Felon Wastes Second Chance, Pleads Guilty to New Charges

SAN ANGELO, TX – After falling asleep at the wheel this past January, Virgil John Chapman, 26, was very alert Wednesday morning as he stood before the court to enter a plea agreement on numerous charges. Chapman had been previously put on deferred adjudication after being charged with two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; court records indicate he had pointed a firearm at two victims and threatened them.

After being offered a second chance by serving six years of deferred adjudication for the aggravated assault charge, Chapman found himself once again in trouble with law enforcement. In what turned out to be an unconventional traffic stop, Chapman was arrested once again with four different charges, which effectively violated his probation and deferred adjudication.

He was found in possession of a vehicle and it was concluded that it matched the description and VIN number of a car that had been stolen previously on Jan. 9, 2017. As officers conducted a search, they also located a controlled substance identified as meth. For more details on that story, click here.

In court two additional charges were added to the plea agreement that Chapman, his lawyer, and a prosecutor from the District Attorney’s office agreed upon. He now faces the charges for the two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a controlled substance less than 1 gram, as well as two counts of credit/debit card abuse.

In plea agreements like these, it is the D.A.’s office and the defense lawyers who decide on the specifics of the plea. They then present the case before the court, and the judge accepts the plea as an admission of guilt and accepts the state's recommendation for punishment. In this case, if the judge were to decide that a different amount of punishment is required, the defendant then has the opportunity to withdraw the plea. These agreements save tax payers the funds that would go towards a trial, but also provide certain criminals the opportunity to have a reduced sentence by agreeing to plead guilty.

In Chapman’s case, the first order of business was to acknowledge the motion to revoke the probation he had received while under differed adjudication. Judge Weatherby cited the new and numerous charges, the failure to make payment, the failure to comply with community service and the use of controlled substances as more than enough reasons to revoke Chapman’s probation and render him to the custody of the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office.

Based on the State’s recommendation, Chapman will serve five years behind bars for the aggravated assault charges and be fined $5,000. Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is considered a second degree felony in Texas. Chapman was to serve this sentence in the institutional division of the TDCJ.

The other four charges he faced at court are all considered state jail felonies and carry a punishment range of 180 days to 2 years. In Chapman’s case, he will serve the minimum time but will also be expected to pay hefty fines associated with the charges.

In the charge of credit/debit card abuse, he will be forced to pay $10,947.47 in restitution and an additional fee of $180 to cover lab costs.

Chapman will be receiving time credits for the time he has spent in custody awaiting trial or a plea agreement. For the aggravated assault charge, he has acquired 122 days. For the other charges, he will receive credit for 84 days; this is nearly 47 percent of the time he was sentenced to on those lesser charges. The court did not state that the terms would be served concurrently.