SYCAMORE – A local attorney is looking to not only to defend himself as he prepares for trial on a felony theft charge, but also inflict some damage.

Kevin O. “K.O.” Johnson, 50, of the 1600 block of Maness Court, Sycamore, plans to call more than a dozen other local attorneys, including DeKalb County State’s Attorney Richard Schmack, as witnesses and produce a color exhibit of a former employee’s breasts at trial, court records show. The former employee is the victim in the theft case.

“I want to cost Richard Schmack the election,” Johnson said. “He has abused his power – he doesn’t deserve to hold office.”

Theft charges against Johnson were filed in 2013 and upgraded to felony status in 2014, court records show. Felony theft typically is punishable with probation or up to five years in prison.

He is accused of withholding money from a former employee’s paycheck but failing to invest it in her retirement fund in 2012, court records show. In court documents filed Monday, Johnson included a photograph of his former employee’s breasts, and noted that the “trial version [is] expected to be in color.”

The Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission suspended Johnson's law license for 18 months in 2014. The suspension ended in August 2015. Johnson faced ethical sanctions for billing two divorce clients for attorney fees knowing part of the fees had been discharged through the clients' bankruptcy proceedings and he could not collect them, according to the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission.

The ethics complaint also accused Johnson of interfering with his own bankruptcy proceedings by asking his clients to ignore communication from the bankruptcy trustee. He also improperly asked clients to send him payments directly when those payments were part of the bankruptcy estate and should have been sent to the bankruptcy trustee, the complaint stated.

Johnson has claimed the case against him is politically motivated because he supported Clay Campbell in his failed 2012 re-election campaign. Schmack, a Democrat, beat Campbell in the election.

Johnson claims the dispute with his former employee should be characterized as a breach of contractual relationship rather than a criminal offense. He also claims the amount of money involved is less than the state claims and doesn’t warrant a felony charge.

“I made a mistake,” Johnson said. “There was never a theft.”

To help his defense at trial, Johnson sent subpoenas to 28 people. Many of them are attorneys who Johnson said will support his claims that Schmack filed the felony charge and ARDC complaint as an act of political retribution. Several former prosecutors were given subpoenas, along with a DeKalb police officer and three of Johnson’s former lawyers, Ciji Calhoun, Campbell and William Hotopp.

Sycamore attorney Jack Slingerland and DeKalb attorney Robert Carlson were among those subpoenaed to testify about Schmack’s political motivation. Neither attorney returned calls Friday.

James R. Buck, a local attorney who received a subpoena regarding the ARDC complaint filed against Johnson, said he wasn’t sure why Johnson wanted him to testify at the trial.

“I honestly don’t know why he sent me a subpoena,” Buck said.

Assistant State’s Attorney James Walsh, who is prosecuting the case and also has been called to testify on Johnson’s behalf, said he intends to call three witnesses and prove Johnson took money from his former employee without authorization and intended to permanently deprive her of that money.

Asked about the photo of the former employee included in the court filing, Walsh said, “In my experience, it is very uncommon.”

The case is set for trial May 10. A status hearing has been set for Thursday.

In 2014, Schmack denied Johnson's assertion that his actions had been politically motivated.

“I tried playing nice,” Johnson said. “I’ve been destroyed. I used to have a thriving practice. This has destroyed my ability to survive in the state of Illinois. It’s politically scary to be nice to me.”

Earlier this year, Hotopp withdrew as Johnson’s attorney at Johnson’s request. At that point, Johnson filed notice he would represent himself.

“It’s messy,” he said. “No one else can do what has to be done. This is as politically ugly as you can get.”