Friday, Mar. 25, 2005

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Palmetto man convicted for carrying gun at SMHS

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Was a 19-year-old Palmetto warehouse worker looking to settle a score with a Starr’s Mill High School student when he drove up to the school with two friends Feb. 3 and Feb. 4? Or was it simply a terrible misunderstanding?

That’s what Fayette County jurors, including eight women and four men, were left to ponder in the case of Jason Ricardo Garrison Jr.

But in the end, the jurors ruled in favor of the state, and found Garrison guilty on three felony counts of possession of weapons on school property and one misdemeanor count of disrupting a public school.

Garrison is expected to be sentenced 8:30 a.m. Monday by Griffin Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Johnnie Caldwell Jr.

Garrison, a scrawny male who stands about 5-feet-2 and weighs 95 pounds, is accused of bringing a car stocked full of weapons and two friends, Michelle Jasmine Lee — a former Starr’s Mill student, and her fiance, Lamorus Kentwon Ellis — to the school looking to exact revenge on another student named “Jebron.”

Jerry Buller, a Starr’s Mill student, testified Garrison approached him, with Garrison’s friends nearby, and painted a picture of their plans for Jebron.

“He pulled up his shirt. I don’t remember what he was wearing. I saw the stalk of a black pistol and they said they’d be back and they went back to the car,” the state’s witness said when questioned by Griffin Judicial Circuit Assistant District Attorney Cindy Spindler.

When questioned further, Buller said, “I just saw the butt. It was a gun. I knew it was a gun.”

Buller told the court he immediately grew concerned for his friend, Jebron, who used to live near him when he was a child.

“I was kind of worried,” Buller said occasionally stammering through his testimony. “I was like, I know this kid. You know what I mean.”

Buller testified he notified School Resource Officer David McNaughton and Assistant School Principal John Boucell about the incident.

Garrison’s defense attorney Allen Alberga of Atlanta tried to poke holes in Buller’s story when he questioned him about the case.

But Buller restated his account.

John Boucell recounted on the stand that he tried to identify the students through a video, but were unsuccessful. On the following day, Boucell said he spotted Garrison in the hall wearing a baseball hat and approached him.

“I walked up to him and asked him if he needed anything,” Boucell told the court. “He said he was looking for someone.”

Boucell said Garrison did not indicate who.

Boucell directed him to the front office. He walked in a few steps, walked back out and turned around, he said.

“I asked him why he didn’t sign it and he said he’d find him later,” Boucell said.

Recounting the report given the previous day, Boucell followed Garrison outside and noticed he walked guardedly, which made his suspicious.

“He would never show me his right side,” Boucell said.

Boucell watched as Garrison got into the car and noticed he appeared to be leaning over in the seat and he immediately grew afraid.

“I was thinking it was not going to be a good day for me,” Boucell said. “I was scared. I was thinking I had a pencil and a piece of paper and he had something more,”

That something was a gun, Boucell thought.

Boucell radioed School Resource Officer Inv. Rene McCullum who arrived shortly. He asked Garrison if he would be surprised if someone told me he had a gun and Boucell testified that Garrison said ‘No.’

McCullum placed handcuffs on Garrison while Boucell searched the car.

He found a fully-loaded 25-caliber handgun on the front passenger seat underneath a nylon seat cover, two box cutters, a small wooden bat and a BB gun, Boucell testified. A pocket knife also was found in the car.

Boucell asked if anyone was with him and Garrison told him two others were in the school.

Boucell immediately placed the high school on lockdown.

The adjoining middle school also was placed on lockdown. The two friends, including Michelle Lee, who was withdrawing from school, and Ellis, were rounded up. The two were charged, but the charges were later dropped.

On cross examination, Alberga asked Boucell if Garrison told him he had a BB gun and if he told him he was there with Michelle Lee. Boucell disagreed.

Garrison, casually dressed at the defense table, violently shook his head.

Garrison took the stand and told jurors he didn’t come to the school to hurt anyone. He was there to give a ride to his friend, Michelle Lee.

Garrison admitted the BB gun was his. But he didn’t know where the pocket knife or handgun came from. All he knew was that it wasn’t his.

“I ride a lot of people around,” Garrison said when questioned by his attorney. “I don’t know what they be leaving in it because I don’t search my every time.”

Garrison said he did not have a weapon on him while he was inside of the school. He added the box cutters were his. He said he used them to open boxes at his job.

Lee and Ellis also testified they were not there to fight Jebron.

The pair both testified Wednesday they were there to accompany Lee who was withdrawing from school.

The case concluded Thursday. After several hours of deliberations, the jury reached a guilty verdict.