Law&Crime Sidebar - 6 Most Outrageous Moments in Bradley Yohn Kidnapping and Sexual Assault Trial

Episode Date: July 22, 2023

Yohn was just on trial for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 77-year-old woman inside her rural Illinois home. Yohn represented himself in his own defense, however a jury ultimately found him guilty of the crimes. The Law&Crime Network’s Jesse Weber details the six most outrageous and bizarre moments that unfolded during the trial.LAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergWriting & Video Editing - Michael DeiningerGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa Bein & Kiera BronsonSUBSCRIBE TO OUR OTHER PODCASTS:Court JunkieThey Walk Among AmericaDevil In The DormThe Disturbing TruthSpeaking FreelyLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. I spoke on being logical in the opening argument. I spoke on how being logical is logical. What a wild ride. The Bradley Yon trial has been with a defendant representing himself in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 77-year-old woman. We break down some of the most outrageous moments from court.

Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Well, out in Illinois, we were covering a rather unusual trial on the Law and Crime Network. Not sure you heard about it. It was the criminal case of Bradley Yan. Jan was charged and ultimately convicted of the kidnapping and attack of a 77-year-old woman, a great-grandmother named Christine Tina Schmidt Loman. It happened back on November 9th, 2021. He sexually assaulted her in her car on the side of the road, chased her into her home, broke in, physically threw her down the stairs, and then raped her. She said,

actually died over a month later on December 12, 2021. Jan wasn't charged with her murder, but it was a question of whether or not the trauma of that event ultimately did kill her. Just absolutely horrifying to think about. But what was absolutely bizarre was the defendant's decision to represent himself during trial. Always very interesting when defendants do this, because it usually leads to just outrageous moments in court.

and that is what we saw here in the Bradley-Yon trial. And we're better to start off than with Mr. Yon's opening statement. There's not many smiles today. However, I did see some yesterday. I appreciate their smiles that has brought a light to my soul as I've been stuck here in this county jail, tormented for the last 19 months. I ask you, forgive my appearance.

This is not normally me. I normally have hair. I do not expect you to feel so. far for me by any means. We all know what incredible and impossible means. Impossible means not possible. Credible means it's not credible. I also intend to prove you improper procedure. Coincidences throughout this trial you'll see some of the most major coincidences you've ever seen in your lives. My little brother used to run to mother and say Mom, Bibi hit me.

Bibi was my sister. You should say, Bibi hit me. Mom would say, well, my lovely young man, where are the marks to prove such? My mom show me the marks. He cannot show any marks.

Mother would say, I can't tell where the marks are. True story. Come to find out my brother only had the remote taken from Scooby-Doo is his favorite and he would watch it end on end for hours during them times when my brother would make them claims we would all come to find out in the end that he had just simply walked away from the TV sis picked up the remote and he wanted the TV back the tells he would

was telling you will see that today here and throughout this trial there are major tales told tells that are tall yeah now for our listeners and for those who can't watch this on youtube unfortunately you can't see the reaction from prosecutor assistant state attorney josh jones because it appears he's given the look of what is this guy talking about and by the way We see this a lot of times with defendants representing themselves. Their arguments don't always make sense. They focus on the sympathy factor. Remember, they're not trained attorneys.

But this was just the beginning. How about we move on to the time when Mr. Jones made the court aware of Jan's cousin, Travis Bloom, making a disturbance in the courthouse and how Jan's argument backfired on him? Your Honor, yesterday vigil by the name of Travis Bloom attempted to enter the courtroom while the proceedings were occurring. He was stopped by security and told he could enter at breaks. At that point, he stayed outside the courtroom, but was heard outside the courtroom making very loud comments that were heard by Sheriff's Deputy Sam Smith inside the courtroom. Your Honor, throughout my time here, my family has been repetitively denied. I understand Travis Bloom is an idiot.

I understand that. Fully understand that. He holds a good heart. They didn't arrest him yesterday. If he did all them things, they probably should have arrested him, right? I mean, these are very serious matters. To limit him from the courtroom simply because of the... of this is ridiculous. If a person does not know that they cannot come in during a time that is

not a recess, then maybe they should be explained to that, or maybe there should be notices posted on a wall somewhere. The gentleman in the back courtroom by the door with law enforcement, what's your name? You step outside the door and see if there's anything posted about there entering the courtroom during a recess. There is. And what does it say? sir you may only enter the courtroom at recess or breaks and you were here yesterday sir and was that signposts on the door at all times i believe so have a seat mr yon your motion her objection is overruled you were as you described idiot relative Travis bloom should have read the door sign before he tried to enter the courtroom and so he was advised of the court rules maybe don't argue well there should be

sign so people know if they can enter the court or not when in reality there is a sign. That back and forth, though, it was outside the presence of the jury. Not sure it really mattered in the end for Mr. Yon, but speaking of moments outside the jury, there was this moment as well. And this is when Yon argued to the court that witnesses were seeking guidance from the prosecutors. Several times throughout these witness testimonies thus far, witnesses have looked directly over at state's attorneys for guidance.

Mr. Loughmeyer just did a moment ago. Mr. John, have you noticed either of the assistant state's attorneys giving an answer to the witness? I tried to look in kits at this time, but no, I have not, Your Honor. Okay, neither has the court. And so where the witness looks while answering questions, I cannot control. But unless the assistant state's attorneys are indicating some kind of answer that they should be giving, there's no reason to basically uphold your objection. Now, if that actually happened, he would have an argument.

Here, he really didn't. There's nothing to back that up. And we've seen that in other cases too, right? Pro se defendants arguing that there's this collusion between the witnesses and the prosecution. From our experience, here on law and crime, not always a successful argument. Now, I really want to move on to this moment because this was particularly outrageous. I'm going to give you some context here. So at one point, Mr. Jan is questioning Tim Schmidt.

This is Christine's husband, now widow. And Jan seemed to try to point out that Mr. Schmidt didn't call 911 on the night his wife said she was attacked. And despite Schmidt saying he did call 911, Jan wanted to impeach him with phone records. The problem here is that those 911 phone calls are not recorded as phone records. And so these phone records are inadmissible. John can't ask Schmidt about them, and he can't introduce them because he has no legal basis to do so.

He has to lay a foundation. He has no foundation. Well, Jan didn't quite get that, or maybe he chose to ignore that. And the court instructed him he couldn't talk about this with Mr. Schmidt. Well, he moved forward with it, and Mr. Jones, the prosecutor, he got quite heated. And do you recall what time you made a 911 call? It was a little after 6 o'clock right after I went home. And if I said it there...

Objection, Your Honor. I know what he's going to ask next, Your Honor, and it's going to be an objectionable question that the jury is not allowed to hear. Just to refresh your memory, you stated you were subpoenaed for phone records, correct? Objection, Your Honor, we just dealt with this. John, the court sustained that objection.

Your Honor, I need to go down a new path. I'm just letting the witness know where we're at, Your Honor. He was here, he knows, so next question, sir. Okay. And you did provide those records. Objection, Your Honor, ask and answered, and we've gone down this path. Mr. Smith, are you aware that there was no... Objection, your honor.

I will sustain the objection, Mr. Yon. Objection, your honor. I'll ask the bailiff to have the jury return to the jury room and will do address. And it seems to only get worse for Yon because later on he questioned Sergeant Jake McMan with the Adams County Sheriff's Department about those phone records. And guess what? I don't know if this was a mistake or he was basically caught like a deer in headlights. But for his supposed argument that there was no 911 phone call that day, the report seems to indicate otherwise.

The CFS report, which is also known as a 911 report, correct? I know it is a dispatch ticket, but I believe CFS. Yes. And, uh, your honor, I'd like to publish this in the jury. Okay. The state's mail came and attacked his wife and broke into the house and stole the car, right? Yes, that's what it reads. It's fine.

It says a Quincy Adams County 911 call for service report, doesn't it? Yes. That means there was a 911 call, doesn't it? Correct. The danger of representing yourself, folks. Not always the best decision. But let's close this out. with arguably the last outrageous moment in this trial and that is during bradley yon's closing

argument his final attempt to persuade this jury that he is innocent and it definitely had some arguably head-scratching points ladies and gentlemen the jury they were here on some sick sick hanginess matters matters that if i were that person i would wouldn't care if I was a prosecutor or not, I wouldn't sit here and call the defendant of man. I'd call him a piece of . Excuse my terminology, Your Honor, but I'd call him a piece of . . . . . because that's what he would have been. Mr. Jones has put on a great presentation today. Very great. Just like Ms. Keck did on Monday last week. She put on a great presentation very abnormal not her normal voice not her normal voice at all she come forward with a

presentation that seems so unnatural just to try to persuade you people just to try to persuade you you you see the woman right here on the screen that's from a video does it appear if she's hurt battered, beat, persuasion. You can persuade anybody to do anything with words. You can persuade them with actions. You can persuade them with evidence. Sometimes evidence isn't evidence. I'm not a heinous perverted creep.

I do not go around robbing people. My two greatest friends are elderly people. One just happens to be 76 years old. She was my next-door neighbor. Never. My best friend in the world, he's 62 years old, just turned 62. My mama taught me better than this. She didn't teach me to go out and do these things, nor did I do them.

Please stop, man. Little all over the place, very colorful. He tried to show his emotion. But look, he was appealing to the jury. in that last moment. Despite his best efforts, the jury didn't believe him. They convicted him of home invasion with a deadly weapon, criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated criminal sexual assault and burglary. Sentencing is set for September 1st, where it's my understanding, this 36-year-old now convicted felon, faces a minimum

of 70 years in prison. All right, everybody, that's all we have. have for you here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time. Spotify.