Simon Manslaughter Case Takes Interesting Twist

Just when you thought things were looking up for Alfredo Simon, information like this gets comes to light.

A Dominican prosecutor handling the case of Orioles reliever Alfredo Simon said Wednesday the "trigger-happy" pitcher might have changed the barrel of a gun he turned over to authorities as a way of disguising his involvement in a fatal New Year's Day shooting.

According to chief prosecutor Victor Mueses the serial numbers on the gun and barrel don't match.  If this is true, that would mean that at some point between the shooting and his surrender to authorities, Simon swapped out gun barrels.   I'm not a cop or a lawyer, but this sounds like Simon may end up facing tampering charges in addition to involuntary manslaughter.  Yikes!

Mueses mentioned to reporters that he received a tape of the New Years Eve festivities, if you will.  While he would not go into specifics regarding the tape, he referred to Simon as having the reputation for being "trigger happy."  According to the news website Puerto Plata Hablo, Simon had been summoned and warned on numerous occasions about firing his gun in public.  When asked why his gun was confiscated, Muesus replied, "We thought that by calling him into our office, we could resolve the problem."  Apparently, not so much...    

It's too early to make judgments regarding the merits of the Simon case.  As Hardball Talk's Craig Calcaterra (who is a former lawyer) points out, "the statements of prosecutors in high-profile criminal cases mere days after the event are often calculated to influence the potential jury pool and make the suspect seem as guilty as hell."  Still, this potential evidence looks really bad.  Really, really, really bad.