Former Deputy AG Disbarred

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has accepted the consent disbarment of an attorney convicted of felony rape in the fourth degree.

Delaware Law Weekly (Gina Passarella)  reported on the offense

An attorney for Daniel Simmons, the former deputy attorney general who pleaded not guilty last year to four counts of fourth-degree rape of a 16-year-old, told Delaware Law Weekly on March 6 that there would be no trial in the case.

After his August 2014 arraignment, Simmons’ criminal trial was scheduled for Feb. 16, but has since been rescheduled to March 23, according to the Delaware Department of Justice and Simmons’ attorney, Eugene J. Maurer Jr.

“It’s not going to go to trial,” Maurer said March 6, noting the case would probably “resolve” that day.

When asked whether a guilty plea would be entered, Maurer said he couldn’t discuss pleas before they happen but said something would likely happen March 23 in the case.

A spokesman for the Department of Justice declined to comment on the case beyond confirming the new trial date.

Simmons, 34 at the time of his arraignment, pleaded not guilty in August to four counts of raping a 16-year-old boy he allegedly met through contacts with the gay dating app Grindr.

The alleged victim was a 16-year-old Delaware high-school student. The student met a New York University student identified only as “Matt” through Grindr, according to the arrest affidavit. Matt agreed to meet the teenager March 16, 2014, and took him to Simmons’ Wilmington home, where the sexual encounter occurred, the affidavit alleged.

A staff member at the alleged victim’s school learned of the incident and alerted New Castle County detectives March 26, 2014, according to the affidavit.

The police concluded their investigation May 2 and notified the Department of Justice, which approved Simmons’ arrest. Simmons was later released after posting $45,000 secured bail, according to an announcement from the New Castle County Police.

Simmons is said to have been aware of the alleged victim’s age during the encounter, according to court documents. The alleged victim said he had spoken with Simmons in the past about the former prosecutor’s “desire to engage in a sex act with a younger person, with the target age being a high-school-age male,” according to the arrest affidavit. In addition, the victim also said Matt advised Simmons of the alleged victim’s age prior to meeting at Simmons’ house. The 16-year-old also claimed he told Simmons that he was in the 10th grade when they met at the former prosecutor’s house and said to Simmons, “‘I’m only 16, take it easy on me,'” during the sexual encounter.

Simmons had worked for the Attorney General’s Office since November 2006. He was placed on administrative leave immediately after his May 2014 arrest and resigned shortly thereafter.

At Simmons’ August arraignment before Judge William L. Witham Jr., neither Maurer nor prosecutor Peggy Marshall discussed any evidence or the possibility of reaching a plea bargain.

“We are not close to a final discussion about a resolution,” Maurer had told Witham.

Marshall is a member of the attorney general’s Sussex County office. The Sussex County office has been handling the prosecution because Simmons had worked as a prosecutor for the New Castle County misdemeanor trial unit when he was employed with the Attorney General’s Office.

When previously asked if “Matt” would be charged in connection with the alleged rape, prosecutors had referenced 11 Del. C. Sections 770(a)(2), 771(a)(1), 772 and 773. Under those portions of state law, an individual who has consensual sex with someone between 16 and 18 years old must be over 30 in order for the encounter to be considered a crime.

Therefore, under Delaware law, if an adult aged 20 to 30 has consensual sex with a 16-year-old individual, it is not a crime.

He has also been disbarred in Delaware. (Mike Frisch)