Springfield man continues to throw up road blocks to his trial as he defends himself in Adams County Court.
35 year old Bradley Yohn filed a motion last week requesting a substitution of judge in his case in Adams County Circuit Court. Yohn is defending himself against charges of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated criminal sexual assault with a weapon. He allegedly committed the crimes on Nov. 9, 2021, at the home of Christine “Tina” Schmitt, who died on Dec. 12 from injuries sustained in the incident. Yohn could be sentenced to serve between six and 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections if he’s found guilty of any Class X felony.
Judge Roger Thomson has presided at most of the hearings involving Yohn.
The motion, filed on Thursday, claims that during a June 21st hearing, Yohn was given a list of witnesses to be called to testify. He wrote that two names had not been disclosed to him, nor had he received any written or audio/video statements from those two people. Yohn claims the options given to him by the court at the hearing violated his rights to self-representation.
The motion also noted he had asked Thomson to recuse himself from the case during a Sept. 7 hearing. Yohn made vulgar comments directed at Thomson as he was escorted from the courtroom following a status hearing on July 20. He apologized to Thomson, but he also said the comment could be used in a “prejudiced” way against him. Muddy River News reports that Thomson said he never heard the comments and that even if he had, it wouldn’t have affected his work from the bench. In Yohn’s motion, he says that Judge Thomson is lying about whether or not he heard his comments. Yohn claims that Thomson cannot give him a fair hearing.
Yohn also filed two more motions on Wednesday asking for discovery of witnesses and evidence.
Muddy River News reports a motion hearing set for Wednesday afternoon was cancelled. Judge Amy Lannerd is scheduled to preside at a Monday hearing about Yohn’s motion to replace Thomson.