OAKLAND — The Bay Area self-proclaimed “American Nationalist” who became known for his right-wing protests got a stricter sentence than he expected Wednesday for his involvement in a 2017 Berkeley rally.
Kyle “Based Stickman” Chapman, 43, of Daly City, agreed to plead no contest to one count of possession of a leaded cane or billy club at a March 2017 “March 4 Trump” demonstration in Berkeley. Video footage captured the right-wing protester hitting people over the head with a wooden cane.
He had agreed in the plea deal to a three-year felony probation term, but Alameda County Superior Court Judge Mark McCannon increased the sentence to five years.
The plea deal had been negotiated in August between his defense attorney John Noonan and Alameda County Assistant District Attorney Matt Golde. Chapman himself told the judge Wednesday morning he was under the impression that the term was for three years.
“You were armed to the teeth,” McCannon responded. “You could have protested peacefully.”
The judge said Chapman chose to arm himself and wear a helmet, and turned his protesting violent.
As part of his probation, he is subjected to a “four-way search,” meaning law enforcement can search his residence, vehicle, property or person without cause. He also was ordered to stay 100 yards away from the Civic Center Plaza in Berkeley and will have to pay $300 in restitution.
While Chapman was waiting for his case to be called in McCannon’s courtroom, his phone rang, causing the judge to kick him out of the courtroom until it was time for his case. McCannon scolded him: “You’re on for sentencing; you shouldn’t be making any disturbances.” Chapman apologized.
Following the court hearing, when asked for comment, Chapman’s attorney Noonan said, “If he screws up, he goes to jail.”
The March 2017 pro-Trump Berkeley rally turned violent when right and left protesters and participants clashed; at least 10 arrests were made. In reviewing video from the event, Berkeley police Officer Darrin Rafferty said in court documents that he saw Chapman using pepper spray on protesters from the opposite side.
Following the Berkeley event, Chapman became known as a prominent figure in the right-versus-left protest clashes nationwide. He took to his then-public Facebook page, making videos with commentary on political issues or his court cases in Alameda County or his federal case regarding trespassing on public land, and gathered many supporters. At one point, his supporters nationwide raised thousands for him to help pay for his attorney fees.
Besides the March 2017 clash, he also was known to attend the right-wing-related rallies or events such as UC Berkeley’s hosting of conservative speakers Milo Yiannopoulos and Ben Shapiro in 2017.
Earlier this year, Chapman also took a plea deal in a federal case in which he was accused of illegally taking a joyride on federal land in San Francisco. He agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanors for off-roading in his truck and playing loud Christmas music at Fort Funston in San Francisco in December 2017.
National Park Service officers pulled him over for operating a vehicle off-road and disorderly conduct for playing the loud music. Officers also found him in possession of a kubotan — a small weapon attached to a keychain. In a Facebook video he posted at the time, Chapman bragged about carrying the weapon. His attorney maintained it was a “self-defense keychain.”
According to the plea deal filed Jan. 18 in that case in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Chapman was sentenced to one year of probation and would either have to pay a $500 fine or serve 50 hours of community service.
Besides the federal case and the Alameda County case, Chapman was also accused of getting in trouble in Austin, Texas. In July 2018, Alameda County prosecutors charged Chapman with being a fugitive, and he turned himself to be extradited to Texas for a July 2, 2017, attack.
Chapman was accused of hitting a man in the forehead with a wooden bar stool at the Dirty Dog Bar in Austin around 1:30 a.m.
According to court documents, the victim in the Austin case was so badly injured by the barstool to the head that he had two black eyes, hemorrhaging in his brain and required surgery to fix fractures to his face.
A witness to the bar attack recognized Chapman as the alleged perpetrator when he saw him on TV news, broadcasting information on a “Texans for American Freedom March” at the Texas state capitol.
A Travis County judge issued an arrest warrant for Chapman in March 2018 on the charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Chapman turned himself in locally in Alameda County and was booked at Santa Rita Jail as a felony “fugitive from justice.” He was extradited back to Austin, where he posted bail.
According to the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, Chapman also took a plea deal on July 18 of this year, pleading guilty to aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, a second-degree felony in Texas. He received three years of “deferred adjudication,” which means if he does anything out of line, a judge can sentence him up to 20 years behind bars.
He was also required to pay a $10,000 restitution fee up front, and must have anger management classes and stay away from the Dirty Dog Bar in Austin.
Chapman has prior felony convictions, including grand theft in San Diego County from 2001 and a 1993 conviction of felony robbery from Texas, according to court records.
