In May of last year in Milwaukee, WI, 13-year-old Darius Simmons was taking out the trash in front of his home at around 10am. He was confronted by 76-year-old neighbor John Henry Spooner, who accused the boy of stealing from him. Before Darius could explain that he hadn’t stolen anything, Spooner pulled out a gun and fired a shot into the boy’s chest, vowing to “teach him a lesson.”
In court, Patricia Larry testified that she heard the gun shot and ran after her son, finding him on the ground with only a light pulse in his neck. “Then I pulled his shirt up and I saw he had a bullet hole in his chest,” she testified tearfully. “He took one more breath and that’s it,” Larry added. Darius Simmons died on the sidewalk.
This is a horrifying story no matter what. However, what makes it even more compelling is that young Darius Simmons was black and his shooter, John Henry Spooner is white. Also, the entire murder was captured on Spooner’s own home surveillance camera.
Milwaukee police officer Richard Martinez, who responded to the crime scene, testified that Spooner freely confessed upon his arrest, saying “Yeah, I shot him” and admitting he had another bullet in his pocket. Martinez then ordered Spooner at gunpoint to drop his weapon and Spooner bent down and laid his handgun on the ground. While detained, Spooner commented that he had reached his breaking point, that his house had been broken into 2 days earlier and that he knew the culprits were the kids who lived next door, who were part of a family that recently moved next door and had caused nothing but trouble. Spooner believed it was within his right to take matters into his own hands and to hunt the boy down. Sound familiar?
Spooner’s defense attorney, Franklyn Gimbel, presented to the jury that Spooner was suffering from a mental illness that prevented him from knowing right from wrong at the time. The jury, who watched the horrific surveillance video with hands over their mouths, didn’t buy Gimbel’s story. Last week, Spooner was found guilty of 1st degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
Like the Trayvon Martin case, this is not an isolated story. Sadly, scenarios such as this happen all across the country. Is it mental illness? Is it “Stand Your Ground” self defense? Or is it really just black and white?
WARNING: This video is graphic and disturbing.
