Boyfriend found guilty of murder
Woman was stabbed 20 times
A jury Thursday rejected a man’s claim he acted in selfdefense when he stabbed his girlfriend more than 20 times and dumped her lifeless body in a West Delray ditch.
But the Palm Beach County jury’s decision to find John Eugene Chapman guilty of second-degree murder means prosecutors will not be able to pursue the death penalty as they had desired.
Chapman will face a sentence of up to life in prison for the killing of 28-year-old Vanessa Williams of Margate about three years ago.
The verdict following more than 12 hours of deliberations was a relief for the victim’s mother and father, Ninett Martinez and Rupert Williams, of Miami.
“The only thing we didn’t want was to hear not guilty,” Martinez said.
The jury’s decision that it was an intentional killing — but
not first-degree premeditated murder — hinged on a close review of Chapman’s own words.
While deliberating, the panel asked to listen again to his testimony during the trial, as well as a recording of a police interrogation shortly after the violence on April 18, 2015.
Chapman, 28, testified last week that his military training “kicked in” and he went into a “robotic” mode as soon as he saw Williams grab a knife and try to stab him during an argument over their relationship.
They had just spent a few days and nights drinking and using the drug flakka, before the confrontation in the cab of Williams’ borrowed Ford F-150. They were parked in front of the Palma Vista development, east of U.S. 441 and south of Glades Road, where a friend of the couple lived.
“I’m defending myself, I don’t think, I don't feel,” Chapman told the jury.
In an interview with a detective 10 days after the killing, Chapman explained, “I snapped … when she went for that knife. It was quick and it was angry.”
After Williams was dead, Chapman said he got behind the wheel and drove to a remote area near the 14900 block of Smith Sundy Road. That’s where he left the body and the knife.
“I had a deep sense of hate that I never felt before,” Chapman said, on the recording.
With blood-soaked clothes, Chapman then drove all the way across the state to a former lover’s home in Cape Coral. Finally, police tracked him down at a residence in Miami a week later.
During closing arguments Tuesday, the lawyers debated whether Chapman’s experience serving his country played a role in the tragedy.
Assistant Public Defender Scott Pribble said his client, who had a tour of duty in Iraq, relied on his military training when Williams threatened Chapman with the knife.
“That’s what they drilled in his head when they trained him to defend himself,” Pribble said. “She turned it into a life or death struggle within the closed confines of that pickup truck.”
The defense attorney argued that Chapman’s reaction to grab the knife and stab her repeatedly was reasonable and justifiable, even though he had started the physical fight by pulling her hair.
“He was shocked and terrified when she pulled the knife out,” Pribble said, asking the jury for an acquittal or at the very least, a manslaughter conviction.
When he sat on the witness stand last week, Chapman explained he turned “robotic” when he took control of the knife.
But Assistant State Attorneys Reid Scott and John Parnofiello urged the jury to reject the notion that Chapman’s military background was a factor, or that it was a self-defense killing.
“He doesn’t get a break because he’s trained,” Scott said.
The prosecutor blasted the idea that Chapman felt threatened, noting there was no evidence of cuts or other injuries on Chapman when he was arrested a week later.
Scott argued Chapman could have stopped when he got the knife but didn’t because he was in a rage and wanted to kill Williams, the mother of his then year-old son.
Showing the jury Williams’ autopsy photos, Scott said, “What does it take to do this to a human being? … this was a savage act.”