The family of a Springfield man who was shot and killed in 2021 came to court Feb. 7 hoping they’d be one step closer to finding justice.
Christopher Kuder was shot in the chest in the early morning hours of June 9, 2021, in the roadway of the 1400 block of East Atlantic Street. He was pronounced dead soon after the shooting at a Springfield hospital.
The man accused of pulling the trigger and shooting Kuder, 24-year-old Mickal Johnson, is facing second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful possession of a firearm charges.
As a court bailiff led Johnson into Greene County Circuit Judge Kaiti Greenwade’s courtroom Wednesday morning, Kuder’s uncle, Michael Rogers, stood in the front row of the gallery to make sure Johnson would notice him.
“Three years is too long,” Rogers said after the hearing. “(Johnson) just doesn’t want to go to prison. It’s time to pay the piper.”
Johnson’s case is scheduled for a jury trial beginning Feb. 26, but it’s unclear if the trial will be happen as scheduled or get moved back to a later date. There are multiple cases set for trial that week in Greenwade’s courtroom — with one being a fatal driving while intoxicated case with multiple victims from 2019.
Johnson has another pretrial conference on Feb. 23 to determine whether his trial will happen the following week or be rescheduled again.
Defender tries to delay trial
Feb. 7, public defender James Hayes asked for another continuance, saying he was not ready for a trial and that Johnson wants an opportunity to to review evidence including police body camera footage.
Greene County Senior Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Nicholas Bergeon “strongly objected” to Hayes’ request, saying Johnson had already been given an opportunity to review evidence. Bergeon described the case as “fairly straightforward” and said it should not be delayed anymore.
Some of the witnesses are homeless or transient. Bergeon said the defense is hoping by pushing the trial date back will cause some of those witnesses to “go away.”
“At some point, the delay tactics have to stop,” Bergeon said, adding that Kuder’s family also deserves a speedy trial.
“Amen,” Rogers said from his seat in the courtroom gallery.
In August of 2023, Johnson asked for a new attorney and his case was assigned to Hayes, a special public defender.
At the Wednesday hearing, Judge Greenwade reminded Hayes that she had asked him in September 2023 if he could be ready for the February 2024 trial date.
“You told me you could,” Greenwade said, denying Hayes’ request for a continuance. “For today, I’m leaving it set for trial on the 26th.”
What led to the fatal shooting?
According to the probable cause statement from the Springfield Police Department, officers were called to the scene in northwest Springfield's Robberson neighborhood around 2 a.m. June 9, 2021, in reference to a man in the street with a gunshot wound. Officers found Kuder with a gunshot wound to his upper chest. Medics transported Kuder to a Springfield hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police found Johnson standing on the front porch of a nearby home shortly after the shooting.
According to the probable cause statement, witnesses told police that Johnson shot Kuder during an argument. One witness told police Kuder arrived at the scene while Johnson was already arguing with two women. According to that witness, Kuder walked over and put himself between Johnson and one of the women. The witness then heard a “pop” and saw Kuder fall to the ground.
In a post-Miranda interview at a Springfield police station, Johnson allegedly admitted to shooting Kuder and told the officer who wrote the probable cause statement he felt threatened for his life, because Kuder “ran up on me and he got popped.”
Johnson suggested to the officer that he thought Kuder had a knife. But when asked if he actually saw a knife, Johnson answered, “you could tell he had something on him.”
Following Johnson's last court hearing, Kuder’s family said it would have been impossible for Kuder to “run up” on Johnson or to threaten Johnson.
Kuder had a pacemaker, a defibrillator and relied on a cane to walk, explained Evelyn Kuder, his mom.
“As far as my son — he couldn’t have hurt a fly if he had to,” she said.
Charged with assaulting another inmate
According to online court documents, Johnson is facing a new charge of third-degree assault for an incident that happened on Oct. 1, 2021, in the Greene County Jail.
According to a probable cause statement from Greene County Sheriff’s Office, Johnson can be seen in a jail security footage striking another inmate in the head and face three times during an evening meal. The other inmate fell to the floor and Johnson returned to his jail cell.
