MD: Mistakenly extradited man has "day in court"


A Nashville man who was misidentified as a wanted felon, detained for three weeks and then extradited to Maryland was finally given a pass by local justice system Tuesday. But Tommie Lee Simpson came just as close to being put back in jail Tuesday on the driving without a license charge that started his bizarre journey to Maryland and back.

The Davidson County District Attorney’s Office was set Tuesday to prosecute Simpson if he failed to appear for court, or if he failed to show proof that he had either obtained a valid license or completed eight hours of community service. “The District Attorney’s Office is not the one who made the original mistake, so we decided to take care of it on the docket when it came up on the docket,” said Assistant District Attorney Rebecca Schwartz.

Simpson never came to court Tuesday. But, at the end of the day, the District Attorney’s Office decided it prudent to retire Simpson’s case rather than take further action. With the case retired – as opposed to dismissed – prosecutors may reopen it at their discretion. “Given the circumstances, having his case retired seems appropriate,” Schwartz said.

The 35-year-old Simpson took an unusual route through the Davidson County Criminal courthouse after he was pulled over for having an expired temporary tag and arrested for driving without a valid driver’s license.

First, Simpson, who was pulled over on Dec. 15 by Vanderbilt University Police on his way home from work at the University’s medical center, was taken to the Nashville Metro Police Department. Then, in a bizarre case of mistaken identity, Simpson was extradited to Maryland after the name Tommie Lee Simpson, along with a similar – but not the same – birthday came up in the criminal information system used by Metro Police as having an outstanding warrant for third-degree sexual assault in Maryland. Simpson, though, spent three weeks over Christmas and New Year’s detained in the Metro jail awaiting his extradition.

After Maryland authorities came to Nashville to retrieve Simpson and take him back to the east coast, they began the booking procedure, which included taking Simpson’s fingerprints. Upon feeding those prints into their computer system they quickly realized the Simpson they had was not the Simpson they wanted.

Metro Police acknowledged that its fugitive unit failed to take Simpson’s fingerprints. According to the official explanation given by the department, because Simpson did not “vehemently protest” Metro’s claim that he was a wanted man in Maryland, and his general description matched that of the man with an outstanding warrant in another state, they felt obligated to go ahead with procedures to extradite him.

Upon learning they had been given the wrong individual, the Montgomery County (Md.) Sheriff’s Department took Simpson to a homeless shelter. Simpson soon vanished altogether, according to an account given by Montgomery County Sheriff Raymond Kight.

On Jan. 11 – some 27 days after his initial run in with Nashville authorities – Simpson finally made it back to town, having taken a Greyhound bus back to Nashville.

At a press conference held the day after he returned, Simpson said he was just happy the incident was finally over.

Report here



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