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Former Dons Football Star, USC Recruit Convicted of Armed Robbery
COMPTON – A
Compton Superior Court Jury has found a former Dominguez High School
football star and USC recruit guilty of robbing a man at gunpoint
in March.
The jury deliberated for several hours Wednesday, Aug. 6 before convicting
18-year-old linebacker Maurice Simmons of robbery and assault with a firearm.
Lamont Hall, the football player's friend, has also been convicted of the
March 5 robbery.
Simmons' attorney intends to appeal the verdict because his client
did not handle the gun or realize that his friend, Hall, intended to commit
a crime.
The 6-foot-1, 210-pound linebacker faces 71⁄2 years in prison when
he is sentenced Aug. 28.
Simmons had accepted an athletic scholarship a month before the robbery.
A USC athletic department spokesman had no immediate comment on Simmons'
status. But USC Coach Pete Carroll told the Los Angeles Times that it is "the
most unfortunate news we could get for Maurice and for his family. We feel
sorry for everything they have to go through."
Simmons is not expected to be admitted to the university.
On the night of March 5, gang enforcement deputies in Compton were
flagged down by a man who reported he’d been robbed, Los Angeles
County Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
“Moments after that, the alleged suspects were discovered in a vehicle
leaving the scene,” he said.
The victim and witnesses identified two men inside that car as the
robbers, he said.
Simmons, who was driving, and Hall were arrested, and a handgun and
the victim's stolen property were found in the car, Whitmore said.
Simmons is the younger brother of Melvin “Champ” Simmons, who
was a USC linebacker during the 2002-03 seasons. Another brother, Marvin,
also intended to play at USC but did not qualify for entrance. He later
played at Kansas State.
Said Compton Unified Board of Trustees member Joel Estrada: “This
is truly a tragedy. I pain at the thought that a promising young man's
life is on a path from which he may never recover.”
Bulletin Editor Allison Jean Eaton contributed to this report.
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