James Chapman sentenced to 6 months for obstructing justice

James Forrest Chapman, 58, who was found guilty of assaulting / resisting / obstructing a police officer by a Wayne County jury on Feb. 22, has been sentenced to six months in jail.
On March 22, Chapman was scheduled for a 9 a.m. sentencing before Circuit Court Judge Margaret Van Houten, but at 9 a.m. he was not present in court.
Van Buren Township police officers offered to drive to Belleville to give Chapman a courtesy ride to court if he needed transportation.
Det. Donovan McCarthy called Chapman offering the ride and Chapman reportedly said he didn’t want to talk to McCarthy and hung up.
Judge Van Houten said she would give him until noon to get to court.
At 11:30 a.m., Chapman arrived in court. The previous day he had come to court to deliver a stack of letters written by supporters asking Van Houten to give him probation rather than jail time.
“I don’t care who wrote the letters,” Judge Van Houten reportedly stated. “They don’t know the situation.”
The sentencing guidelines were one to 17 months incarceration and the Michigan Department of Corrections prison system reportedly favored probation, apparently so they wouldn’t get a prisoner with a brief sentence.
VBT Police Lt. Charles Bazzy said the recommendation from the court’s probation department was read aloud in the courtroom. The report said Chapman has done poorly on probation, with assaultive activity. He also has made no payments at all on the fines he owes to the court.
After Judge Van Houten sentenced him to six months in jail, he was immediately remanded to the Wayne County Jail.
The sentence for the June 13, 2016 charge closes Chapman’s obstruction of justice charge for jumping in Belleville Lake after a VBT police officer told him to stop and also closes the violations of probation sentence involved with a 2015 stalking charge.
After he was found guilty of obstruction of justice by the Wayne County jury on Feb. 22, his DNA sample was taken and the misdemeanor charge for refusing to give a sample was dismissed.
His court-appointed attorney was Patrick Nyenhuis.