Assault charge dropped against James Chapman in GOP confrontation

A set of criminal charges filed against James Forrest Chapman following a physical altercation which allegedly left Clare County Republican Party Chairman Mark DeYoung with broken dentures, stress fractures in his spine and bruised ribs were dismissed on Jan. 8.
The scuffle was at a state GOP meeting inside Clare County’s Doherty Hotel on July 8, 2023, when Chapman allegedly kicked DeYoung in the groin.
At the time, DeYoung said he was inside a meeting of the state GOP committee when he saw someone who was outside the meeting room flip him off through a small window.
When DeYoung opened the door to the room, he said Chapman “kicked me in my balls.”
Chapman denied doing anything wrong and also denied kicking DeYoung in the groin.
In August 2023, the Clare County prosecutor’s office announced misdemeanor charges of assault and battery and disturbing the peace against Chapman.
However, DeYoung told The Detroit News that he had asked Clare County’s newly elected prosecutor, Andrew Santini, who took office on Jan. 1, to dismiss the charges, which had yet to advance to trial.
“I’m past this now. I want to get on with my life,” said DeYoung, who is no longer chairman of the Clare County Republican Party.
Chapman, 65, who was a Republican delegate in Washtenaw County at the time, maintained he never hit DeYoung and said DeYoung had come through a door swinging at him.