French testifies he shot fatal arrow in self defense

Bradley French testified Wednesday and said he wavered between trying to calm Joshua Scaman and confronting Scaman for his abusive, threatening speech – but never meant to kill Scaman.

But Scaman did die – struck by an arrow on June 21, 2015, at an Illinois Valley Community College parking lot – and it was French who fired it with a compound bow. Now, he’s trying to persuade a jury he did so in self-defense.

I didn’t know what I was going to do. He attacked me and I shot him.”

—  Bradley French of Varna

French, 30, of Varna, is on trial this week in La Salle County Circuit Court, charged with first-degree murder. He took the stand Wednesday hoping to clarify the events leading up to Scaman’s death. If a La Salle County jury rejects his self defense claim, French faces 20 to 60 years in prison.

Prior to Scaman’s death, French had harbored Scaman’s girlfriend and her family from Scaman. Scaman then placed a series of angry phone calls demanding to know the girlfriend’s whereabouts and who was harboring her and the children.

“I would rather see my kids dead than have somebody play daddy to them,” Scaman had said, according to trial testimony. “You better be home in 30 minutes or I’ll find you and kill you.”

Although the phone wasn’t on speaker setting, French said he could hear the threatening remarks from several feet away and asked for the phone to speak with Scaman.

“If you can talk to me like a real man,” French said he told Scaman, “you can come down to my house and we can talk this out.”

Scaman never visited French’s home in Varna. Instead, he and Scaman agreed to meet at IVCC and French took with him a compound bow in case Scaman arrived armed.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do,” French said. But he said later, “He attacked me and I shot him.”

Under cross-examination, Assistant La Salle County State’s Attorney Matt Kidder pointed out it was 45 minutes from Varna to Oglesby – plenty of time for French to reconsider his options and turn the car around – and asked French why he didn’t send for the police rather than take matters into his own hands.

“Isn’t it a better option to not go?” Kidder asked.

“I didn’t think about it at that time,” French replied.

Though French testified his intentions were noble, jurors also will consider a statement French gave police hours after Scaman bled to death.

French had told police when he got to IVCC he hid out of sight and emerged with an arrow notched and drawn as Scaman screeched to a halt.

“He told me I’d better have the (guts) to pull it,” French told two investigators in a taped interview played Wednesday in La Salle County Circuit Court. In the recording French said later, “He came running at me and that’s when I fired.”

French also said he fired in anger and then pulled the arrow out of Scaman’s torso (French didn’t call 911) even after ensuring Scaman still was alive.

French’s lawyer, Peoria defense attorney Maureen Williams, had told jurors earlier in the trial French’s taped statement is unreliable. French, she said, gave the statement after a long period without sleep and after Oglesby police handcuffed him to a bench in the booking room without food or liquids or restroom breaks.

This is French’s second trial. A previous jury found him guilty of murder but an appeals court reversed his conviction and 30-year sentence.

One final witness is scheduled to testify for the defense at 9 a.m. Thursday. Closing arguments and deliberations could follow.