Concord – A judge today found James Conrad not guilty on all three misdemeanor charges stemming from an incident at state police headquarters last November in which he threatened to kill a Concord police officer and everyone else in the room.
Conrad, 49, who had been a law enforcement officer for 19 1/2 years at the time and who has since been fired, was found not guilty after a three-hour trial yesterday of violating a marital protective order, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest by Concord District Court Judge Gerard J. Boyle.
A fourth charge, criminal threatening alleging Conrad threatened to commit murder by taking Concord Police Officer Miguel Cebollero’s gun and shooting him and everyone in the room on Nov. 28, 2007, was dismissed.
Assistant Concord City Prosecutor Tracy A. Connolly wouldn’t detail why she decided to drop the charge.
Judge Boyle issued his ruling late this afternoon saying the state failed to prove Conrad had the guilty mental state needed for each offense.
“The evidence presented at both the hearing on the motion to suppress and during the trial on the merits was overwhelming that the accused was suffering on the day in question from extreme emotional distress and was incapable of forming the requisite mens rea (guilty mental state) ... ” Boyle wrote.
At trial, Trooper Christopher Laporte, who was acting as a troopers union advocate for Conrad that day, described him as hysterically crying, pacing and saying his life was over because of domestic problems and a related internal affairs investigation. Laporte said Conrad had tried to jump out a window at headquarters and he worried he would kill himself.
Connolly argued that Conrad was trying to blame state police for not letting him leave when he was agitated that day and tried to resign. She said state police did the right thing, that they feared he could hurt himself or his estranged wife, Laura.
Conrad’s lawyer, Eric Wilson of Nashua, said: “I’m extremely pleased that Jim was found not guilty. His life is back on track and I am happy for him.”
Connolly couldn’t be reached for comment after the order was released.
