EDINA, Minn. — A judge sentenced 17-year-old Vance Chatman to more than eight years in prison on Thursday for felonies related to a series of carjackings in the Twin Cities, including a high-profile incident in Edina last December that left a woman with a black eye, whiplash and concussion.
That victim, who wishes to be identified only by her first name Jessie, did not attend the sentencing. However, the court read a victim impact statement on her behalf.
"Today, I feel very triggered," she told KARE 11 in an interview. "I'm brought back to the beginning."
Seven months after the attack, Jessie said she still feels pain in her joints and continues to go through physical therapy.
The trauma of the incident also left her with intense anxiety and depression, forcing her to think twice about even the most mundane daily activities like shopping at the grocery store.
"I'm feeling incredibly heartbroken that my life will forever be changed by violence," Jessie said. "I don't have enough time to talk about all the ways this has affected my life. It has affected my life in every way possible. It has stolen time from me being a mother to a young child, being a wife, being a business owner, being a human."
A juvenile court judge in Hennepin County certified Chatman to stand trial as an adult last month. After pleading guilty to four criminal charges stemming from five separate complaints, defense attorney Dan Guerrero said his client will serve two-thirds of his prison sentence -- more than five years -- with an anticipated release date in late 2027.
Chatman turns 18 next month.
"The goal was to get him sentenced before his 18th birthday so that he can be accepted into the youthful offender program at Lino Lakes, where they have pretty good programming for juvenile offenders who've been sentenced as adults," Guerrero told KARE 11 in a phone interview. "He's not without aspects of redemption, and I think hopefully -- if he takes advantage of this programming at Lino Lakes -- he can come out a more mature, empathetic, smarter human being."
Guerrero said that Chatman cycled between various foster homes throughout his childhood and did not have very good relationships with any of those caretakers.
"I don't think he had a lot of really positive guidance and love," Guerrero said. "I think he did recognize the harm that he caused, and I truly believe he doesn't want to be in this position ever again."
This attempted carjacking in Edina was among the more high-profile local cases last year, highlighting a rampant problem that began to sweep the Twin Cities and other large metropolitan areas starting in 2020. Five days after police accused Chatman and two other juvenile suspects of carrying out multiple west metro carjackings, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced an increased emphasis on these crimes, including assigning two prosecutors specifically to carjacking cases.
From 2020 to 2021, data from the Hennepin County Attorney's Office shows that carjacking case referrals jumped by more than 21 percent, with a similar pace reported so far in 2022. In Minneapolis specifically this year, police have logged 273 carjacking incidents -- a more than 10-percent jump compared to this time last year.
"I'd like to see that there would be more accountability, particularly for the juvenile offenders," Jessie said. "I want people to understand that carjacking is far more than just auto theft. There's violence involved."
However, Jessie said she sees the sentencing as a turning point for Vance Chatman.
"My greatest hope is, whatever put him in a position to do this level of violence to someone else, he will address in himself to try to come out of this better," Jessie said, "to use this as a pivotal moment, to make a significant change in his life. This doesn't have to be the ending, but the beginning of a powerful change story for him to actually get out of life, that which he would want to experience."
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