JAMES COBB HUTTO III | A 52-year-old convicted rapist who used to fight in area Tough Man competitions | A jury convicted James Cobb Hutto III of capital murder for the death of 81yo Ethel W. Simpson. The jury also found Hutto should suffer death. | ALS

James Cobb Hutto III. Autographed Letter, Signed. Handwritten, Commercial #10 (4.125 × 9.5 envelope). Jackson, MS. Pmk: September 6, 2023. Content unknown. SEALED.

This case concerns the killing of eighty-one-year-old Ethel W. Simpson. The following facts were established at trial.

On September 8, 2010, James Cobb Hutto III (b. 6/7/1971 | age 52), a Jasper, Alabama, resident, contacted his ex-girlfriend, Sherri Lawson. Hutto told Lawson he wanted to see her and, on Friday, September 10, he purchased a used Camaro and drove to Clinton, Mississippi. Hutto and Lawson stayed together that weekend at the Comfort Inn in Clinton. At some point that weekend, Hutto’s Camaro broke down and was towed to a local repair shop.

On Monday, September 13, Hutto and Lawson parted ways after spending the weekend together. According to Lawson, Hutto indicated that he was trying to get back to Alabama. He also gave Lawson the paperwork to repair the broken Camaro in case she wanted to keep the car for herself. Later that afternoon, Hutto went to the Baptist Healthplex on the Mississippi College Campus in Clinton, located approximately half a mile away from the Comfort Inn. Several employees and patrons of the Healthplex encountered Hutto that day, including Ethel W. Simpson.

While at the Healthplex, Hutto befriended Simpson. Simpson drove Hutto back to the Comfort Inn and then drove home. And later that night, she went back to the hotel and picked up Hutto to socialize. The two took Simpson’s silver Mercedes to the Riverwalk casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi, arriving at 8:45 p.m. Hutto and Simpson spent a few hours gambling, and Simpson bought dinner for the two at a restaurant inside the casino. Hutto and Simpson left the casino together at 11:24 p.m.

About an hour after leaving the casino, Hutto arrived back at the Comfort Inn alone with Simpson’s Mercedes. He went to his room, emerged wearing different clothes, and left the Comfort Inn at approximately 12:51 a.m., seven minutes after arriving back at the hotel. Hutto then drove Simpson’s Mercedes back to Vicksburg, where he gambled at the Ameristar casino. At 2:11 a.m., he left the casino, and, according to witness testimony, a tag-reading camera on Interstate 20 in Rankin County captured an image of Simpson’s car traveling east toward Alabama just after 3:00 a.m.

On the morning of September 14, 2010, Thomas Winstead, Simpson’s brother and roommate, alerted Simpson’s son that Simpson had not returned home the night before. Ken Simpson attempted to inquire into his mother’s whereabouts, and when she could not be found, he contacted the Clinton Police Department. During the investigation into Simpson’s whereabouts, law-enforcement officials determined that Hutto was the last person seen with Simpson. On September 17, 2010, a member of the Auburn (Alabama) Police Department spotted Hutto driving Simpson’s silver Mercedes. Law-enforcement officials stopped Hutto and took him into custody in Lee County, Alabama.

On the same day as Hutto’s arrest, Simpson’s body was found on a hog farm in Edwards, Mississippi, just off Interstate 20. Edwards is located in Hinds County and is approximately halfway between Clinton and Vicksburg. An empty hog-feed container partially covered Simpson’s body. Simpson died from severe injuries to her head and neck, and forensic testing later identified her blood on the Nike flip-flops that Hutto wore on the night of Simpson’s disappearance.

After Hutto’s arrest, law-enforcement officials from Alabama interviewed him on four separate occasions. All four of these interrogations occurred in Alabama. Hutto told law-enforcement officials that he and Simpson had gone to the casino on the night of September 13, but he claimed that a man named Mark Cox had killed Simpson. Law-enforcement officials later determined that Mark Cox, an Alabama resident, was in Alabama at the time of Simpson’s disappearance.

• VIDEO: James Hutto Trial | https://youtu.be/LGXw4838S9U

• VIDEO: Hutto Trial More Outbursts | https://youtu.be/fD3vZvoZAXE

Archiving Protocol:

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