Opinion ID: 1547407
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Simms' relationship with William.

Text: Simms also presented testimony designed to show that, in disciplining William, he was acting in loco parentis. He testified that he met William's mother in February 2000, that she became his fiancee in July of that year, and that he considered William to be his son or stepson. He claimed that from the time when he had met Ms. Calloway, he had on occasion provided food, clothes, shoes, diapers, bottles, and anything else that [William] needed.... Simms testified that he accepted this financial burden even while Ms. Calloway was unemployed. He took William to the park or to the mall, and he accompanied the boy and his mother on similar outings. Simms stated that he had seen William's mother and grandmother discipline William in the same manner that Simms did, and he claimed that the mother had been present on occasions when he disciplined the boy. At the time of the events that led to his prosecution, however, Simms was still living with his parents, while Ms. Calloway and William lived together in a separate household. Indeed, Simms answered in the affirmative when his attorney asked him, Did you babysit [William] on occasion? (Emphasis added.) Simms estimated that before November 2000, he  babysat  or  watched  William four or five times when the boy's mother had to go to work or [when] it would be inconvenient for her to handle him. (Emphasis added.) By Simms' own account, the occasions on which he looked after William had been sporadic and  given that he had known Ms. Calloway since the previous February  quite infrequent, once every couple of months.