Murder case bail unchanged
Victim ID’d suspect in photo before dying, detective says
A Pulaski County circuit judge has declined to reduce the $500,000 bail of a 19-yearold Little Rock murder suspect after hearing testimony that the victim identified the man as his killer before dying.
Jasper Lamar Singleton was arrested almost a month after Steven Lavon McPherson was found fatally wounded in July at a residence in the Big Country Chateau apartments on Colonel Glenn Road. Singleton has been jailed for about five weeks.
Judge John Langston said at a hearing Oct. 30 that he did not see any reason to lower Singleton’s bail.
Deputy prosecutor Jayme Butts-Hall opposed Singleton’s request for reduced bail, arguing that the defendant had demonstrated a pattern of “escalating behavior” leading up to the slaying.
The prosecutor also pointed to Singleton’s two pending drug cases in Little Rock this year ahead of the killing.
Court records show that Singleton was arrested Feb. 9 outside of Pic Pac Liquor at 4407 W. 12th St. by police who reported seeing him possibly selling drugs. He struggled with the officers who apprehended him, and they reported finding suspected marijuana and cocaine on him.
He was arrested again on April 28 at the Parkwood Apartments, 3510 S. Bryant St., by police investigating a complaint about a suspicious vehicle that was repeatedly driving by the apartments.
Officers in that case found Singleton asleep inside a 2015 black Nissan Altima owned by Singleton’s mother. Investigators reported they could see a box containing suspected cocaine on the passenger seat. After being awakened, police said, Singleton rammed a patrol car trying to get away.
He was released on his own recognizance after each arrest, court filings show.
Singleton’s only conviction is a misdemeanor gun offense stemming from a Sept. 16, 2016, arrest in the 6300 block of Baseline Road. Officers saw the frontseat passenger throw something out of the car and arrested Singleton after discovering the object was a loaded revolver.
That car was also owned by Singleton’s mother, according to an arrest report. The 17-year-old driver, Keyshaun Tyrese Kelly, got a traffic ticket and a citation for violating curfew.
Defense attorney Julia Jackson asked the judge for “reasonable” bail, citing the teenager’s lifelong ties to Little Rock and Bryant, where he has relatives who would ensure he makes all court appearances.
Singleton’s mother, Destiny Smith, testified that if he was able to make bail, he would live with her in Bryant.
Singleton told police that he was homeless, but Smith told the judge that Singleton had been living with his grandmother in Little Rock while sometimes staying with his girlfriend. In jail records, he listed his father’s residence on Fairmont Drive as his home.
Describing the circumstances of McPherson’s slaying for the judge, detective Aaron Oncken testified that two other people were in the apartment where McPherson was visiting, but neither one saw the shooting.
Oncken told the judge that McPherson was able that same day to identify Singleton from a photograph as the man who shot him several times in the chest.
Singleton’s August arrest came the same day he was identified as suspect in an Aug. 23 holdup attempt at a barbershop at 6316 Colonel Glenn Road, Oncken told the judge. The detective said Singleton was not charged because none of the witnesses would cooperate with authorities.
Court records show that McPherson, a father of two with four grandchildren, was convicted of second-degree murder in April 1992 for his role in the slaying of 18-year-old Reginald Darnell Flowers of College Station.
Authorities said at the time that Flowers was shot during a series of arguments between two groups of teenagers in the Granite Mountain area.
Flowers was killed two days after McPherson’s 18th birthday. McPherson was accused of using a shotgun, and police seized a shotgun from the carport attic of McPherson’s home on Baltimore Street.
McPherson admitted shooting at Flower’s red 1981 Chevrolet Camaro, testifying at his trial that someone in the car had fired at him first and that he was afraid of one of Flower’s passengers, Wendell Piggee.