A late-night stop outside an East Oakland fast-food restaurant turned deadly for 28-year-old Brentwood father of two Kenyetta Chapman, who was shot and killed inside a parked white Scion on Jan. 21, 2024. More than two years later, a preliminary hearing today laid out prosecution testimony and video evidence that prosecutors say links two 20-year-olds, Juliese Lawson of Pacheco and Jamal Watts, to the deadly attack. Court records show the case has inched forward since charges were filed in March 2024, and both defendants remain behind bars as it moves toward trial. Chapman’s family held his funeral in February 2024.
Prosecutors told the judge that surveillance and other video played at the hearing show Lawson walking up to the Scion, looking inside, then reaching into the vehicle, pulling out a shotgun and firing into the car, hitting Chapman, according to the East Bay Times. Witnesses also testified that Watts handed Lawson a bag containing the shotgun shortly before the shooting, and that formal charges followed in March 2024. Alameda County Superior Court Judge Clifford Blakely ruled that both Lawson and Watts would be held to answer on murder charges and said Lawson’s conduct on the video showed an intent to kill.
Defense attorney Curtis Briggs told the East Bay Times that Chapman may have been caught in the middle of something he wasn’t aware of. Prosecutors countered that witness accounts matched what appears on the videos, arguing it was an intentional shooting rather than a tragic mix-up. Court records show Watts was arrested shortly after prosecutors filed charges, while Lawson remained out of custody until May 2024. Both are now held without bail at Santa Rita Jail…