BURLINGTON — Federal prosecutors are requesting a judge rule on whether Vermont felon Everett Simpson, who’s accused of kidnapping a mother and child, transporting them across state lines and sexually assaulting the woman, is competent to stand trial.
During a hearing in federal court in Vermont on Aug. 12, U.S. District Court Judge William Sessions heard the motion and said he would take the request under consideration but has not issued a ruling, according to court documents.
The motion for “order of competency to stand trial,” which was filed by federal prosecutors July 1, is sealed from the public, and further information on the reason for the request was not available Tuesday. Kraig LaPorte, a spokesman for the federal prosecutor’s office, declined to comment on the case and on the motion when reached by email Tuesday.
However, the motion comes after a contentious legal battle in federal court that has ramped up in recent months after Simpson was allowed to represent himself.
Simpson was arrested in January 2019 on federal charges that include two counts of kidnapping and one count of transportation of stolen vehicle connected with the kidnapping that month. Prosecutors have said he walked away from Valley Vista, Bradford, Vt.-based treatment facility, in January 2019, and traveled down to the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, where he forced a woman, then 23, and her son into her car and drove them across state lines to the Upper Valley.
According to authorities, Simpson later raped the woman at the Comfort Inn in White River Junction before fleeing in her car. The sex assault charge is being handled at the state level in Windsor Superior Court following the resolution of his federal case.
In the nearly three years that the case has languished in federal court, seven different defense attorneys have represented Simpson and then have been dismissed from his case, until Simpson successfully requested to represent himself in May 2021.
Acting as his own lawyer, Simpson has filed nearly 50 motions in the last four months from Northwest Correctional Facility in Swanton, Vt., where he is being held. Among the motions, Simpson has filed a request to exclude 911 calls and sexual assault testimony at trial; to remove prosecutor Matthew Lasher from the case; to release him from custody; and to disqualify the judge in the case, according to court documents.
He also filed several motions alleging “outrageous conduct” and “harassment” on part of the prosecutors.
Additionally, Simpson has filed six motions to dismiss, claiming that his right to a speedy trial has been denied; that there has been prosecutorial misconduct in the case; and that pieces of evidence have been lost or have not been shared with him.
During the Aug. 12 hearing, Sessions also heard 14 of Simpson’s motions, including most of his motions to dismiss the case and agreed to take them under advisement, according to court documents. He had not made a ruling on the motions by Tuesday.
Simpson was also the subject of a lawsuit filed by the woman, Celia Roessler, against the state of Vermont and Valley Vista in 2019. In the lawsuit, Roessler claimed that the treatment facility failed to immediately notify Vermont State Police that Simpson left, and instead waited at least 90 minutes to do so, essentially giving him a “head start” on police. The lawsuit asserted that state police were also at fault because they failed to “immediately” issue a warrant for Simpson’s arrest as required.
The Valley News typically does not name victims in sexual assault cases unless they identify themselves publicly as Roessler has done.
In December 2020, the state settled its part of the lawsuit with Roessler for $400,000. The remainder of the lawsuit against Valley Vista has concluded, Roessler’s attorney Anthony Carr confirmed Tuesday. However, he declined to say whether it ended in a settlement or whether the claims were dropped.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.