BY DONNIE JOHNSTON

The Culpeper man convicted of manslaughter in the June 2011 shooting death of his son has filed an appeal.

Anthony Simpson, who was found guilty last November, filed the appeal less than two weeks after Culpeper County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Sanner imposed a jury-recommended 10-year sentence.

Simpson had been charged with first-degree murder, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge.

Simpson maintained throughout the investigation and trial that he shot his 22-year-old son, Mark, a standout football player at Culpeper and Liberty high schools, in self-defense.

He told a jury that his son attacked him with a kitchen knife. He displayed abdomen wounds to the investigators who arrived on the scene at the father's Shanktown Road residence.

Prosecuting attorney Dale Durrer told jurors that those wounds were self-inflicted while the elder Simpson was waiting for sheriff's deputies to arrive.

The incident arose over a $100 debt the father owed the son.

Culpeper lawyer Kirk Milam has been appointed to represent Simpson before the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Donnie Johnston:
Email: djohnston@freelancestar.com