When I heard of the title book written by JB Simms, I was attracted by the title alone; but it wasn’t a story I wanted to report on.
My first thought was “prosecutorial corruption”? Who doesn’t do that? It would take far less time to talk about who doesn’t do it than who does. It's all too common in today's America for wrongdoing to be overlooked, laughed about in a "who cares?" manner, and in some cases, sanctioned by the higher powers that be. In a nation where justice is typically sold to the highest bidder for cash under the table, this 'news' was really not news at all. Just some backwood country black folks with no common sense acting up and getting caught. Again.
When contacted by Simms, I let him know immediately that I report for The Examiner for the 11th District Circuit Court of Appeals located in Atlanta, Georgia, and if it didn’t have anything to do with that, it wasn’t my arena; especially since the case never made it to court.
Simms sent me a copy of the e-book anyway, through his publishing company, ErikPublishing and I took a second look at the significance of the story itself. It appears that “dead men do tell tales.” Particularly, a dead man by the name of Dr. Harry Sunshine.
Word has it that we have a time and a place in life to reap and to sow, and a time to live, as well as a time to die. Dr. Sunshine was trying to tell us something on the day that he was run down by a hit-and-run driver, it just so happened he didn’t know anything about the story that has come about since he died. So far, though Simms tells his story over and over again, it appears that not many folks in the mainstream media care to hear it.
In spite of that, in July of 2009, Simms won the Independent Publisher Book Awards 2009 Bronze Medal Award winner in the True Crime category.
Have we gotten so complacent that it’s simply okay to commit a crime and walk away? It is a legal matter and I wanted to hear what he had to say because he seemed so adamant about exposing it.
What intrigued me the most about Simms’ story is that it is an unusual one. A black man, who is usually the first to be strung to the highest heavens—particularly in a case where a prominent white southern doctor is killed—appears to have been protected by some of the highest rank-and-file judicial and government officials in Columbia (Richland County) South Carolina.
It is said that the original suspect once owned a security company called AmPro. With no business background whatsoever, the suspect was installed as owner of the business in order to help a former white governor access government funds that was allocated specifically for minority-owned business. The “security business” was then turned into a front for criminal activities of all kinds and eventually went out of business, as could be expected.
The reason I’m reporting this from JB Simms’ point of view is because, for everyone except him, it appears, it’s a done deal. Dr. Sunshine is dead and the named and confessed culprit, the wife of Charles Outlaw, is still serving the end run of her allotted prison time. Or is she?
According to Simms, Tshona Outlaw has a record that brands her as the murderer of Dr. Sunshine, amongst other records, but she knows full well she had nothing to do with it. His book spins a tale that would sound almost like a made-for-television movie, if it wasn’t true…at least from the perch the PI is sitting on.
Simms, a former Private Investigator who, because of threats against him for exposing the story, has turned in his license and relocated. He got involved in the case when Charles Outlaw, Tshona’s husband, came to him to ask for his help getting to the bottom of the murder of Dr. Sunshine. Charles was arrested and came close to being framed for the death.
In the meantime, on the other side of town, authorities took special care to make certain that a well-known-but-never-touched drug dealer and the original suspect in the case escaped prosecution and somehow also decided that Outlaw presented them with a perfect storm for a frame-up.
What was the chance that Johnny Brown and Charles Outlaw would both have a black Lexus only one year apart in age (a 1993 and a 1994) with virtually no differences in body style and molding except for a visible “ding” in the Outlaw car; and that both Brown and Outlaw’s wife were headed to the same party at the same hotel on the same night, and between the two of them, one of those black Lexuses hit and killed Dr. Sunshine.
Dr. Sunshine’s murder may never truly be resolved, but Tshona took the plea for it. According to Simms, she has since bragged that she is due for a “huge payoff” for taking the 10-year hit when she gets out. Simms and I have both surmised Tshona will receive the huge payoff, but not the kind she is expecting. Simms says his experience tells him the chances are more likely that Tshona will be found in a ladies bathroom stall of some nightclub in the deep country parts of Columbia, South Carolina strapped to a heroin main line and will be left there to die as ‘just another black female with a reputation as a streetwalking narc.’
But those are guesses, hearsay, and the result of some stealthy PI work done by Simms, who didn’t miss a single detail in his work to exonerate an innocent man – Charles Outlaw.
Charles, found innocent, walked; Tshona signed a confession, and the case never made it to court, let alone to a high court for appeal, where the vast majority of black men accused of killing white men land. The accused pimp and drug dealer who once ran a high-profile security business that was funneling funds designated for minorities to non-minorities and is said to have been Dr. Sunshine’s actual killer simply walked away. Word is he lives in Atlanta now and no one’s ever so much as looked his way or pointed a finger of blame, except for Simms.
Simms calls the person or persons who are still unknown and who caused a number of high-ranking government and judicial officials to turn a deaf eye and ear to the real killer “The Puppet Master.” John Grisham, maybe you and JB Simms should talk. If Tshona ends up where we think she will when they let her out of prison, you've got a true-to-life story and a half to tell about the PI who tried to warn everyone.
And if Simms cared enough about the corruption to give up his investigator’s license [and his only way of earning a living], it should behoove all eyes reading this story to want to dig deeper; much deeper. If for no other reason, for the Dead Man Talking - Dr. Sunshine.
See JB Simms book online: Don't Get Arrested in South Carolina
Other articles on Prosecutorial Misconduct and Intra-judicial Crime:
Comments
J.B Simms will be a guest on my radio show on thursday at 11pm eastern time zone. more info on my website www.latenightinthemidlands.info
I am an international student and I studied in Huntsville, AL for four years (2004- 2008). Justice in society has always been my passion. During my years there, I have noticed legal disparity and judicial corruption in the South based upon many factors, but often race. During my college days, I have written a major term paper titled "Legal Disparity in U.S" which is primarily based upon race. Little did I know that a year later, I would run into a considerate person like JB Simms who have actually written a book about a similar subject matter yet very thought provoking, raw, uncut, and refreshing his book. The thing that intrigues me most is that with a humane unselfish heart, he had this phenomenal truth-telling work done at the peril of his own life and his professional career. This is a non-fiction account of judicial corrupton in the South that can be seen dramatized on a movie screen and found itself in the hands of all the civil minds.
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