UNMPD Chief Kathy Guimond said motions suppressing evidence in Kevin Boyar's trial are disappointing but that police were acting with students' safety in mind when they arrested Boyar on May 6.
"Our concern that day and every day is for the safety of everyone on campus. Especially in a case involving a threat to public safety, officers act as expeditiously as possible to render the situation safe," she said in a statement. "We are confident that despite the ruling, the case will be successfully adjudicated."
Boyar is charged with a petty misdemeanor of tampering with evidence and four counts of carrying a firearm on campus. He pleaded not guilty to the charges May 14.
Judge Judith Nakamura ruled last week that statements Boyar made after his arrest will be suppressed and that the weapons police recovered also won't be used as evidence, since he was improperly arrested and police did not have the right to search his room.
Boyar's attorney, Kari T. Morrissey, said UNM never had a case against her client to begin with. She said the judge granted the motions because the UNMPD did not follow proper procedure for the case.
"Like most things that the UNMPD does, they didn't do a very good job choosing their CI (confidential informant)," she said. "They didn't do a very good job conducting the search, and they didn't do a very good job interrogating my client. That's why all of these motions are being granted."
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UNMPD spokeswoman Christine Chester did not return phone calls Tuesday or Wednesday to comment on the case.
An anonymous source tipped off UNM Police that Boyar had guns in his room before he was arrested May 6. The caller mentioned Boyar had made threats that referred to the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, according to UNMPD.
Morrissey said she can make a strong case showing that UNMPD's informant was lying.
The judge in Boyar's case, Judith Nakamura, gave Morrissey the names of the students who were present at the time Boyar made the alleged statements.
When Morrissey interviewed the witnesses about Boyar's comments, they all agreed on one thing, she said.
"They all say they never heard Kevin say anything of the sort," she said.
Nakamura did not release the name of the confidential informant, Morrissey said.
"The (informant) won't ever suffer any ramifications for not telling the truth, but my client doesn't need to be convicted of this massive investigation that was sparked by unreliable information from an unreliable confidential informant," she said.
If the case goes to trial, the question that lies before the court is whether Boyar had firearms in his dorm room, Morrissey said.
The prosecution did not return phone calls Tuesday or Wednesday to comment on the strength of their case.
Morrissey declined to answer if Boyar had possession of the weapons in his dorm room.
"There is some evidence to indicate that it was; there is other evidence to indicate that they were in the trunk of his car," she said.
If the weapons were in the trunk of Boyar's car, Morrissey said there is an exception in the statute Boyar is charged with that allows students to have weapons in their vehicle trunks.
Dean of Students Randy Boeglin said New Mexico's concealed-carry law does have a provision stating that a person older than 19 on school premises can carry a weapon in a private automobile or other means of conveyance for lawful protection of a person or another person's property.
"If you have weapons in your trunk on the parking lot on the campus, that would be legitimate," he said. "If those weapons left your trunk and came out of your car, it would violate our policy."
Boeglin said the allegations against Boyar had to do with having weapons in the residence halls, which is a violation of campus policy.
Another motion is pending and scheduled for Nakamura to decide whether to suppress evidence gathered when UNMPD searched Boyar's dorm room.
UNMPD told the Daily Lobo last year that they found pictures showing the weapons in Boyar's room, receipts showing the recent purchase of weapons, a cleaning kit for weapons and a laser sight.
Whether the case will proceed to trial depends on the judge's ruling of this motion, Morrissey said.
"It is possible that she could make a ruling that would just essentially do away with the state's case," she said.
