JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A 39-year-old man accused of having a loaded gun on the grounds of James Weldon Johnson Middle School nearly two years ago but can now be tried after a ruling Monday by Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal.
According to the arrest report, Duval County School police stopped Ricky Rand on the grounds of the grounds at 2 a.m. in March 2014. Rand said he was there to use the track, but was inside a fence marked "No Trespassing" and "No Track Access 7 a.m. to 4 p.m." and was wearing a heavy coat.
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The officer said he did not believe that Rand was there to exercise and told the court that he believed Rand might be planning to break into the school.
The officer searched Rand and said that he found gun in the front pocket of Rand's coat. Rand was arrested and charged with trespassing on school grounds while carrying a weapon and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
The defense attorney argued that while the officer had cause to detain Rand for trespassing, he did not have probable cause to search for a weapon. Duval County Circuit Judge Angela Cox ruled the gun could not be used as evidence.
DOCUMENT: State of Florida v. Ricky Rand ruling
The State Attorney's Office appealed the ruling, and Florida's 1st District Court of Appeal reversed Cox's ruling, based partly on the officer's knowledge of this history of the area's crime rate and instructions from the school's principal that no one should be on school grounds after hours.
The court wrote: "Under the circumstances presented here, the officer had probable cause, and the motion to suppress should have been denied."