Detroit Man Convicted in July 2012 Triple Homicide in Flint

Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton announced today that a jury has convicted a Detroit man on three counts of First Degree Murder in connection with a triple homicide in Flint in July 2012.

Twenty-one year old James Paul Simpkins II was charged with killing two men and a woman on July 17, 2012 in a home on the corner of Tacken and Frazer Streets. The three had been partying at the house - drinking and smoking marijuana - in which Simpkins was also present and in possession of a handgun. At one point the two women and two men went into a bedroom and continued partying at which point Simpkins fired off a bullet into the ceiling of the living room and then entered the bedroom in which he shot the four individuals killing two of them instantly. One of the males initially survived and Simpkins stomped him in the head to finish him off. The sole surviving victim, a woman, was shot four times in the groin and tried to shoot Simpkins with his gun which had fallen to the floor but was empty. She and Simpkins then got into a physical altercation and he attempted to sexually assault her and choked her until she lost consciousness. When she regained consciousness in the early morning hours of the next day, she found the house dark and empty. She crawled out a window and went to a neighbor's house who then called 911.

Simpkins was arrested hours later after he himself called 911 to report that his brother and three others were killed at the house by a man in a black ski mask. He claimed he was sleeping at the time and awoke to find the others dead. He was apprehended a mile and a half from the murder scene wearing the bloody clothes that had been described by the surviving victim.

In a statement Leyton said he was pleased by the verdict and thanked the assistant prosecutor, Flint Police and Michigan State Police in bringing Simpkins to justice. Simpkins faces life in prison without the possibility of parole when he is sentenced on February 8, 2014.