Judge Green moves Chapman DNA case to Oakley

34th District Court Judge Brian A. Oakley is scheduled to hear the misdemeanor case on Oct. 21 against James Forrest Chapman, 55, for refusing to give a sample for DNA profiling after his arrest on a felony.
Chapman was charged with a felony, aggravated stalking, by Van Buren Police and he is out wearing a GPS tether on that charge as it progresses in circuit court.
He is also charged with a second offense, a misdemeanor, for refusing to give a sample for DNA profiling after he was arrested for stalking. That bond is $1,000/10%.
Chapman posted $25,000/10% bond for the original charge. He originally was being held on $25,000 cash bond but at his probable cause conference on Aug. 26 before Judge Green, she authorized pretrial services to review the bond.
Chapman’s preliminary exam on the felony was set Sept. 2 before Judge David Parrott, and Chapman waived his exam and the case was sent on to circuit court. A jury trial has been set for Dec. 1 before Judge Margaret Van Houten, who has set his final pre-trial conference for Nov. 6.
Also at the Sept. 2 session, Judge Parrott set a motion hearing for the DNA charge on Oct. 14 for Chapman’s attorney John Day.
At that Oct. 14 session, Day presented a motion asking Judge Parrott to recuse himself from hearing the case because he was “prejudiced.” Judge Parrott said he wasn’t prejudiced and turned down the motion.
Attorney Day said he would appeal that to Chief Judge Tina Brooks Green and Judge Parrott said that was fine with him.
“Basically, the file was brought to me and I held an immediate hearing,” Judge Green told the Independent.
“The real reason I overturned Judge Parrott’s decision was to defuse the situation that was developing,” she said.
“I don’t believe David Parrott is biased or has done anything wrong,” she said. “This defuses the case. The case is still pending so I can’t make any further comments.
“There’s been that breakdown and sometimes you have to follow gut instincts. I feel that this was right thing to do.”
Attorney Day said he would introduce a pretrial motion to dismiss the charges when they appear before Judge Oakley.
He said the case is defective because it “doesn’t allege all the elements of the crime.”
After Day presented his motion to disqualify the judge to Judge Parrott, the judge quietly read the first three pages written by Day.
“Some of the allegations made here are that Mr. Chapman was facing jail if convicted,” Judge Parrott said, referring to the previous conviction of Chapman in his courtroom. “Criminals belong in jail.”
“Quite frankly, I would be more than happy to exclude myself from all cases concerning Mr. Chapman. It probably would decrease my workload.”
Then Judge Parrott got to the final two pages of the document, an affidavit sworn to by Chapman in which Chapman claimed he did a tree job at the judge’s house. Judge Parrott said yes he did and noted all of the judges have interaction in the community.
Then he got to the part where Chapman swore Van Buren Police were giving special services to the judge and the judge said they had not.
“This is an attempt to slander my character,” Judge Parrott said, noting Chapman reached back to comment on Parrott’s ex-wife and the reason for their split.
“Just because he did a job for me … I wanted to give him a job to help him along … No good deed goes unpunished.”
Judge Parrott said in all good conscience he cannot grant the motion since he has no prejudice against the defendant.
He said nothing has happened in the last 14 days and a motion must be made within 14 days, “So you must have had a reason… Six weeks ago, there was no mention made for disqualifying.”
“The week before you asked Judge Green to disqualify me,” Judge Parrott said.
“I’ve made my ruling and you can take this before Judge Green,” Judge Parrott said and Day nodded.
“I have a motion to dismiss on the complaint,” Day said.
“But I can’t do it, Mr. Day,” Judge Parrott said, noting he may no longer have the case, and then he called Day and Assistant Prosecutor Doug Dwyer up for a private sidebar discussion.
One of the many allegations against Parrott in Chapman’s affidavit was that the only reason Chapman was arrested for a driving while intoxicated charge in Sumpter Township was that a VBT police officer put pressure on a Sumpter officer to arrest Chapman.