Singleton was convicted of first-degree murder and employing a firearm in the October 2022 shooting death of his ex-girlfriend Ja'Keya Hampton in West Memphis. The 26-year-old was sentenced as a habitual offender to life imprisonment plus 25 years after Hampton was found dead in her car from a gunshot wound to the back of her head. Security camera footage captured Hampton screaming "'Lijah!" immediately before shots were fired from the passenger seat of her vehicle.
The court rejected Singleton's claim that his constitutional rights were violated when prospective juror Louis Ray, a jail lieutenant, announced to the jury pool that his employment created "a conflict of interest." As Justice Hiland explained, "Ray's statement referenced only his employment and his belief that it created a conflict of interest; it did not mention Singleton or indicate that Singleton had been, or was currently, incarcerated." The court noted that Ray volunteered the information unprompted and was immediately dismissed after a bench conference.
Addressing Singleton's argument that the jury pool was tainted, the court emphasized that "declaring a mistrial is proper only when the error is beyond repair and cannot be corrected by any curative relief." Justice Hiland wrote that the circuit court's immediate clarification to the jury pool "further mitigated any potential concern," finding "no prejudicial statement was made."
The case reached the Arkansas Supreme Court after Singleton appealed his conviction from Crittenden County Circuit Court, where Judge Randy Philhours presided over the trial. During jury selection, the state exercised peremptory strikes against four Black prospective jurors: Jade Jones, Dafney Jones, Theoplis Macnifcent, and Mareus Willis, prompting Singleton's Batson challenge alleging racial discrimination.
Singleton argued the prosecution's explanations were insufficient, noting that "other prospective jurors had asked the State to rephrase questions or expressed reluctance about serving, and inattentiveness was not a sufficient basis for striking jurors in a capital-murder case." The state defended its strikes, explaining that Jade Jones knew the victim's family, Dafney Jones "made it perfectly clear that she did not want to be here," Macnifcent appeared to be "going to sleep at times," and Willis seemed inattentive and "overly eager to sit on the jury."
The Arkansas Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's Batson ruling, noting the circuit court's firsthand observations were entitled to substantial deference. Justice Hiland wrote that "the circuit court followed the required three-step Batson procedure" and made "credibility determinations based on its firsthand observations of the prospective jurors during the selection process." The court found the circuit judge was in the best position to assess whether the state's explanations were credible.
The ruling maintains Singleton's conviction in a case that began when Hampton agreed to meet him after midnight to retrieve her stolen cellphone. Evidence showed that after the shooting, Singleton contacted people on Facebook Messenger stating he was "hiding in a shed, needed a room at the Budget Inn, needed money for a plane ticket, and needed to destroy evidence." He was arrested following a multi-hour standoff with police at a West Memphis motel.