Court Watching: James Chapman to write request for dismissal of DNA charge

On May 10, defendant James Forrest Chapman, 57, was before Judge Brian A. Oakley in 34th District Court for a review of the charge against him for not providing a DNA sample when arrested for a felony in Van Buren Township in 2015.
He stood without an attorney and the prosecutor said this charge has been before the court since Aug. 16, 2015 and on Feb. 15 this review was set for May 10.
A similar DNA charge against Chapman was tied to a felony charge of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer on June 3, 2016, when Chapman jumped into Belleville Lake allegedly to avoid the police. That case was being litigated at circuit court.
Chapman’s attorney in district court, John Day, first tried to link the 2015 charge to the 2016 charge and when that was unsuccessful then delayed the 2015 until after the 2016 charge was complete.
On May 2, the jury trial on the 2016 felony and DNA charge was dismissed by Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten after VBT police officers were not present because they were not subpoenaed by the Wayne County Prosecutor’s office and didn’t know the trial date.
The prosecutor before Judge Oakley said there was “a lack of communication downtown.” He said “downtown” will not resolve this.
Chapman told Judge Oakley that they never had a legal brief on the DNA charge.
“We thought it would be resolved downtown,” Judge Oakley said.
The prosecutor said they have a warrant signed to refile the charges against Chapman in the 2016 case that had been dismissed by Judge Van Houten.
“I’ve been accepted into college,” Chapman told the judge and then presented to the judge and prosecutor a copy of a letter to the editor of the Independent that was never printed. In the long letter he presents his case why the DNR charge is not valid.
He turned and snarled at the Independent reporter in the courtroom.
“You want to file a motion for dismissal,” Judge Oakley prompted Chapman.
“We will respond,” said the prosecutor.
Judge Oakley said 11 a.m. June 21 is the motion date set. “This thing is just not going very smoothly. The sooner you get that done, the better.”
Judge Oakley told Chapman to get his motion filed within the next three weeks and that will give the prosecutor’s office time to respond.
“It’s been a wild ride,” Chapman said.
“From you I’d expect nothing else,” Judge Oakley said.
Judge Oakley had previously dismissed this charge against Chapman, but the prosecutor’s office appealed the decision and circuit court sent it back to Judge Oakley.