Kyle Chapman allegedly battered a health care worker. He was on probation in Texas
Texas authorities have yet to charge white nationalist Kyle Chapman with violating his parole after he was charged with a felony in Idaho.
In November, Chapman allegedly grabbed a health care professional multiple times against her will while being treated at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. Chapman is facing a felony battery charge against a health care worker. He was also charged with a second felony, a persistent violator enhancement, according to online court records.
During the Saint Al’s incident, Chapman, a far-right leader who has advocated for a white ethnostate, was on probation for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he punched and hit a man across the face with a wooden bar stool in Austin, Texas.
Texas attorney Daniel Betts, who is representing Chapman, told the Idaho Statesman by phone Friday that if someone violates their probation, it’s up to the state to file a motion to revoke the individual’s probation. Betts said the motion must be filed within someone’s probationary period.
Chapman’s probation ended Monday.
Under Chapman’s probation, he cannot break the law during his probationary period, according to a copy of his conditions of community supervision court document, which the Statesman obtained through a public records request.
Chapman, now a Boise resident, was placed on a deferred adjudication, which means that if a Texas court found he violated his probation, he could have been sentenced to the entire term of the punishment. Under Texas law, a person convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon can be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
If completed correctly, a deferred adjudication can allow the charge to be dismissed and removed from a defendant’s criminal records.
A search of Travis County’s online court records by the Statesman on Monday did not show a motion to revoke Chapman’s probation. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office acknowledged the Statesman’s request for additional information but declined to comment.
“We look forward to the jury finding Mr. Chapman not guilty,” Betts told the Statesman on Friday.
Chapman trial rescheduled to October
Chapman’s jury trial was initially scheduled for last month. But after multiple attempts by Chapman to push back the trial, 4th District Judge James Cawthon rescheduled the trial for Oct. 24. In a motion filed in Ada County District Court, Chapman asked to have his trial rescheduled because he hired Betts, who was unable to make the initial trial date in June.
The judge’s decision didn’t come without pushback.
Before Cawthon’s decision, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Whitney Welsh said during a June hearing that Chapman’s request to reschedule his trial was “an attempt to manipulate the proceedings.”
“This has been Mr. Chapman’s plan all along, to kick this out past his probationary period in mid-July,” Welsh said.
Welsh told the Statesman on Friday that it’s at the discretion of any prosecuting agency to take up a probation violation, and it appeared Texas has “chosen not to in this case.”
Welsh in court also pointed to two calls Chapman made in January while he was in custody at Ada County Jail, where Chapman admitted that he wants to drag his Idaho case “out past the Texas probation.”
“We’re going to kick out the court dates so the Texas case will be done — finished — by the time we go to any sort of a trial in this case,” Welsh said reading a transcript of one of Chapman’s jail calls. “There’s no chance of me having to do any serious time for any violations in Texas or anything like that — therefore no reasons why I would ever run.”
A court document obtained by the Statesman and filed by the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office said Chapman filed complaints against the health care worker to Saint Al’s after she reported the alleged battery to the authorities.
The document also cited a jail call made by Chapman to his wife, when he “expressed a desire to retaliate against” the health care worker.
Chapman admitted during the call, according to the court document, that he called Saint Al’s to complain about the health care worker. Chapman added that the staffer allegedly called Chapman’s probation officer in Texas to “get me violated.”
Chapman, during the call, also asked his wife to call the hospital and “see what you can get done on your end,” and “maybe we can turn the heat up on her.”
The document said that Chapman also told his wife that “it sure would be good if I could have some sort of recourse on this b----” for what Chapman called “fake charges.”
Battery of health care worker isn’t felony in Texas, lawyer says
In June, the Saint Al’s employee attempted to provide respiratory care to Chapman when she was allegedly battered by him, according to the police report obtained through a records request.
According to the report, Chapman “took hold of her arm and pulled her towards his face.” After she was released, the report said, she had told Chapman, “Don’t put your hands on me,” and received his consent to put a medical device on him. When she tried, Chapman then took hold of her arm again, according to police. The staffer was not seriously injured.
The report said Chapman “felt as though he was being harassed by medical staff members and was not receiving adequate care.”
Idaho legislators passed the state law that made battering a health care worker a felony in 2014. But in Texas, there isn’t a similar law, Betts said.
In 2013, Texas lawmakers made it a felony to assault an emergency room personnel, but the law doesn’t encompass all health care workers. Betts said the most comparable law in Texas to Chapman’s alleged charge is a misdemeanor.
Violence within the health care field significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, with over 44% of nurses reporting physical violence, according to a fact sheet produced by the American Hospital Association.
