On Wednesday, August 20, 2025, Chiquita Roberts, 43, of West Memphis, pleaded guilty in Crittenden County Circuit Court to first-degree death by delivery. She was sentenced to 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections, plus an additional 10 years of suspended imposition of sentence.
The case stemmed from the November 2, 2023, death of inmate Shalanda Hurd, 40, who was found unresponsive in her cell at the Crittenden County Detention Center, where she had been held on a trespassing charge since February 2023.
An Arkansas State Police investigation found that Roberts, who was also incarcerated at the time, slid contraband beneath Hurd’s cell door shortly before Hurd’s death. The state crime lab determined Hurd died from acute fentanyl and cocaine toxicity.
Roberts was initially charged with aggravated death by delivery in December 2023.
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