Testimony continues in the second week of Leilani Simon’s trial

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – Leilani Simon, the former Burke County woman accused of killing her son Quinton Simon, is on trial in Chatham County.

The trial will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

The jury will decide Simon’s fate on a 19-count indictment charging Simon with malice murder, criminal mischief, concealing the death of another and making false statements.

The livestream above is delayed by 30 minutes according to the jury’s rules.

At the time of Quinton’s death, Leilani Simon was on probation from Burke County for the burglary of $50 in coins. She said her child’s father convinced her to enter a neighbor’s RV and steal the money from a coin jar. He reportedly needed her because he couldn’t fit through the window.

Here’s what’s happened so far this week:

The judge calls two witnesses to testify

There was a tense exchange in the courtroom at the Leilani Simon trial on Monday as the prosecution and defense continued to clash over one aspect of the case.

The prosecution and defense continue to disagree over evidence of a sexual relationship between Simon and her drug dealer.

Last week, Judge Stokes ruled that there should be no question of the relationship at all before a jury. Judge Stokes ultimately changed her ruling, saying a series of questions by the defense opened that can of worms.

The defense wonders if Simon’s friend was annoyed because she was late returning with their drugs.

The prosecutor said the interrogation opened the door to what Simon really did: have an affair.

The defense did not want the relationship to be reported. She said it’s not relevant and it just makes Simon look bad.

The prosecutor says it is relevant to show how fractured her relationship with then-boyfriend Daniel Youngkin was.

The Public Prosecution Service decided on Monday to bring the drug dealer and a family member to justice. The defense says they were not informed of that plan until 9 p.m. on Sunday evening.

“It’s bad faith at this point. “If they thought they were going to call him as a witness, they would have had two years to put him on a witness list, which they admit they didn’t do, so the right solution to that is to exclude the witnesses.” said Simon’s lawyer Martin Hilliard.

“These specific witnesses were interviewed by police when this case was investigated. That has been provided to the defense. They are aware of these witnesses. There is a very long line of cases about unfair surprises. There is no unfair surprise or prejudice to the defendant here,” said Chatham County Assistant District Attorney Jenny Parker.

Judge Stokes ultimately ruled that the two witnesses will be able to testify.

The second week of testimony begins

The state is still making its case and is focusing again on Simon’s credibility on Monday.

A new video shows Simon admitting to investigators that she lied about her whereabouts the morning of Quinton’s disappearance.

On Monday, they began explaining what was covered in a more than hour-long interview he did with Leilani Simon on October 12, 2022. In it, Simon began to change course based on some of the answers she had previously given to law enforcement.

This was the first interview in which she admitted to several things on October 4 when Quinton went missing, including drug use, and not meeting a person previously included in her alibi.

“The first change was the admission of significant drug use on the night of the 4th and the morning of the 5th. The interaction with Miss Melissa Bray and the Orajel story, where she revealed and agreed in the course of the interview that that had not in fact happened. We then received significant information about her intentions at the trailer park that evening and throwing out trash,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Brad Snider.

In the interview, Simon admitted that she felt the effects of her drug use that night, and if she did anything to Quinton, she doesn’t remember it.

“(crying) If I did something to him, I don’t remember doing it to him,” Simon said.

You may recall that Simon claimed to investigators that on the morning of October 5, 2022, she went to the Chevron Station next to the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza to pick up Orajel from a friend she called Misty.

A new video entered into evidence by the prosecutor shows Simon changing her story.

Snider testified that it wasn’t until a week after Quinton was first reported missing that Simon admitted to getting high on cocaine and Percocet that night. The video showed Snider and another officer questioning Simon’s claim that she had gone to the Chevron station to meet her friend Misty for Orajel.

After the officers told Simon that they had spoken to the friend, she denied that the exchange ever took place – Simon admitted that she never contacted the friend – and then said that she had stopped by the dumpsters in the mobile home park to throw away old shrimp paste.

She described throwing the trash at the officers. She said she opened the garbage bag to take one last look at the contents before throwing it away.

“Do you think it’s common for people to do that, before they throw away their trash, they open it up and look at it and see what they’re going to throw away,” Snider asked.

In his testimony, Snider said he could tell the interrogation made her feel uncomfortable and that she would act erratically.

“Her behavior was inconsistent and erratic, responses that I would characterize as superficial emotional responses. And that there would be crying on a dime without tears and that a little later, without really any transition, it would turn into a normal conversation.”

Special Agent Savannah Solomon, who was also present at the interview, testified Monday and said another piece of information from Simon that she found strange. She had reported Quinton missing with his “favorite” Mickey Mouse toy.

The toys were found on the floor in the Simon Home.

Testimony on Monday also revealed that Simon’s phone was at her drug dealer’s house before midnight and at the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza after midnight.

She also confirmed that her boyfriend and brother’s phone was not moving at all in the early morning hours.

Prosecutor Tim Dean asked Snider why of the three adults in the home when Quinton went missing, investigators ultimately focused specifically on Simon.

Snider responded that it was because she was the only one who consistently lied to investigators.

Graphic testimony on Monday

Graphic testimony in the Leilani Simon trial Monday as prosecutors continued to argue that the mother is responsible for killing her 20-month-old son Quinton and disposing of his body in a dumpster.

WTOC has been following the case since day 1 and has been in the courtroom throughout the entire trial.

We look at the testimony of an FBI agent who says they suspected the worst the day Quinton first went missing

We want to warn you: some viewers may find this disturbing.

FBI Special Agent Savannah Solomon described her interactions with Simon during the search for Quinton, and the moments she said did not sit well with her.

“She showed me her Hawaiian symbol tattoo of the waves going up and down and said she wanted a tattoo in honor of Quinton,” Solomon said.

That conversation took place on the day Simon first reported her son missing.

“Has anyone talked about Quinton’s death yet,” Chatham County Prosecutor Tim Dean asked.

“We suspected it within the investigative team, but it had not been discussed outside the investigative team,” Solomon said.

It wasn’t until a week later that officers told Simon that they believed Quinton was dead and that they were confident they would find his body at the dump.

“She said it wasn’t in the bag. But it was… hard to characterize. It wasn’t a shock. That was the most surprising thing,” Solomon said

After the investigation into the landfill began, WTOC conducted an exclusive interview with Simon, portions of which were shown in court Monday.

“I’m not running, I’m not hiding,” Simon said. “If something happens that is my fault, I will take myself to the police station.”

Solomon testified that after part of the interview aired, Simon texted her and began blaming her then-boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin.

‘I’m not lying for Danny anymore. The reason why my story about Orajel and (beep) was wrong is because Danny told me to say that,” read Simon’s texts to Solomon. “I am innocent of this. He was the last person to see Quinton.’

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