Gregory E. Simpson testifies in his defense Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court.
Photo by Mackenzi Klemann | The Lima News
LIMA — Juror deliberations started Tuesday in Allen County Common Pleas Court in the burglary trial of former basketball star Gregory E. Simpson.
Prosecutors allege Simpson stole his ex-girlfriend’s car keys when he reportedly broke into her apartment on July 27, 2023.
He is charged with a single count of burglary, a second-degree felony.
Simpson testified in his defense Tuesday, telling jurors he broke up with Hillary Weis via text message on July 26 — hours before the alleged break-in — because she “wanted more” from the relationship than he did.
Simpson said Weis continues to call him “daily,” most recently on Tuesday morning.
He denied breaking into Weis’s apartment through the bedroom window, as previous testimony from Weis and Allen County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Ream suggested, and denied blackmailing or having sex with Weis last November as Weis testified on Monday.
According to Simpson’s version of events, Weis stopped by his house after she got off work on July 26 and “started grabbing things.” Simpson said he told Weis he’d come by her apartment to pick up anything of his.
When he arrived, Simpson told jurors he saw Weis wearing his basketball shorts and talking on the phone in the bathroom. She threw the shorts at him, and he left, Simpson said.
Sgt. Matthew Gill testified earlier in the day Tuesday that Weis’s car keys fell out of a pair of shorts he found in Simpson’s car during a traffic stop deputies initiated less than one mile from Weis’s apartment, while Weis was on the phone with 9-1-1.
Simpson told jurors a similar story when asked about the traffic stop, saying he told deputies he didn’t take the keys.
The defense tried to submit evidence of a voice recording Weis reportedly sent Simpson months after the alleged break-in.
Weis acknowledged the recording sounded like her voice but did not recall sending the message when she took the witness stand Monday. Simpson told jurors Tuesday that he saw Weis’s SUV in his driveway on his security cameras after getting the voice message.
Jurors watched video recordings of the traffic stop and an interview between Detective Sgt. Russell Hunlock and Simpson the day of his arrest.
On Monday, the state played a 9-1-1 call from Weis, who told dispatchers she could hear Simpson banging on her door and window. She screams when Simpson reportedly forces his way into the bathroom where she was hiding and stays on the phone until deputies arrive.
Deputy Ryan Ream told jurors Monday he found Weis’s bedroom window open, the lock broken and blinds on the floor, when he arrived to her apartment on July 27. He did not observe any other broken doors or windows.
