Little Rock Man on Felony Probation Charged With First-Degree Murder in I-430 Police Chase Crash That Killed Passenger

LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock man accused of driving the wrong way on Interstate 430 while fleeing police in a crash that killed his passenger has been formally charged with first-degree murder, court records show.

Pulaski County prosecutors filed the charge Monday against Samuel Lamar Shelton, 26, along with felony fleeing causing serious physical injury and misdemeanor third-degree battery. Shelton is being held in the Pulaski County jail on a $1 million bond.

Jamia Renee Trotter, 27, died at the scene of the Aug. 21 crash. Her mother told KATV her daughter was a passenger who “had no control of the car.”

Shelton was on felony probation when the crash happened, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in May 2024 to second-degree stalking and first-degree terroristic threatening and was sentenced to five years of probation and 30 days in the county jail, to be served on weekends. Prosecutors filed a petition in September to revoke that probation, citing the Aug. 21 crash. Shelton appeared before Circuit Judge Melanie Martin on Oct. 12 and said he wants to hire a private attorney. The revocation hearing was reset for Nov. 2.

Little Rock police officers tried to stop a vehicle near Rodney Parham and Mississippi roads shortly before 2 a.m. Aug. 21, according to the department’s account of the crash. The driver sped off and was lost from sight. A second officer was nearly sideswiped by the same vehicle near Shackleford Road and tried to stop it again, and a pursuit followed onto I-430.

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The driver exited at Colonel Glenn Road, went east, then entered the northbound I-430 exit ramp and drove south in the northbound lanes before colliding with another vehicle and overturning, police said. Shelton and Trotter were both thrown from the vehicle. Shelton was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. The driver of the other vehicle, Rolando Hyche, 53, was also hurt, KATV reported.

Urine samples from both drivers were sent to the Arkansas State Crime Laboratory for toxicology testing, police said.

Shelton pleaded not guilty through a public defender in Little Rock District Court the day of the crash, while he was still hospitalized, and was ordered held on $1 million bond. A judge issued a no-contact order protecting Hyche four days later.

The 2024 probation case grew out of a December 2022 arrest on stalking and terroristic threatening charges. A separate burglary and theft case from the same month was dismissed when Shelton pleaded guilty in the stalking case, court records show.

Trotter’s mother, Deborah Trotter, told KATV in September that her daughter had trained in nursing and phlebotomy and considered Shelton a friend. She said she wants the state to change how police pursuits are handled.

Shelton has not been arraigned on the murder charge.