Judge grants Timberview High School shooter relief on 2 new charges, court records show

A district court judge has ruled that two counts of aggravated assault recently brought against convicted Timberview High School shooter Timothy Simpkins violate double jeopardy but upheld the third count, according to court documents and Simpkins’ lawyers.

Simpkins, who is serving a 12-year sentence after being found guilty of attempted capital murder in July 2023, still faces multiple charges connected with events leading up to the October 2021 North Texas shooting that wounded two students and one teacher.

On Oct. 6, 2021, Simpkins took a beating from 15-year-old Zacchaeus Selby at Timberview High School, which is located in Arlington but part of the Mansfield Independent School District. Simpkins shot Selby once, and then again as the 15-year-old crawled on his back toward a stairwell, according to testimony and video. Simpkins fired on Selby six times.

Another student, Shaniya McNeely, was grazed by a bullet. A teacher who arrived to help break up the fight, Calvin Pettitt, was shot in the back when he turned to run after learning Simpkins had a gun. All three of the shooting victims survived.

New indictment in shooting at school

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Simpkins on April 9 of this year on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one count of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place in connection with the shooting.

Pettitt and McNeely were listed as aggravated assault victims in the April 9 indictment. A third person who wasn’t part of the original case against Simpkins was also listed.

Simpkins already stood trial for shooting Pettitt and McNeely as part of the attempted capital murder case last year, his attorneys argued, and according to the double jeopardy clause of the Fifth Amendment, Simpkins can’t be tried for those offenses a second time.

On May 7, Simpkins’ attorneys filed a plea of double jeopardy based on prior conviction and a motion to dismiss the indictment based on multiple punishments for the same crime. During a hearing later that day, the prosecution made an oral motion to amend the indictment.

A document filed the afternoon of May 7 shows that in the amended indictment prosecutors proposed naming two other individuals who were present but not injured at Timberview at the time of the shooting as victims of assault in place of Pettitt and McNeely. The proposed indictment alleged Simpkins threatened the additional victims by firing the gun in their presence.

Judge rules some charges violate double jeopardy

In a court order which was issued Friday, Judge Ryan Hill denied the prosecution’s motion to amend the portion of the indictment listing Pettitt and McNeely, saying the proposed changes were “not statutorily permitted.” Hill also agreed that Simpkins could not be prosecuted for the aggravated assault charges relating to Pettitt and McNeely on the grounds of double jeopardy.

Simpkins’ attorney Lesa Pamplin told the Star-Telegram in a phone interview Friday that the decision to bring further charges against Simpkins after his attempted murder conviction in July surprised and angered her. According to Pamplin, the district attorney’s office didn’t get the life sentence it wanted for Simpkins last year, and now prosecutors are going to try again.

“Vindictiveness,” she said. “That’s all I can say.”

The district attorney’s office did not return a request for comment on Friday and Monday on why it is seeking to try Simpkins on additional charges.

Pamplin said the judge’s order on Friday limited the prosecution on what it can do and allowed the defense to make some headway.

“I applaud Judge Hill for having the courage to say, ‘No, we’re not doing this,’” Pamplin said.

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Simpkins still faces one charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon related to the shooting at Timberview. At the May 7 hearing, the prosecution agreed to waive the fourth count in the indictment of unlawfully carrying a weapon in a prohibited place.

Plea agreement possible

Simpkins is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.

Pamplin said the prosecution has offered a plea deal, but Simpkins and his attorneys still hadn’t accepted or rejected it as of Monday afternoon. She is hoping the case won’t have to go to trial.

“We don’t want to take (Simpkins) through another trial,” Pamplin said. “We don’t want to take anyone from Timberview through another trial.”

Simpkins also faces one count of aggravated assault and two counts of deadly conduct related to a shooting that took place at an Arlington RaceTrac gas station on Sept. 26, 2021, just 10 days before the Timberview shooting.

Simpkins testified at his July 2023 trial that he was smoking marijuana inside a car at RaceTrac with three others, including Selby’s older brother. Two of them hit Simpkins on the back of the head with a gun and stole his marijuana and cash, he said. Simpkins fired a handgun at the car the two left in, he said.

A Tarrant County grand jury indicted Simpkins on the aggravated assault and deadly conduct charges in August 2023. Hill granted a motion from the district attorney’s office to consolidate the Sept. 26 offenses with the new charges that have been filed against him in the school shooting so they would go to trial at the same time.

Simpkins also faces charges of unlawfully carrying a weapon to school on Oct. 4-5, 2021, the two days before the shooting, court documents state.

Another case that is pending, according to court documents, relates to Simpkins shooting and injuring Selby on Oct. 6, 2021, but that indictment is from February 2022, before Simpkins was reindicted on the attempted capital murder charge on which he was tried. It’s not clear how Simpkins could be tried on those charges considering his attempted capital murder conviction.

Pamplin said the prosecution could have included all of the additional charges in the original trial instead of waiting until now. The person who is listed as the victim of aggravated assault in the April 9 indictment was someone who appeared on the witness list during the July trial, so the prosecution knew that individual existed, she said.

“So why are we here?” Pamplin said.

How many years could be added to sentence?

The DA’s office has requested that Simpkins receive cumulative sentences if found guilty, meaning any new sentence would begin after his current sentence is finished instead of running concurrently, according to court records.

Under Texas law, a conviction for aggravated assault, which is a second-degree felony, would carry a sentence of two to 20 years. The deadly conduct and unlawfully carrying a weapon charges are third-degree felonies, which could add two to 10 years for each count.