It took a Hawkins County jury about two and a half hours Wednesday to find Susan Marie Campbell guilty of negligent homicide in the July 16, 2004, drowning death of 5-year-old William Blake Simpson.
Campbell, 41, 505½ Clay St., Rogersville, was sentenced to two years in prison by Circuit Judge James Beckner for the negligent homicide as well as facilitating escape. Campbell's co-defendant in Wednesday's trial, Michael A. Zar, 47, 1028 Highway 31, Mooresburg, was acquitted on those same two charges.
Campbell's son is the boyfriend of the child's mother, and Campbell basically had a grandmother relationship with the child, according to testimony heard Wednesday. On July 16, Campbell took the boy to Cherokee Lake along with his little sister, Zar, two other adults and Campbell's 17-year-old son, who was an escapee from state custody.
"Negligent homicide is often a difficult case to prove because there is no intent involved," Assistant District Attorney Doug Godbee told the Times-News after the verdict had been rendered. "We're not saying that anybody intended for the baby to die, but we're saying that it was more than just an accident, whereas the defense kept saying it was just a tragic accident."
Prosecutors alleged that Campbell and Zar created an unsafe situation that day at the lake which led to the child drowning.
First they took the boy and his 4-year-old sister to an island on Cherokee Lake known as "the rope" where the adults knew a drastic drop-off existed right off the bank.
Prosecutors alleged that they didn't make sure that the boy, who couldn't swim, was wearing his life jacket, and that the adults were "partying" instead of watching William when the small boy went underwater and drowned.
The key prosecution witness was Anita Scott, who was enjoying a day at the lake with her sister and their children in a separate group near the Campbell/Zar group. She testified that the adults in the other group were drinking beer and smoking marijuana, and William and his sister appeared to be a "nuisance" to them.
Scott admitted that she and her sister had also smoked marijuana earlier in the day but said they weren't "high."
Scott testified she heard Zar taunting William to get into the water, stating "Don't be a p----, you don't want to be a p---- all your life." Scott said that she noticed William missing first and called out to Campbell and Zar's group to alert them.
Scott said she also called 911, even though Campbell and Zar told her not to because Campbell's 17-year-old son, who had escaped from state custody, was among their group.
Zar was beginning to get into his truck and leave with Campbell's son until - according to Scott - she "shamed" him into returning to the lake to help look for the missing boy. Scott testified she saw Campbell hide the beer cooler in some brush after police were called, and Scott pointed it out to Hawkins County Sheriff's Department Sgt. Mike Allen when he arrived.
Tennessee Valley Authority police officer Wayne Loven testified that he found 10 empty beer cans as well as 12 full cans in the cooler with ice. Loven was among several police officers to testify in Wednesday's trial, and each officer testified they noticed no indication that either Campbell or Zar was intoxicated. Except for a pack of rolling papers found with the beer cooler, each officer also testified there was no evidence of marijuana being smoked within the Campbell/Zar group.
Several witnesses testified it was Carrie Lynn Hawley, 35, 3054 Nebellett St., Morristown, who left the scene with Campbell's son and later returned without him. Hawley, who reportedly had gone to the lake that day as Zar's companion, was indicted on a charge of facilitating escape in January and arrested on a sealed indictment warrant on Tuesday.
Forensic pathologist Gretel Stephens testified there was unusually muddy water in William's stomach and lungs, which she said is an indication the boy struggled for a period of time, which kicked up dirt from the bottom. She said the boy's struggle could have lasted seconds or minutes.
Defense attorneys Burkett McInturff for Campbell and Jefferson Fairchild for Zar didn't call any witnesses after the prosecution rested its case. Upon announcing there would be no witnesses, Beckner sent the jury out of the courtroom and then questioned Zar and Campbell to make sure they understood their rights.
Initially, Campbell said she wished to testify because she believed some prosecution witnesses had been inaccurate.
A woman in the courtroom audience claiming to be Dallas Cartwright, Campbell's niece, disrupted the court, stating her aunt deserved an opportunity to testify. At first Beckner ordered her out of the courtroom. But when the woman blurted out another protest, Beckner found her guilty of contempt and sentenced her to 10 days in jail.
Beckner later said that Cartwright, who is pregnant, would be released from jail when she pays a fine. Campbell eventually agreed to follow the advice of her attorney and didn't testify.
During his closing arguments, Fairchild noted that William was not in the custody of Zar, and it was not Zar's duty to watch the child. Fairchild added that Zar didn't know that Campbell's teenage son was a fugitive and said Zar went to his vehicle to see if the missing child had wandered up there to the highway - not to facilitate the fugitive teen's escape. Fairchild added that Zar did get into the water and search for William until rescuers and Hawkins County Rescue Squad diver Chris Pinkston arrived and ordered him out of the water.
McInturff argued during his closing statement that prosecutors offered no credible evidence that Campbell did anything to cause William's death. He noted that 10 empty beer cans among a group that size didn't indicate excessive drinking, and the only evidence of marijuana use came from the two sisters who admitted they were using marijuana that day in the presence of their children.
McInturff said William's death was a terrible tragedy but was not a homicide.
"Any mother knows that a child can dart here and dart there, and we do the best we can to keep after them, but sometimes they get away," McInturff said. "She wouldn't have had this happen for anything in the world, but it's beyond doing anything about it now. The boy is gone.
"She's afraid you're going to think she killed him, and she didn't kill anybody. This has been terrible for her."
Beckner gave Campbell until Monday to pay an appeal bond or begin serving her sentence.
Willie Pat "Bo" Mullins, 39, 118 Ridge Road, Eidson, who was among the Campbell/Zar group the day of the drowning as Campbell's companion and was also charged with negligent homicide in the drowning, offered an Alford plea to the charge before Beckner on Monday.
An Alford plea is tantamount to a guilty plea except that it is not an admission of guilt.
Mullins, who had been in jail since being indicted in January, was sentenced to one year but was granted probation and released this week after serving 97 days.
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