A Texarkana FCI inmate accused of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a fellow prisoner last year pleaded not guilty Thursday morning at a hearing before a federal judge in Texarkana.
Jama Jerrell Hinkle, 27, is accused of causing the death of Brandon Ray Parker, 42, in September while at FCI Texarkana. Texarkana attorney Jeff Harrelson entered a plea of not guilty to the charge Thursday at an arraignment hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in the Texarkana Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
The indictment alleges that on Sept. 26, Hinkle “upon a sudden quarrel and heat of passion knowingly did kill Brandon Ray Parker, by
striking him about the head with a closed fist, causing Brandon Ray Parker to fall and strike his head on the ground.”
While the indictment alleges the altercation occurred Sept. 26, a letter from the warden of FCI Texarkana to the federal court in Oklahoma which sentenced Parker states that Parker died the morning of Sept. 28 at St. Michael’s Hospital in Texarkana of a brain injury. Parker was indicted for possession of materials depicting the sexual exploitation of minors in the Eastern District of Oklahoma and sentenced to 78 months in federal prison March 22, 2017.
Hinkle is currently serving time for participating in the June 2015 robbery of a Chase National Bank branch in Fort Worth, Texas. Hinkle was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison at a federal court hearing in Oklahoma on Dec. 30, 2015. The Bureau of Prisons shows Hinkle’s current projected release date as Jan. 30, 2020.
That could change if Hinkle is convicted of manslaughter in Parker’s death. The offense is punishable by up to 15 years in federal prison and any sentence must be served consecutively to any term an inmate was already serving at the time the crime of voluntary manslaughter was committed on property over which the federal government has jurisdiction. A fine up to $250,000 is possible also. A trial date has not been scheduled.
