BOISE, Idaho — The former Fairmont Junior High principal who is facing a felony charge of injury to a child, Christopher Ryan, was in court Friday for motions ahead of the start of his trial date.
Related | Former Boise principal charged with Felony Injury to Child for 2022 incident
Judge Nancy Baskin heard arguments about a motion to suppress evidence, surrounding law enforcement’s seizure of Ryan’s phone, which they did without a warrant.
Judge Baskin will rule on the motion at Ryan's February 9 pre-trial conference.
The court heard hours of testimony from four different witnesses, as well as final arguments from both the prosecution and defense.
Idaho News 6 was first to report about the new felony charge after a previous misdemeanor case was dismissed in 2023. The allegations surround a former school social worker at Fairmont Jr. High, Scott Crandell, and his alleged inappropriate relationships with minor students while Christopher Ryan was principal.
Court records state Crandell died by suicide in December 2022 after police began an investigation.
The prosecution is arguing Ryan knew about accusations against Crandell, but did not do enough to stop the behavior to protect minor students.
On Friday, Boise Police Detective Jordan Gustin, former Fairmont Jr. High SRO John Mika, Lt. Tim Brady, and Chris Ryan all testified.
All three of the Boise Police officers were involved with Fairmont during the investigation. Gustin was on the Special Victims Unit team that conducted the investigation, Mika was the school resource officer, and Brady was a sergeant in charge of SRO’s during the investigation.
The prosecution’s witnesses all focused on information and incidents that led them to seize Ryan’s phone without a warrant. Brady was the officer who confiscated Ryan’s phone and said he believed it needed to be done because as the investigation continued, Ryan became a person of interest. Brady said he believed there was a risk that Ryan would destroy evidence and that they could not wait for a judge to get the warrant.
The defense disagreed, arguing that there was enough time to get a warrant, and the reasons they felt Ryan was a person of interest were not strong enough to evade the warrant process.
After testimony from the three officers, Ryan took the stand. Questions surrounded the day his phone was taken by law enforcement. Ryan said he was asked to hand over his phone, which he used for work and personal matters.
Earlier in the day, Brady testified during that discussion, that Ryan pulled out his phone and started using it. Brady said he believed Ryan could be destroying evidence so he took it. Ryan testified that he never went on his phone, and he never gave law enforcement permission to take it.
During cross-examination, the defense made the point that BSD employees receive a stipend for their phones if they use their personal phone for work matters. They also said because he chose to use his phone for work, it is public record.
Ryan will appear in court next on February 9 at 10:30 am where Judge Baskin will make her oral ruling on the motion to suppress the phone as evidence. If she rules against the motion to suppress, the phone will be able to be used as evidence in court.
Ryan’s pre-trial conference will also be moved to February 9.
The Jury Trial is scheduled to begin on February 20.
