Indy Flying J shooting from last year, follow-up.
Otis
Vic Ryckaert
January 11, 2001
Valencia Blair was a 40-year-old single mother who made a living as a truck
driver. She fell in love with a dangerous man.
That man, James Simmons, had killed a woman 20 years before Blair agreed to
marry him. After Blair ended their relationship, Simmons killed her, too.
A Marion County jury deliberated about an hour Wednesday before finding
Simmons, 44, guilty of murdering his ex-fiancee at the Southside Flying J
truck stop.
The jury ruled that on March 1, Simmons shot Blair three times with a
.380-caliber handgun.
"She was a good person," said the victim's mother, Mary Blair. "She loved
people, and she would do anything for a person who loved her."
Jurors did not know that Simmons had been convicted in 1981 of murdering his
then-wife, Betty Simmons, in Chesapeake, Va. He served 13 years in a
Virginia prison.
Blair, of Memphis, drove for U.S. Xpress. Simmons, of Virginia Beach, Va.,
drove for M.S. Carrier.
Police found Blair's body inside her truck parked at the Flying J at I-465
and Ind. 37.
The trucking industry uses satellites and computers to keep track of trucks.
The so-called global positioning system showed Blair's truck arrived at the
Flying J just after midnight March 1; Simmons' truck was already there.
In Simmons' truck, investigators found traces of the victim's blood and an
unfired bullet that tests concluded had been cycled through the same gun
used to kill Blair.
"There was no reason to kill her except for his own personal anger that she
was getting away from him," Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Jane Conley
said. "I think he's a very dangerous man."
The judge did not allow Simmons' prior conviction to be discussed during the
trial, but it may be brought out during a sentencing hearing scheduled for
Feb. 7. He faces up to 65 years in prison.
--
--
_____l Tom
__/ l gofa...@prodigy.net
/________l___________________
O OO\ O O\
BART MAN
Fr8linr17231
NO HE NEEDS A SHORT ROPE AND A TALL TREE!
Michael Cash
to avoid a brawl, waded right in with:
>good...he needs to be in a rubber room!
>
Well, all those troubled souls who wander through here and ask stuff
like "I want to get into trucking, but I have no experience, and was
once convicted of drunk-and-disorderly......Is there a company that
will give me a chance?" now know where to go, don't they? Just call
US-Xpress. Hell, if they'll hire folks who did 13 years for murder
they should be willing to overlook a whole hell of a lot of more minor
things, don't you think?
--
Michael Cash
"It isn't a sin to leave some thoughts unexpressed."
Michael Josephson
"Who needs facts when you're rationalizing?"
Bob Harris
Japan from the Driver's Seat
http://www.sunfield.ne.jp/~mike/
Fr8linr17231
Michael Cash
one to avoid a brawl, waded right in with:
>He worked for M.S. Carriers. The victim worked for U.S. Express.
Then substitute as appropriate.
Don The Trucker
John E. Smith
"Michael Cash" <mike...@sunfield.ne.jp> wrote in message
news:53c26t4mn4120q90c...@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 13 Jan 2001 20:19:33 GMT, BART MAN <ba...@mail.com> never one
> to avoid a brawl, waded right in with:
>
> >good...he needs to be in a rubber room!
> >
> Well, all those troubled souls who wander through here and ask stuff
> like "I want to get into trucking, but I have no experience, and was
> once convicted of drunk-and-disorderly......Is there a company that
> will give me a chance?" now know where to go, don't they? Just call
> US-Xpress. Hell, if they'll hire folks who did 13 years for murder
> they should be willing to overlook a whole hell of a lot of more minor
> things, don't you think?
At least get your facts straight, will you? He worked for MS Carriers, not
US Express.
John E. Smith
