Palmer Christie Singleton III

1951 - 2022

Palmer Christie Singleton, III

Aug. 16, 1951 - Feb. 6, 2022

Palmer Christie Singleton, III, died of complications related to lung cancer on February 6, 2022.

Born in 1951, he attended Hammond High and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and New York University School of Law. He was predeceased by his father, Palmer C. Singleton, Jr.; his mother, Elizabeth Sue Ballard Singleton and his sister, Sarah M. Singleton. He is survived by his son, Samuel Singleton-Freeman and by many cousins; friends; colleagues and clients throughout the country.

After graduating law school, Palmer was a Fellow in the E. Barrett Prettyman/Stuart Stiller program at Georgetown Law. He worked as a public defender in Milwaukee, New Hampshire, and Boston. He taught law school at the University at Buffalo School of Law, Georgia State University, and Emory. He was in private practice in Atlanta, Georgia. However, the majority of his professional career was spent as a staff attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, on and off from 1984 until his retirement in 2016. Through the Southern Center, he represented prisoners throughout the South who had been sentenced to death, arguing in state and federal appellate courts, filing briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court, and obtaining new trials or new sentences for numerous clients.

While in Buffalo, Palmer befriended the folk singer Ani DiFranco, who later became a supporter and fundraiser for Southern Center. DiFranco wrote about Palmer in her autobiography, No Walls and the Recurring Dream, and observed that he was a sort of cranky Buddha, dedicated to healing society's violence by extending a hand to the people on the very bottom, living in cages, with little to no human rights.

A memorial reception will be held in Atlanta, sometime in May 2022.

Memorial contributions may be sent to Transitions Pet Care in Decatur, Georgia or the anti-death penalty organization of your choice.