Bradley Yohn raped Christine “Tina” Schmitt Lohman during a brutal home invasion, prosecutors said. A picture of Lohman, who passed away before the trial, is shown in court on July 17, 2023. (Screenshots: Law&Crime Network)
An Adams County, Illinois, jury has convicted Bradley Yohn of a brutal kidnapping and sexual assault of a 77-year-old great-grandmother just hours after a bizarre closing argument from the defendant, who was representing himself during the trial and claimed he was not a “creep.”
Yohn had no reaction when the verdict was read.
Yohn was convicted of home invasion with a deadly weapon, criminal sexual assault, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated criminal sexual assault and residential burglary in the attack on Christine “Tina” Schmitt Lohman on the side of the road on Nov. 9, 2021. Yohn sexually assaulted her in her in her car, chased her to her nearby home when she briefly escaped, kicked down the door, and terrorized her even more, prosecutors said.
Yohn’s accomplice, Karen Blackledge had already pleaded guilty in the attack and was sentenced last year to 40 years in prison for home invasion and aggravated criminal sexual assault.
Prosecutors said that at the end of the attack, Yohn sprayed Lohman with carpet cleaning and then ran away. Maybe he believed she would not step forward, said Assistant State’s Attorney Josh Jones. But Lohman had the courage and strength to step forward, the prosecutor said. She told her husband and others what happened.
“And despite the blood and despite the shame, Tina did what she needed to do,” Jones said.
Jurors heard evidence about what she experienced in the hour-long incident, the injuries she sustained, and the pain and trauma she endured in her final days. Lohman passed away before the trial.
Yohn maintained his innocence. He said that if he really did it, he would call the defendant, “a piece of s—.”
“Excuse my terminology, your honor,” he said. “But I’d call him a piece of s—. Because that’s what he would have been.”
Yohn ends his closing, choking up: “I’m not a sick, perverted creep at all. Thank you.” #BradleyYohn pic.twitter.com/PGy59jeJPs
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— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) July 17, 2023
He maintained throughout his closing arguments that the state’s case featured inconsistencies and false evidence, using the phrase “blood by special effects on the floor.” Yohn denied there was blood such as on the couch or the chair of the residence. He denied that Lohman was ever thrown down the stairs.
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The defendant maintained that prosecutors were telling falsehoods and being manipulative in their arguments. For example, he construed Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Keck’s voice as being “unnatural” during her opening statement. At the beginning of his closing argument, he said that prosecutor Jones had “words.”
As part of his pitch for innocence, Yohn discussed Lohman’s sex life — at which point Keck and Jones looked at each other. Then Yohn discussed the victim’s private parts, saying it was common knowledge that at a certain age, people could not “secrete lubricants naturally.”
Jones’ jaw dropped.
Yohn maintained his innocence through the end of his argument, growing emotional.
“As for the rest of it, so you can send me home where I belong because I’m not a sick perverted creep,” he said. “Not at all. I’m not a sick, perverted creep at all.”
The jury returned a verdict after less than two hours of deliberations.
Yohn is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 1. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
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