Jackson, Alabama

From Jackson’s The South Alabamian of November 1, 2007

… jury returns not guilty verdict in murder trial
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Not guilty of murder In the other trial, a jury deliberated for more than four hours before finding a Grove Hill man not guilty last Friday of the 2005 murder of a Zimco man, apparently believing defense attorneys' claims that the shooting death was in self-defense.

Nathan Chapman, then 44, shot and killed Kelvin Louis Foster, 37 in Fulton on Dec. 1, 2005. Foster was shot in the back with a .45 caliber pistol.

Chapman turned himself in at the Clarke County Jail in Grove Hill almost immediately after the shooting, claiming self-defense. Law enforcement officers charged him with murder.

The trial lasted a week in Judge Stuart DuBose's court with District Attorney Spence Walker leading the case for the prosecution and James Brandyburg and Phil Perkins defending Chapman.

Prosecutors contended that the two men had differences and that Foster busted out the windows of Chapman's vehicle sometime prior to their fatal confrontation. They contended that Chapman got a gun and ambushed Foster outside of his workplace.

The defense said that Foster pulled a gun on Chapman first and that Chapman fired back, killing him.

A loaded and cocked derringer handgun was found in Foster's vehicle.

Chapman testified in his own defense. There were no other witnesses to the shooting.