State SJC Tosses Conviction Of Watertown Man Found With Gun At Milton School

WATERTOWN, MA — The state's highest court has overturned a weapons conviction against a Watertown man who was arrested for possessing a gun at Milton High School.

In a split decision, the state's supreme judicial court ruled that officers did not have a reasonable belief that Jonathan Villagran was dangerous when he was subjected to a pat frisk and the school was placed on lockdown.

In 2015, police responded to a report of a suspicious man outside of Milton High School. Villagran told an administration that he wanted to use the bathroom and that he was a student who wanted access to his locker. School officials became suspicious as Villagran, who did not attend Milton High School, left the school building but remained on the property. He was brought into a conference room for questioning and alerted the police.

Villagran smelled of marijuana and alcohol and told school administrators he was there to meet a girl, according to the decision. When Milton police sergeant Kristen Murphy arrived, she noted that the principal and vice principal of the school appeared to be "rattled" and the principal told the police officer, "He has something on him. I know he has something on him."

Murphy conducted a pat frisk of Villagran's pockets, turning up a bag of marijuana and a wad of nearly $3,000, according to the decision. When Murphy felt Villagran's backpack, she detected a hard object and looked inside where she discovered a loaded handgun along with a bottle of alcohol, another bag of pot and a scale, according to the decision.

The school was placed on lockdown and about 20 Milton police officers responded to the situation, according to the ruling.

Villagram was convicted in Quincy District Court of carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a dangerous weapon on school grounds, possession of a firearm without a firearm identification card, disturbing a school, and possession of a Class D substance with intent to distribute.

The majority if the court, however, ruled that police did not have the probable cause needed for the search.

"We conclude that the police officer lacked reasonable articulable suspicion that the defendant had committed a crime and that the circumstances of the encounter with the defendant did not warrant a reasonable belief that the defendant was armed and dangerous to the officer or others. Nor was the search permissible under any exception to the warrant requirement. Thus, because neither the patfrisk nor the search of the defendant's backpack was justified on any of these grounds, the denial of the motion to suppress was error. Therefore, we vacate his convictions of the firearms and drug charges," wrote the recently retired Justice Geraldine Hines.

Justices Elspeth Cypher and David Lowy voted against tossing the conviction.

"The dissent contends that a person who enters upon school property, where public access is restricted, lacks
the same expectation of privacy as one in a public place and, as a consequence, a patfrisk and search need not be justified by reasonable articulable suspicion or probable cause.," Cypher wrote.

The court noted that a motion to suppress the drug and gun evidence prior to the trial was denied. The court said the denial was in error because the search was not justified.

Villagran's appellate attorney, Mathew Brian Zindroski said he did not think the prosecution will re-try the case and said he doesn't think there would be an avenue to introduce the firearm as evidence at a new trial, given the ruling.

Story by Dan Libon (Patch Staff). Reporting from State House News was used in this article.

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