Citations:
Singleton v. Arkansas, 124 S.Ct. 74 (2003) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 120 S.Ct. 808 (2000) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 118 S.Ct. 118 (1997) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 115 S.Ct. 419 (1994) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 110 S.Ct. 207 (1989) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 103 S.Ct. 184 (1982) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Arkansas, 102 S.Ct. 1996 (1982) (Cert. Denied).
Singleton v. Norris, 319 F.3d 1018 (8th Cir. 2003) (Habeas-Competency).
Singleton v. Norris, 267 F.3d 859 (8th Cir. 2001) (Habeas-Competency).
Singleton v. Norris, 108 F.3d 872 (8th Cir. 1997) (Habeas).
Singleton v. Lockhart, 871 F.2d 1395 (8th Cir. 1989) (Habeas - Sentence Reinstated).
Singleton v. Lockhart, 653 F.Supp. 1114 (E.D.Ark. 1986) (Habeas Granted).
Singleton v. Endell, 992 S.W.2d 768 (Ark. 1999) (Competency).
Singleton v. Endell, 964 S.W.2d 366 (Ark. 1998) (Competency).
Singleton v. Endell, 870 S.W.2d 742 (Ark. 1994) (Competency).
Singleton v. State, 623 S.W.2d 180 (Ark. 1981) (Direct Appeal).

Final Meal:
Cheeseburgers, fried eggplant, green tomatoes and sweet potatoes, baked beans, potato salad, doughnuts and two vanilla milkshakes.

Final Words:
His final statement was released in written form and it was a long tract, with several religious references, prison officials said.

Internet Sources:

Arkansas Department of Corrections

ADC Number: SK874
Name: Singleton, Charles
Race: BLACK
Sex: MALE
Birth Date: 10/24/79
Sentencing Date: 10/24/79
County of Conviction: Ashley

Pine Bluff Commercial

"SINGLETON PUT TO DEATH," by By Scott Loftis. (January 7, 2004)

VARNER -- More than 24 years after he was sent to Arkansas' death row, convicted murderer Charles Singleton was executed Tuesday night. Singleton, who had been Arkansas' longest-serving death row inmate, was pronounced dead at 8:06 p.m., four minutes after a lethal injection was administered into his veins. The execution took place inside the death chamber at the Arkansas Department of Correction Cummins Unit.

Singleton's last words referred to a written statement he left with prison officials. "I was going to speak, but I wrote it down," he said. "I'll leave it up to the warden." Prison officials later released a typed copy of Singleton's statement.

Singleton, 44, was convicted in 1979 for the stabbing death of Mary Lou York, a Hamburg grocer who had befriended him. York identified Singleton as her killer before she bled to death.

Singleton's execution had been scheduled five times before Tuesday, most recently in March 2000. His case drew widespread attention because he suffered from schizophrenia, a mental illness that rendered him legally insane without medication. Singleton's attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig of Little Rock, had argued that the state could not forcibly medicate Singleton to keep him sane enough to be executed. But the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Singleton's final appeal in October and after reviewing the inmate's medical records last week, Rosenzweig said it was clear that Singleton had been taking his medicine voluntarily.

In the end, Singleton met his fate calmly, according to Rosenzweig and other witnesses. Jason Friedman, a reporter for Little Rock television station KARK-TV Channel 4 who witnessed the execution, said Singleton "coughed briefly, kind of clearing his throat," after the lethal dose was administered, then closed his eyes and never opened them again. Earlier Tuesday, Gov. Mike Huckabee denied a request for clemency filed by Rosenzweig. In a statement announcing his decision, Huckabee's office pointed out that Singleton himself did not ask the governor to intervene. Rosenzweig visited Singleton in his cell adjacent to the death chamber Tuesday afternoon and said Singleton wanted to proceed with the execution. "He essentially begged us not to do anything ... that would stop the execution," Rosenzweig said. Rosenzweig said he had sent "draft motions" to various courts that might have intervened on Singleton's behalf, leaving blank spaces that could be filled in if Singleton exhibited any psychotic behavior Tuesday. "He was rational, sane and really at peace," the attorney said. "... There wasn't anything from his behavior that gave us anything to fill in the blanks with."

Rosenzweig said that in the days leading up to the execution, he and Singleton had several discussions about the inmate's legal options -- which included arguing that lethal injection was unconstitutional. That argument might only have served to change the method of Singleton's death to electrocution, Rosenzweig said. "He was adamantly against creating any possibility that he could be electrocuted," Rosenzweig said. In the hours before his death, Singleton visited with Rosenzweig and another attorney, ate a last meal that included two double-soy patty sandwiches, fried eggplant, fried green tomatoes and fried sweet potato slices, and took a shower. "He was really at peace with what he wanted to do," Rosenzweig said.

Even though Singleton asked Rosenzweig not to intervene Tuesday, the attorney said the execution left him saddened and frustrated. "What happened here will be seen as a shameful mark on the state of Arkansas," he said.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

The victim, Mary Lou York, was murdered in York’s Grocery Store at Hamburg on June 1, 1979. She died from loss of blood as a result of two stab wounds in her neck. The evidence of guilt in this case is overwhelming. Patti Franklin saw her relative Charles Singleton enter York’s Grocery at approximately 7:30 p.m. on the day of the crime. Shortly after he entered Patti heard Mrs. York scream, “Patti go get help, Charles Singleton is killing me.” Patti then ran for help. Another witness, Lenora Howard, observed Singleton exit the store and shortly thereafter witnessed Mary Lou, who was “crying and had blood on her,” come to the front door.

Police Officer Strother was the first to arrive at the scene and found Mary Lou lying in a pool of blood in the rear of the store. The officer testified Mary Lou York told him that Charles Singleton “came in the store, said this is a robbery, grabbed her around the neck, and went to stabbing her.” She then told Officer Strother that “there’s no way I can be all right, you know I’m not going to make it. I’ve lost too much blood.” Mary Lou was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and was attended by her personal physician, Dr. J. D. Rankin. While en route to the hospital, she told Dr. Rankin several times that she was dying and that Singleton did it. Mary Lou York died before reaching the emergency room of the hospital.

UPDATE: Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee set an execution date for convicted Ashley County murderer Charles Singleton, according to a Friday, November 7, press release from Tenth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Deen. Huckabee set a date of January 6 for the execution. "An Ashley County jury sentenced Singleton to death over 24 years ago, and although long overdue, his reckoning time is at hand," Deen said in the press release.

Singleton, who has been on death row longer than any other Arkansas inmate, was convicted of the 1979 murder of Hamburg store owner Mary Lou York. Before she died, York identified Singleton as the man who stabbed her. He has been on death row since October, 1979.

After his conviction and imprisonment, Singleton was diagnosed as schizophrenic. He has argued that he has been taking anti-psychotic drugs that make him sane enough to be executed. Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe told Huckabee earlier this week that Singleton has no appeals pending and that nothing should prevent Huckabee from setting the execution date. State Sen. Jimmy Jeffress, D-Crossett, wrote Huckabee Tuesday, November 4, urging the governor to set an execution date. Jeffress said he was friends with York's daughter while in college. "Please set an execution date for Charles Singleton," Jeffress wrote. "I feel that it is time for a conclusion to be composed for this story. You have the power to pick up your pen and write the final chapter." Singleton was 19 at the time of the murder. "I'm pleased to know that he has set the date," Jeffress said Monday, November 10. "I still have a level of concern whether he will follow through and let the execution take place. It's still possible for him to review it and stop it. Singleton can change his mind and ask for clemency, and the governor said he would review it if Singleton asks for clemency. "Knowing the governor and seeing his past performance on giving clemency, I'm still concerned he would grant it and give him life without parole. The state has been out between a half million and a million dollars keeping Singleton on death row. I think it's time to put this behind us and get on with what needs to be done. I think it's time the penalty is exacted."

UPDATE: Mary York Donaldson of Monticello, daughter of Hamburg store keeper Mary Lou York, who Charles Singleton murdered in her store in 1979, asked Arkansas citizens for letters in opposition to clemency for Singleton. Singleton has applied to the Department of Community Corrections Institutional Parole Services for executive clemency. A panel of the Arkansas Post Prison Transfer Board will interview Singleton at 10 a.m .on December 12 in the Varner Unit in Grady in regard to the request. In addition, a protestors' hearing will be held at 2:30 p.m. on December 12 in the fifth floor office of the Post Prison Transfer Board, Two Union National Plaza at 105 West Capitol in Little Rock. After the two sessions, the full board will meet later to review all of the information and make a recommendation to the governor. Mrs. Donaldson asked that local citizens who wish to protest the possibility of executive clemency write letters stating their opposition. She requests that letters be sent to her at P. O. Box 387, Monticello, AR 71655 in time for her to receive them and take them to the protestors' hearing with her. Mrs. York identified Singleton as the man who had stabbed her when police arrived at her store. With apparently all appeals exhausted for Singleton, Gov. Mike Huckabee has set an execution date of January 6. Singleton has been on Death Row since his conviction of capital murder on October 30, 1979.

Russellville Courier

"Singleton dies; 2nd execution stopped." AP January 7, 2004)

VARNER (AP) — A mentally ill man who gave up his fight for life after arguing that the state couldn’t legally execute him was put to death Tuesday for the 1979 murder of a Hamburg grocer who befriended him. Charles Singleton, 44, was pronounced dead at 8:06 p.m.

“I was going to speak but I wrote it down,” he said when asked for his last words. “I’ll leave it up to the warden.” Prison officials later provided a copy of Singleton’s rambling statement. “I am Charles Singleton, anointed by God, Victor Ra Hakim,” Singleton’s statement read in part. “The blind think I’m playing a game. They deny me, refusing me existence. But everybody takes the place of another. “You have taught me what you want done — and I will not let you down. God bless.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a stay of execution for convicted killer Karl Roberts, who was scheduled to die after Singleton. Roberts had waived his rights to appeal but changed his mind hours before he was scheduled to die. Roberts was convicted of the 1999 kidnapping, rape and murder of his 12-year-old niece Andria Nichole Brewer. His plea in the final hours was granted by U.S. District Judge George Howard Jr. The Arkansas Attorney General’s Office then filed an appeal to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where it was denied. The attorney general took the matter to the U.S. Supreme Court, which also turned it down.

Singleton’s attorney, Jeff Rosenzweig, said he spoke to Singleton before the execution and his client begged him not to do anything more on his behalf. “He appeared to be at peace,” said Rosenzweig, who was one of 15 people to witness the execution behind four panes of glass in a small building deep inside the prison. After 22 years as Singleton’s lawyer, Rosenzweig said he was “frustrated, disappointed and saddened” to watch Singleton die. “I think what we have here will be seen as a shameful mark on the state of Arkansas,” Rosenzweig said. “He’s not a continuing danger to anyone and he’s been here 24 years without causing a problem that was not attributable to his mental illness.”

Within two minutes of receiving an injection, at 8:02 p.m., Singleton had made his final perceivable movement — a short gasp, a final blink and a slight raising of his chest. For two more minutes, John Byus, the state’s medical services administrator, continued to watch a monitor behind Singleton’s head, which peeked out from all white bed sheets cradled by a yellow restraint. At 8:06 p.m., the Lincoln County coroner entered the all-white room, removed Singleton’s leather chest plate, listened through a stethoscope and pronounced him dead.

If Roberts had been executed it would have been the fifth time since 1994 that the state put more than one person to death in a day.

The U.S. Supreme Court has said it is unconstitutional to execute mentally ill inmates if they don’t understand why they are to die. Singleton last year lost a bid to avoid his execution. By refusing to take up Singleton’s case, the Supreme Court left intact a federal appeals court decision that said forced medication was proper because it was an appropriate treatment of Singleton’s schizophrenia. Singleton said he wanted to die and in recent years has repeatedly tried to block Rosenzweig from filing appeals or clemency requests on his behalf.

Singleton prevented Rosenzweig from reviewing his medical records under a new federal medical privacy law, but finally relented last week. After reviewing the records, Rosenzweig said it was clear Singleton was taking his medication voluntarily. Rosenzweig said he and Singleton met several times Tuesday afternoon and briefly discussed final legal options before reminiscing about their long association. “We discussed his theological beliefs and religion, about what he’d see after the execution, in other words, whether he’d go to heaven or not,” the lawyer said. “He was really at peace.”

TheDeathHouse

"Singleton Executed; Second Killer Decides to Continue Appeals." (January 6, 2004)

A man who the courts ruled could be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to be put to death was executed Tuesday night. Charles Singleton, 44, who killed a grocer during a robbery in 1979, was led into the Cummins Unit death chamber just after 8 p.m. He was prononced dead at 8:06 p.m.

Meanwhile, another condemned prisoner, Karl Roberts, also scheduled for execution Tuesday, changed his mind and decided to continue his appeals in the federal courts. A judge stopped the execution, but the state's Attorney General was attempting to get the U.S. Supreme Court to allow Roberts to be executed. Roberts, 36, raped and murdered his 12-year-old niece. He decided to continue his appeals five hours before he was scheduled for execution. He was set to follow Singleton to the death house at 9 p.m. Roberts had previously said he wanted to die.

Forced Medication Issue

Singleton was sentenced to death for the murder of Mary Lou York, a grocer, in 1979. The victim reportedly identified Singleton as her attacker before she died. The Singleton case had garnered national attention. The issue in the case was not guilt, but whether a death row inmate could be forcibly medicated to make him sane enough to execute. A federal district court and the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that the drugs could be administered. Singleton was treated for psychiatric problems in prison for years. In 1997, he voluntarily stopped taking the medication and became psychotic again, according to a psychiatrist who was treated him. Later in 1997, a medical panel at the prison agreed with the psychiatrist's request to medicate Singleton involuntarily, setting off a court battle that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Demons Within In the past, Singleton had talked of believing that his victim was still alive and his cell was inhabited by demons. The case rose to the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals. The divided panel, by a 6-5 vote ruled that medically induced sanity does not prevent the state from executing him. Earlier, a panel of the court had ruled that Singleton be sentenced to life in prison, prompting the state to appeal to the full federal appeals court. The issue finally reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that condemned killers with severe mental health problems could be forced to take drugs to make them sane enough to be executed.

Roberts: Brain Damaged?

A major issue in the Roberts case is also his mental health. He had decided to drop his appeals before changing his mind Tuesday. Roberts suffered damage to the frontal lobes of his brain when he was hit by a dump truck as a child, and has since suffered hallucinations, affecting his ability to control his emotions, a defense neurologist testified. And it was that lack of emotional control that was responsible for him raping and murdering the child, doctors have stated.

Dueling Doctors However, a state appointed neurologist and psychologist did not agree. They found that Roberts knew what he was doing. The neurologist opined that the brain injury did not cause Roberts to kill the child and the Roberts had no behavioral problems that triggered him to murder his niece. Roberts knew what he was doing, the neurologist stated. The psychologist determined that Roberts had an IQ of 76, above the level for those considered mildly retarded, graduated high school and could read or write. Before being arrested for the child's murder, Roberts was married and had a family. Most importantly, after before and after the murder, Roberts took steps to hide his crime, the psychologist found. Roberts drove the child to a remote location to rape and kill the child; tried to hide the body and later admitted that he killed the girl because she could have identified him as a rapist.

KATV

"Mentally Ill Inmate Has Clemency Hearing" (December 12, 2003 4:07pm)

Varner (AP) - A mentally ill death row inmate went to the state parole board Friday in a hearing at Varner. Charles Singleton is to be executed January 6th as part of a double-execution.

Attorney Jeff Rosenzweig argued before the Post Prison Transfer Board that it should recommend a life sentence for Singleton, who was convicted of killing a Hamburg grocer in 1979.

A member of Singleton's family says the inmate fought the hearing because he is attempting to commit state-assisted suicide.

The inmate told the board that his sister was conspiring with his lawyer as part of a money-making scheme. Singleton tried to have the board cancel the hearing, but Rosenzweig said he pursued it anyway because state law doesn't require that only the inmate can make the request.

The board is scheduled to meet Friday in Little Rock to hear from those supporting Singleton's execution.

Reuters News

"Arkansas Executes Man with Severe Mental Illness." (Tue January 6, 2004 11:45 PM ET )

LITTLE ROCK (Reuters) - Arkansas on Tuesday executed a man with a severe mental illness who was forcibly medicated with anti-psychotic drugs, which made him lucid enough under court guidelines to be put to death.

Charles Singleton, 44, a diagnosed schizophrenic was given a lethal injection in the state's death chamber in Varner, about 70 miles southeast of Little Rock for stabbing grocery store clerk Mary Lou York to death in the neck in 1979. Another prisoner Karl Roberts, 35, was scheduled to be put to death after Singleton for raping and killing his 12-year-old niece. Lawyers for Roberts filed a last-minute appeal requesting a temporary stay of execution, which was granted by a federal court.

Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he would not issue a stay for Singleton, who had run out of appeals. Several groups such as the European Union and Amnesty International petitioned the governor to commute the death sentence, saying it was morally reprehensible to execute a person with a severe mental illness.

While in prison, Singleton's mental condition worsened and he was forcibly given powerful drugs to curtail his psychotic episodes under a 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision that allows states to forcibly medicate a prisoner if that person is a danger to himself or others, and the treatment is in that person's medical interest. Lawyers for Singleton appealed to have the medication stopped, saying that it was not in their client's medical interest to be declared mentally competent enough to be executed.

Last year, the Eighth Circuit federal court ruled that Arkansas could forcibly medicate Singleton. In the decision, the court said that "eligibility for execution is the only unwanted consequence of the medication." The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the lower court's decision. The Supreme Court has ruled that states cannot execute mentally retarded prisoners or those whose mental illness makes it impossible for them to understand that they are going to be put to death.

Singleton's last meal was cheeseburgers, fried eggplant, green tomatoes and sweet potatoes, baked beans, potato salad, doughnuts and two vanilla milkshakes.

Singleton is the first person Arkansas has executed this year and the 26th since the state reinstated the death penalty about 20 years ago. His final statement was released in written form and it was a long tract, with several religious references, prison officials said.

Earlier on Tuesday evening, Texas executed Ynobe Matthews, 27, who raped and murdered a woman in 2000 and then burned her body.

Singleton v. State, 623 S.W.2d 180 (Ark. 1981) (Direct Appeal).

Defendant was convicted in the Circuit Court, Ashley County, Paul K. Roberts, J., of capital felony-murder and aggravated robbery and was sentenced to death by electrocution for murder and life imprisonment for aggravated robbery and he appealed. The Supreme Court, Adkisson, C. J., held that: (1) defendant failed to show the trial court committed reversible error by failing to excuse for cause three veniremen, where he exercised peremptory challenge on each of the three, but made no showing of record that he would have struck any other juror who actually sat on the trial of the case had he had a peremptory challenge remaining, and (2) murder victim's statements relating to defendant's cutting her throat and, her victim's dying fell under the excited utterance exception to rule against hearsay, since they were made under the stress of the event. Affirmed in part; reversed in part. Hickman, J., dissented in part and filed opinion in which Dudley, J., joined.

On October 30, 1979, after a trial by jury, appellant, Charles L. Singleton, was sentenced to death by electrocution for capital felony murder, and life imprisonment for aggravated robbery.

We affirm the conviction and sentence for capital felony murder, but set aside the lesser included offense of aggravated robbery. Ark.Stat.Ann. s 41-105(1) (a), (2)(a) (Repl.1977) prohibits the entry of a judgment of conviction on capital felony murder and the underlying specified felony.

* * *

The evidence of guilt in this case is overwhelming. Patti Franklin saw her relative Singleton enter York's Grocery at approximately 7:30 p. m. on the day of the crime. Shortly after he entered Patti heard Mrs. York scream, "Patti go get help, Charles Singleton is killing me." Patti then ran for help. Another witness, Lenora Howard, observed Singleton exit the store and shortly thereafter witnessed Mrs. York, who was "crying and had blood on her," come to the front door. Police Officer Strother was the first to arrive at the scene and found Mrs. York lying in a pool of blood in the rear of the store. The officer testified Mrs. York told him that Charles Singleton "came in the store, said this is a robbery, grabbed her around the neck, and went to stabbing her." She then told Officer Strother that "there's no way I can be all right, you know I'm not going to make it. I've lost too much blood." Mrs. York was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and was attended by her personal physician, Dr. J. D. Rankin. While enroute to the hospital, she told Dr. Rankin several times that she was dying and that Singleton did it. Mrs. York died before reaching the emergency room of the hospital. Officer Strother also testified that during examination of the premises, he found a money bag on the floor near the cash register which was empty, except for about $2.00 in change. He also stated that the cash register had only a small amount of change in it.

* * *

The victim cried out to Patti Franklin that Singleton was killing her. She told Officer Strother that she was not going to make it because she had lost too much blood, and she repeatedly told her physician, Dr. Rankin, that she was dying. It is clear that all of her statements were made under the dying declaration exception to the rule against hearsay. Each of these statements were made concerning the cause or circumstances of what she believed to be her impending death.

* * *

We have examined all objections and find no error.

Singleton v. Lockhart, 653 F.Supp. 1114 (E.D.Ark. 1986) (Habeas Granted).

State prisoner, sentenced to death by electrocution for capital felony-murder, and life imprisonment for aggravated robbery, whose conviction and death sentence were affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court, 274 Ark. 126, 623 S.W.2d 180, sought federal habeas corpus relief. The District Court, Eisele, Chief Judge, held that presence of invalidating aggravating circumstance required that death sentence be set aside. In subsequent order, the District Court held that double jeopardy prevented state from asking jury to reimpose death penalty. Order accordingly.

On October 30, 1979, petitioner was sentenced to death by electrocution for capital felony murder, and life imprisonment for aggravated robbery. The conviction and death sentence for capital murder were affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court, but the aggravated robbery conviction and sentence were vacated on double jeopardy grounds. Singleton v. State, 274 Ark. 126, 623 S.W.2d 180 (1981). Certiorari was denied by the United States Supreme Court. Petitioner then sought permission to proceed under Rule 37 of the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure. Permission was denied by the Arkansas Supreme Court and an execution date was set for June 4, 1982. The Arkansas Supreme Court denied petitioner's request for a stay of execution. On June 1, 1982, this Court granted petitioner a stay of execution and petitioner's first petition for writ of habeas corpus was filed.

* * *

It is therefore ORDERED that the respondent shall be, and it is hereby, prohibited from retrying the death penalty phase of petitioner's case. It is further ORDERED that the respondent be, and it is hereby, required to reduce the petitioner's sentence to life without parole.

Singleton v. Endell, 992 S.W.2d 768 (Ark. 1999) (Competency).

Condemned prisoner whose capital felony-murder conviction and death sentence were affirmed on appeal, 274 Ark. 126, 623 S.W.2d 180, brought declaratory judgment action, seeking to prohibit his execution as long as his competency to be executed was being obtained through involuntary medication. Following stay of execution pending decision, 332 Ark. 196, 964 S.W.2d 366, the Circuit Court, Jefferson County, Fred D. Davis, denied relief. Prisoner appealed. The Supreme Court, Arnold, C.J., held that: (1) state had burden to administer antipsychotic medication as long as prisoner was alive and was either a potential danger to himself or others, and (2) collateral effect of the involuntary medication, which rendered him competent to understand the nature and reason for his execution, did not violate due proces. Affirmed. Thornton, J., filed dissenting opinion.