Woman tells of alleged assault in trial of JPD officers

November 28, 2001
Section: Main
Page: 1A

Jimmie E. Gates

Patrolmen facing conspiracy, sexual battery charges

By Jimmie E. Gates Clarion-Ledger Staff Writer

A woman testified Tuesday that a Jackson police officer sexually assaulted her in a remote area of the city in 1999 while another officer acted as a lookout.

"I felt disgusted," the woman said on the first day of the sexual battery and conspiracy trial of Jackson Police patrolmen Maceo Simmons and Thomas Catchings in Hinds County Circuit Court.

"It just tore me up," said the woman, who was 19 at the time.

The incident allegedly took place early Sept. 19, 1999, but the woman, now 21, said she didn't report it until a year later because she was scared. Simmons and Catchings were arrested Dec. 8, 2000.

The woman said her mother convinced her to report the alleged incident after Simmons, the officer she says sexually assaulted her, showed up at her house on an unrelated domestic dispute call.

The Clarion-Ledger doesn't identify persons alleging sexual assault.

Catchings, 45, a five-year veteran and former member of the Neighborhood Enforcement Team, and Simmons, 36, who has been on the force three years, are on administrative leave without pay until disposition of the case.

Simmons and Catchings face up to 40 years in prison on the sexual battery charge and up to five years on the conspiracy charge.

In her opening statement to the jury of seven women and five men, attorney Cynthia Speetjens, who helps prosecute sex crimes for the Hinds County district attorney's office, said Simmons and Catchings "while on duty and being paid to protect and serve were wrecking a young girl's life."

But Eddie Tucker, attorney for Catchings, and Kevin Camp, attorney for Simmons, said the evidence doesn't support the charges.

Camp said the woman who alleges she was assaulted "has made numerous statements and they all change."

He said the officers are innocent.

The woman said she was assaulted after she, her boyfriend and another male were stopped by police for allegedly running a traffic light on Livingston Road in north Jackson.

Simmons and Catchings responded after another officer stopped their yellow Oldsmobile Delta 88, she said.

She said Simmons confiscated $50 worth of marijuana and $150 cash from her, but told her, "Ain't no way in hell I will let a pretty thing like you go down for a little weed."

Catchings, instead, took her boyfriend to police headquarters, though he never was charged with any crime the other male, who was driving, was allowed to leave the scene.

The woman said Simmons drove her to police headquarters, too, and they waited in his car about 10 minutes until Catchings came out of the building.

Simmons radioed him to follow his car, she said.

She said Simmons drove her to Mill Street, where he stopped and talked with Catchings.

After that, she said, Simmons removed her handcuffs and moved her from the backseat of his patrol car to the front.

They then drove to "this dark hole" off of Forest Avenue, she said.

She said Simmons sexually assaulted her while Catchings stood outside his car keeping watch.

Being questioned by Speetjens, the woman said she did not want to have sex with Simmons. She said she was crying and just wanted to get away.

After Simmons finished, she said, he told Catchings he could "take it from here."

She said Catchings gave her a tissue and drove her to a street corner near her house.

Catchings told her not to tell anyone what had happened and gave her his pager number in case she needed anything, she said.

During cross examination, Camp pointed out that the woman initially told authorities, and also testified on Tuesday, that she was 18 at the time. But her birth date would have made her 19.

The woman said she didn't know why she thought she was 18 at the time.

Camp suggested that perhaps she was mistaken about other things she said happened that night.

"It could be because you were lying then and today" about what happened, Camp said.

The trial resumes today in Circuit Judge W. Swan Yerger's courtroom at the Hinds County Courthouse in Jackson.

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Catchings
Simmons