'I have zero bitterness': Louisiana man freed from prison 3 decades after arrest by crooked cop

One day after a New Orleans judge ordered an end to three decades of incarceration advocates say was based on a lie, Sherman Singleton emerged from the Louisiana State Police barracks in Baton Rouge on Thursday afternoon, reveling in the hugs and warm wishes from family members and friends.

Singleton, 53, was convicted of second-degree murder in 1991 in connection with the shooting death of a New Orleans man, Bruce Vappie. Correspondence and court papers allege Singleton’s arrest was based on false statements from a disgraced former New Orleans cop who is now on federal death row for murder and civil rights violations.

“It is amazing and surreal," he said of his release. Singleton said he was heading to Houma, Louisiana, with Terrebonne Parish NAACP President Jerome Boykin and relatives for a freedom celebration.

According to Singleton’s correspondence over the years with authorities, he was fingered for the crime by the crooked former cop, Len Davis, who said Vappie made a dying declaration that the Houma man did the deed. Davis was later accused of protecting drug dealers. The ex-cop's federal conviction on a murder charge and pending penalty of death were due to the killing of a witness who saw him beating a young man.

Singleton is one of several inmates imprisoned after arrests by Davis, in unrelated cases, who have been released after their cases were reviewed.

Singleton credits Boykin with helping to get his bid for release moved to the top of a high stack of cases New Orleans prosecutors are reviewing concerning pleas for release of individuals serving time due to police corruption or careless prosecution rather than guilt.

“He did in a month and a half what I couldn’t do in 32 years,” Singleton said. “Once he got on this it was unbelievable."

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Singleton had been elevated to the status of prison trusty, assigned to the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge as a member of the domestic staff, frequently having contact with Gov. John Bel Edwards and family.

“I will be spending as much time as possible with family and friends and I hope to start a scrap metal company,” Singleton said of his future. 

To cut short his sentence of life in prison with no parole in the easiest manner possible, Singleton entered what amounted to a plea of no contest Wednesday to a charge of manslaughter, which carries a maximum term of 21 years, receiving credit for time served. As part of the arrangement, he agreed not to appeal his manslaughter conviction and not to bring a civil action against the state for the 11 years he served beyond that maximum.

Such an arrangement results in a defendant denying he committed the crime but accepting the conviction, a practice referred to in the courts as an “Alford Plea,” which is often used in post-conviction-relief situations.

During a hearing Wednesday, New Orleans Deputy District Attorney Eileen Maw told Judge Robin Pittman that her office found Singleton’s conviction is one that “that could not stand.” The freeing of Singleton, she said, was proposed “in the interests of justice.”

University of Virginia law professor Kelly Elizabeth Orians represented Singleton at the hearing.

Singleton said Thursday he does not know who killed Vappie but acknowledged he had been in the man’s company in New Orleans about two hours before the murder, making a drug purchase, an element of a lifestyle he said he has put far behind him and that he wants absolutely no part of in the future.

In a statement of support for Singleton’s release read in court Wednesday, a member of Vappie’s family acknowledged the victim was engaged in a way of life that would likely have resulted in his death “10 different ways.”

Singleton said that although he was wronged, he bears no animus toward anyone connected with his case.

“Amazingly I do not,” Singleton said. "I just want to move on, and I have zero bitterness.”

Moving on, he said, will include relocating to Atlanta where he will work for a company owned by his daughter, called Singleton Express, while he makes plans for his own business.

Boykin said he is overwhelmed by knowledge that someone wronged by the system is now a free man.

“I don’t need any other Christmas presents this year,” Boykin said.