Judge sends case of man accused of shooting ex-lover to grand jury

It was on the table, in the living room, just sitting there.

A box cutter.

After her ex-boyfriend had threatened to hurt her, Kanya Thompson grabbed the blade and slashed Bobby Johnson multiple times in the neck and face, she testified Monday in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.

As she leaned forward in a wheelchair, Thompson told the court about March 7, the night of her 34th birthday, when police responded about 10 p.m.

She’d gone over to her cousin’s house, spent the afternoon drinking liquor with Hiawatha Fortson. Yellow Tail, moscato, and Mad Dog bottles littered the Fagan Steet home as day turned to night.

Then came a knock at the door. And there was Johnson, her former boyfriend of about a decade. Fortson said she’d invited him because they’d run out of liquor. But Thompson hadn’t been expecting him.

At first, they didn’t speak. Thompson said Fortson started a conversation and things remained tense, but calm, when he produced a bottle of Hennessy and offered it to them.

A few minutes into the conversation, Thompson said her ex-boyfriend ducked outside. When Johnson returned, something had changed. He began pushing her around, calling her names for remarrying, and pulling her hair.

Fortson, and her husband, Ray, tried to break it up, Thompson said. But things escalated too quickly.

Thompson thought he was going to hurt her.

She grabbed the box cutter. She slashed him, but she wasn’t sure how many times. Then, she said, Johnson drew a gun and shot her once in the left leg and once in the right as she turned to run away.

“Who shot you?” Executive Assistant District Attorney Lance Pope asked.

Thompson glanced at Johnson, who stood on the other side of his defense attorney, Bill Speek.

“The person that I used to love,” she said.

After listening to the evidence, Judge Lila Statom said enough probable cause existed to send the case to the grand jury. The 33-year-old faces charges of attempted first-degree murder, aggravated domestic assault, unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, and reckless endangerment.

Statom reduced the bond on his reckless endangerment charge from $10,000 to $1,000 and didn’t change anything else. She also agreed to pull his probation on a 2015 assault charge, meaning Bobby Thompson heads back to prison for that charge, Speek said.

“Few cases can rely solely on the prosecution’s witnesses to prove their client’s innocence,” Speek said afterward. “What you saw today is a perfect example.”

Speek referred to the state’s three witnesses – Kanya Thompson, Hiawatha Fortson and Ray Fortson – and said their testimonies differed enough to dismiss the case.

The Fortsons, in separate testimonies, said Johnson entered the residence in a peaceful manner, not angry, upset or high. They both said Thompson brought up her past relationship, not Johnson.

“Why would she do that?” Hiawatha Fortson asked. “He wasn’t there arguing. He just came there to see her.”

Hiawatha and Ray Fortson never saw the shooting, Speek said – they just heard the gunshots. And police never recovered a weapon from the scene, nor did any officer testify during Monday’s hearing. Authorities arrested Johnson four days later, records show.

As Speek pointed out, the state leaned heavily on Thompson’s testimony. Both she and Johnson have extensive criminal records in Hamilton County, mostly for drug and assault charges, beginning in 2001.

“So let me get this straight,” Speek said while cross-examining Ray Fortson. “You see your wife, Mrs. Thompson and Bobby all in the front of your house. Bobby was talking nice to her. Then she went into her feelings.”

Fortson nodded yes.

“Next thing I know, she strikes him with a box cutter,” he said. “It came from her. She brought the box cutter to our house. We don’t even own a box cutter in our house.”

Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347 with story ideas or tips. Follow @zackpeterson918.