Court Denies Latest Bid By Simpson To Appeal Case

A Massachusetts Appeals Court Tuesday denied an attempt by convicted murder Joe Simpson for a retrial.

In May of 2009, a Superior Court jury found the defendant guilty of armed assault with intent to murder and use of a motor vehicle without authority in the 2005 attack on a 26-year-old Stoneham woman. Simpson as sentenced to 15-20 years in state prison. He appealed his decision and lost in 2011.

In 2016 Simpson filed a motion to revise and revoke his sentence but that appeal was denied as well. The defendant then filed a motion to reconsider, which was also denied by the same judge. In his final appeal, Simpson argued for the first time that the sentence imposed constituted "cruel and unusual punishment" and the prosecutor's closing included improper remarks.

But in denying the appeal Tuesday the court agreed "with the motion judge's thoughtful memorandum of
decision and discern no abuse of discretion or error of law by the judge."