PRESS RELEASE – August 10, 2020
The Honorable ShawnDya L. Simpson and her family herewith announce her retirement from the Supreme Court for the Second Judicial District, in Kings County. She was elected in 2017, and previously served as a Judge of the New York City Civil Court, Kings County, from 2004 through 2016. Judge Simpson has enjoyed 30 years of public service that included NYS Supreme Court, Kings County Civil Court, the NYS Attorney General’s Office and The Kings County District Attorney’s Office. She was elected borough-wide in Kings County in 2003 and at 38 years of age became one of the youngest elected judges in the City of New York. Prior to her election, Judge Simpson was one of the City’s most experienced and accomplished prosecutors. She served as bureau chief of a felony trial unit in the King’s County district attorney’s office where she supervised more than 40 assistant district attorneys and was responsible for the prosecution of thousands of criminal cases including felony offenses as homicides, sexual offenses, robberies, burglaries, assaults, narcotics, and firearm possession. Throughout her prosecutorial career, Judge Simpson was masterful at jury selection, oral arguments, summations, and direct and cross examination of civilian, police, and expert witnesses. She was a member of the New York State Bar and sworn in before Supreme Court of the United States. She taught trial advocacy at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta and is a member of the American Bar Association, Brooklyn Bar Association, Association of Black Women Attorneys, Metropolitan Black Bar Association, Women’s Bar Association, and the National Bar Association. She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and served on the Board of Trustees.
Judge Simpson’s most remarkable case was the 2016 decision to toss the guilty verdict of John Dwayne Bunn, convicted of a 1991 killing based on tainted evidence produced by a police detective. In the dramatic courtroom, tears flowed from Mr. Bunn’s face as he was released after spending 17 years in jail for a murder he did not commit. He was 14 years of age when convicted.
Statement of ShawnDya L. Simpson: “I came from a zip code that doesn’t often spawn the kind of life, family and career I have been blessed to enjoy. My life has been a little Black girl’s American dream. Whoever thought a little Black girl from the projects and raised by a single mother would have an opportunity to sit on the bench and balance the scales of justice? I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as a judge for the past sixteen years. I have devoted my entire career to public service and holding the revered position of a Judge was my childhood dream come true. I hope the Office of Court Administration, my colleagues and the public will view my career in the spirit that it was intended, that I served all of the People of the State of New York with the fairness, ethic, dignity and honor they deserved. I expected this announcement to come much later in my life and career, but it is not God’s will or plan.”
Statement of Jacob Walthour, Jr.: “ShawnDya has had a remarkably impactful life on and off the bench and changed the trajectory of lives as a mother, friend, judge, mentor, trustee, board member and community leader. We are thankful to God for his blessings and guidance and to our children, family, friends and the organizations that supported her storied professional journey including the University of Pittsburgh, Delta Sigma Theta, Jack and Jill of America and Links Incorporated. ShawnDya did it all by squeezing extra minutes out of every day. The early, sudden and hollowing effects of her illness need serve as a reminder to us all to live life passionately and with purpose every day.”
“We are grateful to Deborah A. Scalise and Michael S. Ross for their patient professionalism. Through their efforts, Judge Simpson can gracefully enter early retirement from judicial office with the peace befitting a career devoted to public service.”
Contact:
Rachel Noerdlinger, rnoerdlinger@mercuryllc.com
Deborah A. Scalise, Esq. (914) 725-2801 or DScalise@Scalisethics.com
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