After 40 Years on the Job, Prosecutor Plans to Try to Take It Easy
For 40 years, Colin Simpson has worked as an assistant Cook County state’s attorney in the Chicago area.
Half of that time, he was the supervising prosecutor at the Maybrook courthouse in Maywood. But being the top dog there didn’t translate to special perks for Simpson: He arrived first, left last and pitched in to answer the phone, make coffee and fix the copy machine as needed, in addition to working on some noteworthy cases, reports the Chicago Tribune.
The first was a triple homicide of Frank and Mary Columbo and their son, Michael, in suburban Elk Grove Village. The couple’s daughter, Patricia, and her married lover were eventually convicted. During the first month after the slayings, as Simpson handled his usual duties during the day and worked on the Columbo case at night, “There was one stretch where I didn’t get home for 10 days except for 10 minutes to shower and shave,” he recalls.
When Simpson began his career, it was common for prosecutors to assist police in their investigations, and at one point he even participated in a police line-up when officers were one “suspect” short. The crime victim then picked Simpson as the perpetrator, the newspaper recounts.
Now that he has retired, Simpson says it’s time to try to take it easy. After years of arriving at the office around 5:30 a.m., so that he could talk with the prosecutor on overnight duty, he is looking forward to sleeping in until 6 a.m.
“The reason I’ve made it this long is that my wife was tremendously understanding,” he says of his spouse of 41 years. “She knew it wasn’t a 9-to-5 job.”
For more details about his career, read the full article.
