POUGHKEEPSIE – The murder trial of 36-year-old Randy Johnson, the accused “Courtyard Killer”, began Wednesday afternoon before Dutchess County Court Judge Edward McLoughlin. Johnson is facing life in prison for the death of Long Island resident Paul Kutz in the lobby of the Courtyard by Marriott hotel on South Road in the Town of Poughkeepsie on October 2, 2022.
Dutchess County District Attorney’s Office Bureau Chief Robert Knapp told the jury that they would hear testimony from another witness who was in the lobby when Johnson pointed a gun at her before firing and missing. Gunfire from Johnson’s Glock, modified to fire in a fully-automatic manner, struck Kutz and took the life of the 56-year-old in town to see his son at Marist College. As guests were fleeing the lobby, Knapp says, “The defendant recklessly fired many more shots through the inside of that lobby, emptying the magazine before reloading the automatic pistol with an extended, larger capacity magazine,” which was also emptied by Johnson.
Johnson’s attorney, Joseph Gulino told the jury “It is one thousand percent true that Roy Johnson was firing the Glock firearm inside the lobby of that hotel,” while stressing the “reasonable doubt” defense. He implied that based on the pattern of the bullet holes in the lobby, Johnson could not have targeted Kutz directly and struck him with only one bullet. “The round that killed Mr. Kutz was not possibly fired from Mr. Johnson’s firearm that he was firing in that lobby.” Johnson’s accomplice, Devin Taylor, was using a .22 pistol that day and Gulino said Kutz was not killed by Taylor’s weapon.
The widow, Natalie Kutz, being questioned by Bureau Chief Kristine Whelan, was tearful when telling of the trip that she had with her husband that weekend to visit their youngest son, a sophomore at Marist College. On the day of his murder, Mr. Kutz had left their hotel room at around 7:15 a.m. to get coffee. “Paul was always an early riser and coffee drinker,” Mrs. Kutz testified. She had gone back to sleep for a few minutes, waking around 7:30 to the sounds of people “running” in the hallway. Getting dressed, she texted her husband at least three times to see where he was, and received no reply. Getting worried, she left the room and noticed an officer outside of the hotel and approached him. After being rushed from the scene, a detective was taking her to Marist to pick up her son and told Mrs. Kutz that her husband had been killed.
“We’re devasted,” the woman married to the victim for 27 years told the jury. Describing how she and her three sons were dealing with the tragedy, she tearfully said: “We’re lost without him.”
The first day also heard testimony from the desk clerk who was working that day. He was the one who called 911 while the man he identified in court, Johnson, was shooting a “machine gun” in the lobby.
Johnson is facing life in prison for the charges against him.
