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Judge in dismemberment trial tells jurors to keep working

Scales of Justice photo
Tim Evanson via Wikimedia | CC BY 3.0
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wikimedia.org

A western Michigan judge us encouraging jurors to continue their deliberation in the trial of a former police officer charged with assisting his who killed and dismembered a woman.

The jury foreman says there’s consensus on one charge but not two others. Kent County Judge Paul Denenfeld is asking jurors not to give up.

Seventy-seven-year old, James Chance of Holland, is charged with perjury and being an accessory after the dismemberment of Ashley Young in 2018. His son, 30-year old Jared Chance, is serving a 100-year prison sentence for killing and dismembering Young.

Her torso was found in the basement of Jared Chance’s Grand Rapids rental home, but other remains of the 31-year-old woman have not been located. The two knew each other.

Police said Barbara Chance and her husband, James, picked up their son and drove him to their Holland home, along with boxes of body parts, a saw and cleaning products. The saw was discovered under the couple’s couch.

James Chance’s attorney told jurors that he drove his son to the Grand Rapids Police Department but that Jared Chance was not immediately arrested.

James Chance is a former Rock Island, Illinois police officer. Barbara Chance who is 64-years old pleaded no contest to perjury and accessory after the dismemberment.