Man indicted on manslaughter charge for Oct. 2017 shooting

A 24-year-old man has been indicted on a manslaughter charge in the October 2017 shooting death of another man in Amelia, according to St. Mary Parish Clerk of Court records.

On Monday, a 16th Judicial District grand jury indicted Hakeemia Bias, 24, of Amelia, in the Oct. 31, 2017, on one count of manslaughter in the death of Christopher Jamal Singleton, 23, court records said.

Bias was arrested Nov. 2, 2017, on a second-degree murder warrant in connection with Singleton's death after he turned himself in to detectives at the St. Mary Parish Sheriff’s Office in Morgan City.

Just before 11 p.m. on Oct. 31, St. Mary Parish sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a possible shooting on Friendship Alley in Amelia. Deputies located an unresponsive man who sustained a gunshot wound, a sheriff's office news release said.

The man, identified as Singleton, was transported to Teche Regional Medical Center by Acadian Ambulance and then pronounced deceased at the hospital, the release said.

Investigators found evidence that Bias confronted Singleton and fired a handgun striking Singleton, the release stated. According to Bias' booking sheet, witnesses said that Singleton got out of a vehicle with a firearm. They said that shots were then fired, and they took cover. One witness looked up and no longer saw Singleton, but saw Bias walking away and heard him say a racial slur, the booking sheet stated.

On Nov. 3, District Judge Vincent Borne set Bias' bail at $1 million. On Dec. 6, Bias stated in court that he could not afford to pay bail as set and stated that he could afford bail of $250,000, court records stated. Bias has a bail reduction hearing set for March 12. A trial date has not yet been set.

Court records indicate that Bias is represented by the public defender's office in Franklin.