Prosecution rests after jury watches crime scene video

Wednesday, Feb. 18, 1998 | 1:44 a.m.

Singleton, who first grabbed headlines when he was convicted in California of raping a teen-age hitchhiker and chopping off her forearms, shifted uncomfortably in his chair during the tape presentation.

He could face Florida's electric chair if convicted of first-degree murder for killing the woman. The defense was expected to begin its case Wednesday afternoon.

"There's the victim," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Detective Larry Lingo said as jurors watched images of Roxanne Hayes, 31, lying on her back on Singleton's blue carpet, her eyes slightly open and strands of her long hair in her mouth.

Her body had been found face-down but had been turned over by paramedics, Lingo said. The video showed her legs crossed at the ankles and her arms flopped at her side.

Singleton, 70, rubbed his eyes and shifted his weight as Lingo described the scene. He sat at the defense table behind the television monitor, so could not see the video. His lawyers had moved across the courtroom to watch.

The courtroom was silent as the video played without sound. Jurors watched intently, but did not visibly react.

The camera panned through a neatly-kept home, showing a designer-white kitchen and comfortable living room with a red plaid sofa. The television set silently played music videos; a bowl of rice and beans sat on the floor.

One cushion of the sofa was marked by a large dark blood stain. Lying on the floor in front of it were a length of rope and a large butcher knife.

Hayes, a mother of three with a history of prostitution arrests, suffered six stab wounds to her left breast and stomach and was stabbed a seventh time in the face.

Police found her body in Singleton's living room after a painter walked in on a struggle and called 911, according to trial testimony.

Singleton's lawyers are trying to save him from Death Row, not by saying he didn't do it, but by arguing the slaying happened during a struggle over money.

In her opening arguments, defense attorney Jill Menadier described the stabbing as a "spontaneous outburst of emotion," not something planned.

Menadier said Singleton was depressed and over-medicated and got into a drunken struggle when Hayes grabbed at his wallet, trying to get more money to support her cocaine habit.

In 1978, Singleton was convicted of raping 15-year-old hitchhiker Mary Vincent, chopping off her arms with an ax and leaving her for dead on the side of a road. She survived to testify against him.

He was paroled in 1987, amid predictions he would try to kill again. Singleton served his parole on prison grounds after several California communities refused to let him live there, and he later returned to his home state of Florida.

If he is convicted of first-degree murder, his trial then would move to a penalty phase to decide whether he should be sentenced to death or life in prison.

His California victim is expected to testify against him if the trial moves to that phase. Prosecutors could then use that case to argue for his execution.