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.
Court filings list Lawson and Watts as inmates at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, which the Alameda County Sheriff's Office describes as the county's primary detention facility for people awaiting trial. The preliminary hearing ended without a trial date being set, and Judge Blakely ordered both defendants to remain in custody while the case proceeds.
Witnesses And The Victim's Family
During the hearing, a woman who had been sleeping in the car with Chapman testified that she woke up to the sound of gunfire and realized she had been shot. Other witnesses said they saw a bag passed between the two suspects shortly before the blast from the shotgun. Court papers describe Chapman as a 28-year-old father of two, and relatives gathered for his funeral in February 2024 while investigators continued to build the case.
Legal Next Steps
By deciding to hold to answer, Judge Blakely set the case on a path toward arraignment in Superior Court on the murder charges and a potential trial, a process the California Courts' Self-Help guide explains requires a finding of probable cause to go forward. That ruling does not determine guilt. If the case reaches trial, prosecutors will still have to convince a jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Lawson and Watts are responsible for Chapman's killing.
