Manning man fails to have 20-year sentence for shooting death overturned

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A Circuit Court judge has rejected an application for post-conviction relief from a 27-year-old Manning man currently serving a 20-year sentence for the 2009 shooting death of Arvin Williams at a home on J.W. Carter Road. Trevor L. Singleton pleaded guilty in October 2011 to voluntary manslaughter and assault and battery with intent to kill for Williams' death and the shooting of Kashiem Laquan Lawson during the same incident. Third Circuit Judge George C. James sentenced Singleton to concurrent sentences of 20 years on both charges, along with five years for an unrelated possession of marijuana with intent to distribute charge. Singleton filed in 2013, according to court records, for post-conviction relief, an attack on his legal representation during the adjudication of his case, not on the legal merits thereof. Singleton was represented by Sumter attorney Nicole Singletary and Columbia attorney Joenathan S. Chaplin during his plea. A convict filing for relief must prove that he lacked effective assistance of counsel during his trial or guilty plea. A hearing was held in December before Judge J. Cordell Maddox Jr. at the Sumter County Judicial Center in Sumter. Maddox released an order Jan. 28 rejecting Singleton's application, finding that Singleton failed to prove the merits of his case. During his plea three years ago, Singleton admitted to the Feb. 27, 2009, shooting of Williams, 36, of Summerton, at the victim’s home in the Ram Bay area. Third Circuit Assistant Solicitor Jason Corbett said, according to court records, that the incident spanned two counties and involved three law enforcement agencies. “Singleton and two others left Sumter and drove to a home on J.W. Carter Road,” Corbett said. “The three individuals went into the house, and there were a couple of other individuals there but not in the same room. They went to the home to purchase drugs. In the process, Singleton pulled a weapon and fired at Williams and then fired at Lawson.” According to the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office, Williams was hit in the back. Lawson was struck in the thigh, and the bullet went clean through his leg. Lawson identified Singleton and a co-defendant from a photo line-up. Both attended Morris College, and the Sumter Police Department arrested them Feb. 28, 2009, at an apartment complex near the school.