A DeKalb County man accused of fatally shooting his pregnant girlfriend was able to tell a judge “it wasn’t me” on Thursday and mean it.
Still, along with a second bond denial, a motion to dismiss the murder and feticide indictment against Carlo Simpson on the grounds that his name was wrong on the charging document was dropped.
“It’s not ‘Carlos,’” DeKalb County public defender Daryl Queen said of Simpson’s first name. “They put the ‘S’ on there by mistake.”
No worries, DeKalb assistant district attorney Carrie McCurdy said, after a review of Simpson’s birth certificate.
“We corrected his name and re-indicted,” McCurdy said.
Simpson, 23, allegedly shot 20-year-old Shikira Dunson in the face during an argument outside his home on Feb. 18, prosecutors said.
Because Dunson, the mother of Simpson’s 10-month-old, was five-months pregnant when she died, prosecutors added feticide to the indictment that includes murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, gun possession and a host of other charges.
During his probable cause hearing in March, Simpson was denied bond by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Courtney L. Johnson.
Thursday, public defender Queen argued that his client was remorseful for Dunson’s death.
“He accidentally shot his girlfriend,” Queen said. “He admits culpability. But this was not a murder.”
But McCurdy countered, as prosecutors had before, that Simpson joined in a plot by his family to hide the truth.
“The defendant posed a flight risk because there was an immediate attempt to cover up, shown by the facts,” she said.
In the March probable cause hearing, prosecutors said Simpson’s sister was recorded on a jail phone with him discussing plans to persuade Dunson’s mother to drop the charges.
Retired DeKalb Judge Michael Hancock, sitting in Thursday for Johnson, made the same ruling as Johnson.
“The defendant initially left the scene after the shooting … there were witnesses who gave false statements – defendants’ two sisters,” Hancock said.
The judge also pointed out that one of Simpson’s friends allegedly hid the weapon and that Simpson initially gave false statements to police.
Simpson will remain in the DeKalb County jail until trial.
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