encased in concrete to poke two large holes in Simpson’s
skull, killing him.
Barrett, an 11th-grade dropout who already was on parole with a long
criminal history, later told his mother what he’d done and she called
police. The case was featured on the television police show “48 Hours.”
Even though Barrett, 39, imposed a death sentence on Simpson, Bush
and her family decided he should live.
“I am so proud that he wasn’t able to reduce us to the hatred that he
obviously carries around,” Bush said. “If (the plea) it spares his
family, we’re OK with that.”
Barrett’s mother suffers from cancer with a dire prognosis.
“He took something from this family. We don’t believe our brother
would want it any other way,” Bush added.
That’s typical of her brother, she said, adding how upset she was
that Barrett is now more well-known in the community than her brother.
“(Barrett) didn’t kill some neighborhood lush. (Simpson) was a very
hard-working, very generous man,” Bush said of her brother.
When raccoons kept getting into her house, her brother set traps and
for two weeks came over on his lunch hour to see what he caught.
When he caught one, he drove to the Little Miami River and released
it. He did that several times until her raccoon problem was solved.
“He told me, ‘I released them all in the same area in case they’re
family so they can find each other,’” Bush said, her eyes welling
with tears.
“All that’s lost because somebody wanted some drug money that night.”
Bush and her family agreed to the plea deal because they wanted
closure. They wanted to avoid what likely would be fighting the case
for years on appeals.
“We did not want to have him outlive all of us on Death Row,” she said.
Prosecutor Joe Deters said this was the first time in his 30-year
career he allowed a family to talk him out of seeking the death penalty.
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090212/NEWS01/302120068/1056/COL02
Killer gets mercy from family
By Kimball Perry • kperry@enquirer. com • February 12, 2009
In so many ways, Jeffrey Barrett and Rodney “Ron” Simpson were
opposites.
Simpson was so gentle he refused to kill pesky raccoons trapped at
his sister’s house, catching and releasing them.
Barrett is an admitted stone-cold murderer who never will be released
from prison after his Thursday guilty plea – a plea that, thanks to
Simpson’s family, might have spared Barrett’s life.
Simpson was a loving father.
Barrett bragged to his mother how he beat Simpson to death and then
threatened to kill her if she told anyone.
Simpson chose not to drink and drive.
Barrett killed to feed his drug habit.
“We don’t forgive Jeffrey Barrett. We don’t believe that the
forgiveness is ours to give. It was a horrible, horrendous crime,”
Iris Simpson Bush said today.
She is Simpson’s sister and urged Hamilton County prosecutors – who
were seeking the death penalty against Barrett – to accept a plea
deal that allowed Barrett instead to be sentenced to life in prison
without parole.
At a Thursday hearing before Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler,
Barrett pleaded guilty to the aggravated robbery and aggravated
murder of Simpson and was sent to prison for life.
“We have no gain in (the murderer’s) death. His death wouldn’t help
us,” brother Rick Simpson said.
Ron Simpson, a manager of hundreds of rental properties, was at an
East End bar Aug. 17, 2007, when he chose to sleep in his parked
pickup truck instead of driving after drinking.
Hours later, Barrett was looking for drug money and jumped into
Simpson’s truck and robbed him, dragged him out and used a metal
fence post encased in concrete to poke two large holes in Simpson’s
skull, killing him.
Barrett, an 11th-grade dropout who already was on parole with a long
criminal history, later told his mother what he’d done and she called
police. The case was featured on the television police show “48 Hours.”
Even though Barrett, 39, imposed a death sentence on Simpson, Bush
and her family decided he should live.
“I am so proud that he wasn’t able to reduce us to the hatred that he
obviously carries around,” Bush said. “If (the plea) it spares his
family, we’re OK with that.”
Barrett’s mother suffers from cancer with a dire prognosis.
“He took something from this family. We don’t believe our brother
would want it any other way,” Bush added.
That’s typical of her brother, she said, adding how upset she was
that Barrett is now more well-known in the community than her brother.
“(Barrett) didn’t kill some neighborhood lush. (Simpson) was a very
hard-working, very generous man,” Bush said of her brother.
When raccoons kept getting into her house, her brother set traps and
for two weeks came over on his lunch hour to see what he caught.
When he caught one, he drove to the Little Miami River and released
it. He did that several times until her raccoon problem was solved.
“He told me, ‘I released them all in the same area in case they’re
family so they can find each other,’” Bush said, her eyes welling
with tears.
“All that’s lost because somebody wanted some drug money that night.”
Bush and her family agreed to the plea deal because they wanted
closure. They wanted to avoid what likely would be fighting the case
for years on appeals.
“We did not want to have him outlive all of us on Death Row,” she said.
Prosecutor Joe Deters said this was the first time in his 30-year
career he allowed a family to talk him out of seeking the death penalty.
news.cincinnati.com/article/20090212/NEWS01/302120068/1056/COL02