White nationalist Kyle Chapman pleads guilty to battery of Idaho health care worker
White nationalist Kyle Chapman was expected to stand trial Monday on charges that he battered a health care worker. Instead, he entered into a plea deal that likely will limit his time in jail.
Chapman, a far-right leader who has advocated for a white ethnostate, allegedly grabbed a health care professional multiple times against her will while being treated at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in November. He was expected to undergo a projected two-day trial starting Monday, but instead pleaded guilty to felony battery against a health care worker.
As part of the agreement with the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office, the second felony charge against Chapman — persistent violator — was dismissed.
Chapman is expected to be sentenced at 10 a.m. on Dec. 16 at the Ada County Courthouse, though some details of his potential sentence were outlined during Monday’s hearing.
Under Idaho law, the maximum sentence for the battery charge is three years in prison, but with the deal, Chapman likely will spend 90 days or less behind bars. He must serve at least 30 days in jail as part of the agreement, according to Emily Lowe, spokesperson for the Ada County Prosecutor’s Office.
Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Whitney Welsh, who is assigned to the case, likely will ask that Chapman be sentenced to one year in prison and then two years either on probation or parole. Much of the sentence is expected to be suspended, though.
Welsh can ask the judge to sentence Chapman to the full 90 days as part of the deal.
Ada prosecutor provides additional details of the incident
In November, Chapman was being treated at Saint Al’s for pneumonia when a health care professional was called into Chapman’s room because he was having “increased difficulty breathing,” according to Welsh and prior reporting.
The employee told prosecutors that “as soon as she exited the elevator, she could hear Mr. Chapman yelling,” Welsh said during Monday’s hearing. The woman determined that Chapman needed a different type of oxygen mask, and while she was in the process of changing it, he “grabbed her arm” and “called her a derogatory name.”
Welsh said the woman asked Chapman whether he was going to grab her again, and he said no. Chapman then proceeded to grab her arm again. Welsh added that there were three witnesses — another health care worker and two security officers — in the room during the incident, and if the case had gone to trial, all three of them would have testified “to corroborate these actions.”
Welsh said during a January hearing that Chapman expressed discontent with his treatment over the course of several days and “exhibit(ed) racial and sexist slurs against the hospital employees.” A police report previously obtained by the Statesman said Chapman “felt as though he was being harassed by medical staff members and was not receiving adequate care.”
Judge warns against possible probation violation
During Monday’s roughly 30-minute hearing, retired 4th District Judge Ronald Wilper cautioned Chapman that by pleading guilty, he could face “substantial consequences” if he was on parole or probation.
Chapman was on probation in Texas after he punched and hit a man across the face with a wooden bar stool, but that probation ended in July. Chapman’s jury trial was originally planned for June — prior to the end of his probation — but was eventually postponed, which was a point of concern for Welsh and the prosecution.
Texas attorney Daniel Betts, who is representing Chapman, previously told the Statesman by phone 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.
Texas authorities never filed a motion.
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 pointed to two calls Chapman made in January while he was in custody at the Ada County Jail, where Chapman admitted that he wanted 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 while 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.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 5:26 PM.
