Does this Valley surgeon deserve to go to prison?

PHOENIX — Kris Johnson doesn’t want to remember that night.

It was an almost pitch-black night almost four years ago, when he fired a warning shot straight into the hot desert air of his west Phoenix neighborhood.

But that night, and what will happen in the coming weeks, will shape the rest of his life.

“I don’t want to. I don’t want to remember this anymore,” said Kris, a trauma surgeon, during an interview in his kitchen ahead of his upcoming trial. “I don’t want to remember that night. It’s like a nightmare.”

A nightmare that’s almost impossible to describe.

On June 30, 2022, it all began with a documented gang member with 30-plus convictions prowling around the Johnsons’ front door and ended with Kris being shot from behind by Phoenix police and charged with a handful of felonies that could put him in prison for two decades.

“Everybody made mistakes that night. But at this point, I’m the only one paying for any of them,” Kris said.

Despite the court asking prosecutors to offer a plea deal that would keep the doctor out of state lockup, top Maricopa County Attorney’s Office officials remain determined to put him there.

That’s why Kris and his wife are sharing their side – openly, publicly, and without any restrictions — in an exclusive on-camera interview with ABC15 ahead of his criminal trial set for late May.

They hope that Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano and Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell will watch and listen.

“Please take a real look at this, take a look at the whole picture,” Kris said. “There’s a lot more leading up to and afterward, and that can’t be ignored. I was out there for one reason that night, and that was to protect my family.”

Watch all three parts of “A Shot in the Dark: An ABC15 (in)defensible investigation” below.

What happened that night

The defense attorney for Kris called the night of June 30, 2022, a “calamity of errors.”

It began around 11 p.m. when a strange man showed up at the Johnsons’ front door unexpectedly.

The doctor’s wife, Jill, then a probation officer, was up late finishing reports in the kitchen when she noticed the man, who can be seen peering into windows and checking under pots and plants by the door.

When Kris went outside to make sure the man wasn’t looking for another way into his home, he saw a set of two vehicles with bright white floodlights blocking the entrance and exit of his neighborhood.

Kris said he did not know those lights were from Phoenix police vehicles for officers already in the area, because other residents called 911 about the same man.

The doctor then walked about 50 yards from the cars and fired off a warning shot into the air – something he admits was a mistake and the most regrettable decision of his life.

What happened next?

Chaos.

A Shot in the Dark – Pt 1 – Valley surgeon faces years in prison

Inside the prosecution

It’s taken four years to get to trial, which is currently scheduled for late May 2026.

That’s because the indictment was thrown out twice because police and prosecutors failed each time to properly inform the grand jury about the law surrounding self-defense claims.

Eventually, a judge found there was probable cause at a preliminary hearing. But the same judge later said that he does not believe Kris should end up in prison and added that he hoped another resolution could be reached instead of a trial.

But prosecutors, with Maricopa County Rachel Mitchell’s approval, won’t offer a plea deal for anything less than five to ten years in prison.

In this report, ABC15 digs deeper into MCAO’s prosecution.

A Shot in the Dark – Pt 2 – Valley surgeon faces years in prison

Expert: There’s no justice here

ABC15 interviewed a criminal justice professor from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York about the case.

Felipe Rodriguez, also a retired NYPD detective sergeant, found issues on all sides of the case and called police and prosecutors’ attempt to put Kris in a prison a “travesty of justice.”

What stuck out to Rodriguez the most: Officers at the scene did not identify themselves before firing nine shots into the dark.

“Since no one took control of the situation, chaos reigned,” he said.

A Shot in the Dark – Pt 3 – Valley surgeon faces years in prison

Officials declined interview requests

The Phoenix Police Department and Maricopa County Attorney’s Office did not agree to interview requests for this story. The agencies instead released general statements that did not directly address the facts of the case.

Phoenix police spokesperson Sgt. Lorraine Fernandez emailed, “This remains an open criminal investigation, and we are unable to comment on any specifics of the incident. As with all officer-involved shootings, this incident underwent a comprehensive internal review. The case was presented to the Critical Incident Review Board, which on November 7, 2023, recommended that the actions be found within department policy.” 

ABC15 confirmed Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has personally reviewed the case and stands by the plea offer.

Mitchell’s office emailed an unattributed statement that said, “The County Attorney reviews all officer-involved shootings. Though many of the facts are apparently being misrepresented to you, this is an open case, and we will address all factual issues in court through the appropriate legal process.”

MCAO did not respond to a follow-up question asking to clarify what facts the office believed were “apparently being misrepresented.”

Hear from ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing as he breaks down what went into his reporting and more on the case in the video player below.

ABC15’s Dave Biscobing breaks down the case against Valley surgeon

Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at [email protected].