Bond withheld for accused JPD officer

September 24, 2004
Section: Local
Page: 1B

Jeremy Hudson
Staff

Sexual assault suspect called flight risk

By Jeremy Hudson
jehudson@jackson.gannett.com

The former Jackson police officer indicted on federal sexual assault and kidnapping charges this week was ordered held without bond, a judge ruled Thursday.

That ruling came after U.S. Magistrate Judge Alfred G. Nichols initially ruled that Maceo Simmons, 48, was entitled to a bond and set it at $25,000. Assistant U.S. Attorney Paige Fitzgerald appealed that decision, and U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate overturned the earlier ruling following an hourlong hearing. He determined Simmons was a flight risk.

Simmons, being held at the Madison County Detention Center, was acquitted in 2001 along with Thomas Catchings, another Jackson police officer, of sexual battery and conspiracy charges in Hinds County Circuit Court in 2001.

But federal authorities launched their own investigation because Simmons was acting under the color of law during the alleged crime, and that would be a federal violation of civil rights offense, officials said.

After a traffic stop in 1999, a then 19-year-old woman said Simmons took her in his patrol car to a remote spot off Forest Avenue and sexually assaulted her while Catchings acted as a lookout.

During Thursday's hearing, Fitzgerald said Catchings, a current Jackson motorcycle officer, has been granted immunity and has agreed to testify against Simmons in the federal trial, something he did not do during the state trial.

"He will fully corroborate the victim's claim," Fitzgerald said during the hearing.

Catchings invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during the state trial and did not testify. Instead, he offered a 20-page statement and his claims could not be cross-examined. Since Catchings has agreed to testify in the federal trial, Simmons' attorney Kevin Camp will have the chance to cross-examine.

"I think it is going to be better for us," Camp said during the hearing. ... "Whatever he said (during the state trial) you were kind of stuck with."

Federal authorities began an investigation on Simmons only after he sought back pay from the city of Jackson after the acquittal proved police had no reason to fire him, Camp said in court.

Simmons worked during 2003 as a civilian police officer for the Fort Hood, Texas, Police Department and was fired for falsifying information on a national security card, Fitzgerald said during court.

Federal investigators have interviewed about 30 officers who have worked with Simmons and described him as "a person of poor morale character" and "shady," Fitzgerald said during court. He was deemed a flight risk because he told fellow officers he planned to give his wife half of his retirement funds and flee to Canada with a girlfriend in Texas, Fitzgerald said during court. However, Camp said that would be impossible because Simmons has twice declared bankruptcy, is $22,000 in debt and has no retirement accounts.

PHOTO
Simmons