Yohn's attorney files motion alleging inadequate post-trial assistance of counsel, seeks retrial – Muddy River News

QUINCY – A court-appointed attorney for Bradley Yohn, who was sentenced 11 months ago by the Illinois Department of Corrections to a 130-year prison term, has filed a motion alleging a lack of post-trial legal representation and another motion requesting a retrial.

A six-page motion filed Aug. 9 in Adams County District Court by Mark Wykoff of the Wykoff Law Firm in Springfield alleges that Todd Nelson, Adams County's former chief public defender, provided inadequate legal counsel and deprived Yohn of his constitutional rights.

Nelson represented Yohn during the sentencing hearing and was appointed standby counsel by Judge Roger Thomson during the trial.

Wykoff argued that in order to obtain an issue for appeal, it must be raised both by an objection at trial and in a post-trial motion..

“The lead defense counsel was physically present during a significant portion of the pretrial proceedings … and throughout (Yohn's) jury trial,” Wykoff wrote. “While (Yohn) was a pro se attorney, If Yohn was a litigant during these phases, it should have been abundantly clear to counsel that he was passionate about raising perceived errors, objecting to them, frequently seeking review of adverse judgments, and making clear that he would seek review of the trial court's denial of relief on appeal.

“In this post-trial, (Nelson) failed to reduce these retained errors to a post-trial motion and now subjects these retained errors to the nearly impossible-to-surmount obvious error standard of review. (Nelson) deprived (Yohn) of the effective assistance of counsel during the post-trial phase of the proceeding. After all, the right to counsel encompasses more than mere representation by counsel. It encompasses the right to effective assistance of counsel.”

A 13-page motion filed by Wykoff in Adams County District Court on August 9 listed 82 errors made during Yohn's trial. Among the errors listed were denials of 21 dates of Yohn's requests for:

• Dismiss the case based on the speedy trial rules.
• Provide a list of details.
• Suppress cell phone data.
• Report the discovery to the defense.
• Prepare memos with witness statements.
• Provide an on-call advisor.
• Announce a government counter-witness.
• Suppress or exclude witness statements.
• Carry on.
• Legal assistance is usually ineffective.
• Request the recusal of the judge and a motion to replace him.
• Release property.
• As part of the disclosure, provide additional information about psychiatric history.
• Disclose medical records.
• Obtain funds for independent DNA/fingerprint analysis.
• Obtain funding for a digital forensics expert.
• Get money for a private investigator.
• Get money for a bruising expert.
• Get money for a specialist in gynecology and obstetrics.
• Prosecutors must be forced to “follow the rules, procedures and laws that serve humanity and the legal system.”
• Offer a solution so that Yohn can be retrained in court.
• Change venue.
• Enables expanded media coverage.

“(Yohn) respectfully requests that this honorable court vacate the judgment here and, notwithstanding the trial court's judgment or any reversal without remand, enter a judgment in favor of the defendant or, in the alternative, enter an order granting the defendant a new trial and vacating the judgment here and the judgment entered here,” Wykoff wrote.

A jury of ten men and two women found on July 17, 2023, that Yohn was guilty of crimes he committed on November 9, 2021, in the home of Christine “Tina” Lohman Schmitt. She died 33 days after the attack on December 12, 2021.

Thomson sentenced Yohn to 30 years for home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and grand theft auto. He sentenced Yohn to 40 years for aggravated sexual assault with a weapon. Charges of home invasion and home invasion were consolidated with the other charges.

In announcing the verdict, Thomson called Yohn “the most reprehensible person I have ever encountered in his entire career as a lawyer.”

Yohn maintained his innocence in a speech during the sentencing, telling members of Lohman Schmitt's family, “I did nothing to your mother or grandmother. I did none of this. I was not part of this. I was not there. There is a lot more to this than you all know. I am not guilty at all.”

Yohn is serving his sentence consecutively at the Lawrence Correctional Center in Sumner, 65 miles from Evansville, Indiana.