Bradley French sentenced to 15 years for bow-and-arrow killing in La Salle County

Bradley French stood for trial twice. Both times he was found guilty of killing Joshua Scaman in 2015 with a bow and arrow. Both times he was sentenced to prison.

Only this time, French won’t stay in the Department of Corrections for long.

French, 30, of Varna, was sentenced Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder. A jury had rejected French’s claims that he killed Scaman in self-defense but also rejected the state’s argument that it was premeditated murder.

“I am truly sorry to Mr. Scaman’s family and friends,” French said, pledging to be a law-abiding citizen after release. “I know that what happened was wrong.”

He added later, “I pray that they forgive me.”

When jurors rejected first-degree murder, they effectively cut his sentencing range to four to 20 years with day-for-day good time – and even a shot at probation.

On Thursday, Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. quickly ruled out probation but then handed down a sentence that results in a time-served disposition. French has been in custody since 2015, and his extensive credit – almost 8½ years – and day-for-day eligibility means that he already will have completed the bulk of his new sentence.

Although it won’t be official until after La Salle County sheriff’s deputies transfer him into the DOC for processing – the DOC will compute his credits and settle the issue of release – French soon will begin serving his mandatory supervised release (formerly known as parole).

Prosecutor Jeremiah Adams argued for a lengthy sentence, pointing out that French had, in 2015, plenty of time (a 45-minute drive from Varna to Illinois Valley Community College) to reconsider his actions and prevent the tragedy that ensued.

“Joshua Scaman is no longer with us not only because of bad decisions by him but by the defendant,” Adams said.

Adams further noted that French lied to police and induced others to cover up the crime, and that a deterrent sentence was necessary to mitigate other “vigilante” behavior.

Peoria defense attorney Maureen Wilson asked for a time-served disposition, arguing that French’s mother has health issues and needs at-home support. While in prison, she said, French attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, attended classes and sought in-custody jobs.

“His rehabilitation is evident” Williams said, “and his criminal history is nonexistent.”

Williams got her wish. Any sentence of 16 years or fewer would have resulted in a time-served disposition.

“He gets to go home,” Williams said after sentencing. “We’re thankful for that outcome.”

That French fired the razor-tipped arrow at Scaman, who bled to death after the arrow severed a major vein, never was in dispute. French sat for a police interview June 21, 2015, and admitted using the bow after injecting himself into a domestic dispute between Scaman, Scaman’s girlfriend and her daughter.

French said that when he picked up the phone to speak with Scaman, his initial intent was to help calm the situation. Instead, things escalated, and French and Scaman agreed to meet face-to-face in a parking lot at Illinois Valley Community College.

Warned that Scaman was likely to show up armed, French said that he took with him the compound bow and four arrows – “I didn’t know what I was going to do,” French testified – and fired only after Scaman lunged at him and dared him to fire.

“He told me I’d better have the [guts] to pull it,” French said in a taped interview. “He came running at me, and that’s when I fired.”

At his first trial in 2016, French tried to argue it was self-defense, but Ryan barred the jury from considering that. An appeals court reversed French’s conviction and 30-year sentence and said it should have been up to the jury to decide whether Scaman’s killing was self-defense.

Earlier this year, French stood for a do-over trial, and Williams tried to persuade jurors that it was self-defense. She pointed out that the trajectory of the arrow suggested that Scaman had lunged at French – consistent with French’s statement to police – and that French fired only to fend off an imminent attack.

Williams termed Scaman an “abuser” with a criminal record. Prosecutors, she said, were too quick to diminish Scaman’s bad actions and intents.

“Was Mr. French really the initial aggressor, or was it Mr. Scaman?” William told jurors during closing arguments. “The state cannot give one reason – not one – why [Scaman] went out there other than to harm Mr. French.”

But Adams argued that French made a series of decisions that ensured there would be only one outcome.

“The defendant’s choices made it certain that Joshua Scaman would die,” Adams told jurors, adding later, “Make no mistake: This is a case of first-degree murder.”

Jurors rejected both arguments. The jury deliberated for about three hours and returned an intermediate verdict.

Under Illinois law, second-degree murder applies when the accused acts under “serious provocation by the individual killed or another,” but also when the accused “negligently or accidentally” kills the victim.