Plymouth Teacher Arrested on Gun Charges Will Remain Jailed

Raymond Charles Schepansky, the Plymouth High School teacher and facing three gun-related charges, will remain in jail. Judge Michael Gerou, 35th District Court’s chief justice, declined to reduce the amount of Schepansky’s $100,000 cash bond.

"The risk is too great," Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Robert Donaldson said at the Friday morning preliminary hearing before 35th District Court Chief Justice Michael Gerou.

Schepansky was arrested April 14 by  after he arrived on the Plymouth Canton Educational Park campus. Police said he had a handgun and ammunition in his car. School district officials allege that he had made threats the previous day against other school officials, and those threats were reported to school administrators, who notified police. Because police investigators could not locate Schepansky that evening or the following morning, school officials closed the three-school campus on April 14.

When police stopped Schepansky on his way to the school, they found an unloaded 9-millimeter handgun in his car, under the driver's seat, with two clips containing six rounds each on a gun holster, also under the driver's seat. Schepansky told the officers about the weapon, according to the police report.

Schepansky is currently on paid leave from the school district and a substitute has been hired to finish teaching his classes this semester. Plymouth Canton Community Schools spokesman Frank Ruggirello Jr. said the district would haved no comment on the case at this time. No school officials appeared to be present at Friday’s court hearing.

Request for lower bond denied

Schepansky's attorney, Raymond Correll, had asked the judge to reduce Schepansky's $100,000 cash bond to 10 percent, with the stipulation that Schepansky wear a tether and be barred from living in or visiting the school district.

Schepansky, wearing a white T-shirt, gray sweat pants and sneakers, appeared in court and spoke quietly but respectfully when Gerou questioned him.

Schepansky said he has been living in Plymouth since July but would be able to stay in Marine City if he were released on bond.

Though Schepansky has no criminal history and about half the courtroom's seats were filled with supporters, many of them current or former Plymouth-Canton high school students, Donaldson said, "The risks are too high."

Donaldson described statements made by potential witnesses describing Schepansky's behavior on April 13 which allegedly included telling students he would blow up the school, that he wanted to kill an assistant principal and that "certain people around here need to die" as well as indicating he might be suicidal. After being told to stay home from school on the following day, Schepansky drove to the three-high school campus on Thursday morning, where he was arrested without incident. Because police had been unable to locate Schepansky during an investigation Wednesday evening, school officials cancelled classes on April 14.

Correll told the Judge Gerou that, while Schepansky was told on April 13 to take the following day off work, he was not asked to leave the campus immediately. He was allowed to stay for the rest of the school day and after, to administer a test at 4:30 p.m. to a student.

"It's not like he was thrown out of the building," Correll said.

But Gerou agreed with Donaldson, setting a second preliminary hearing date for 8:30 a.m. May 6. He approved a request to replace Schepansky's lawyer with one recommended by the teacher's supporters, Rick Convertino, whose daughter is a former Schepansky student. The decision, made just yesterday, did not give Convertino time to prepare for Friday's hearing, he told the judge. Gerou told Convertino to come prepared to the May 6 hearing "because there will be no adjournments."

Despite case details, support continues

Details of the case emerging in court have done little to sway support shown by Schepansky’s friends or his current and former students.

Though many of the students had posted messages on social media website Facebook that they would attend, word from school officials that any Friday absence would have to be legitimate appeared to have quelled the number of people in the courtroom.

Madison Derian-Toth, 20, a 2010 Plymouth-Canton graduate, attended the hearing with his brother, Garrett, 18, who is currently a senior at the Plymouth-Canton Education Park.

Madison Derian-Toth said he works in the evenings as a swim instructor and had the day free to be in court.

He said hearing what Donaldson said about Schepansky’s comment on April 13, “ didn’t change my thought of him it but I feel it may not turn out as good as I want it to, because he was talking about homicide and suicide.”

Derian-Toth said Schepansky has a dry sense of humor and that the teacher may have said the words but not meant them. Derian-Toth said he continues to support Schepansky and plans to be in court on May 6.

Mari Manning, 19, of Canton, a political science student at University of Michigan-Dearborn, took the day off work from her retail job, as did her friend and former classmate Angela Moen, 18, of Plymouth, who studies political science and Russian at Schoolcraft Community College. The duo graduated last year from Salem High School; Moen is a former Schepansky student. They attended the hearing, Manning said, “because he needs to know we support him.”

Moen said they were returning his kindness when she and Manning, who had never had his class, needed help studying for an unrelated advanced placement test.

“He sat down and went over it. He helped us with stuff that wasn’t even in his curriculum,” Moen said. Both women work at Pink in the Twelve Oaks Mall and said they will be at next week’s hearing if they can get the day off work again.  

Many of the students who attended the hearing whispered supportive words to Schepansky during brief breaks in the court process; he turned in his seat and mouthed his thanks to them.

Defense fund effort

Parent David Haslam, an early and vocal Schepansky supporter, said he was pleased Judge Gerou allowed for the change in lawyers and that details of the case are coming out in court. He said he's disappointed by the bond remains at $100,000 cash and blamed the decision on the "media frenzy" surrounding the case.

Haslam said Schepansky’s bond is higher than for some murderers and rapists.

To help Schepansky with legal costs, Haslam has published a book containing comments made on a Facebook page, Free Schepansky, set up to support the teacher.

Haslam is charging $20 per book but said one person paid $200, because “the profits are going into a legal defense fund for Ray.”

So far, 100 books have been published and he hopes to reach 1,000; Haslam did not disclose how many books have been sold to date.

Students have mounted a campaign to sell T-shirts emblazoned with “Free Schepansky” as a show of support; many wore the shirts to school when classes resumed after spring break. But messages posted online by adults and other students made it clear the shirts would not be appropriate for Friday’s court date. In fact, in his pre-exam orders for Friday’s hearing, Judge Gerou specifically banned anyone at the hearing from “carrying signs, wearing message buttons or message clothing in the courtroom.”

Gerou’s order, which also instructed the prosecuting and defense attorneys to answer a series of questions related to the case, cited extensive media coverage as well as online social media activity with perpetuating rumors, "all kinds of crazy speculation" and inaccuracies about the case.

The charges

The specific charges against Schepansky are as follows:

• Carrying a concealed weapon, which carries a possibility of five years in prison.
• Possession of a weapon on school property (a weapon-free zone), possible five years in prison.
• Felony firearm, which has a possible two-year sentence.

 A fourth charge, carrying dangerous weapons with unlawful intent, dropped during the arraignment because Magistrate Jeffery Fanto said it was not supported by the proof of threats.

Donaldson said Friday he would like to reinstate that charge. He will have the opportunity to argue for that on May 6.

Homework for lawyers

Judge Gerou assigned homework for the attorneys on both side. When they next come to court, he expects them to answer the following questions:

• Whether Schepansky’s alleged conduct constituted “carrying” a firearm or weapon under the law.
• Whether two of the counts, carrying a concealed weapon and carrying a dangerous weapon in a weapon-free school zone should be consolidated into one charge of carrying a concealed weapons with an emphasis on his being in a school zone at the time.
• Whether Schepansky’s arrest was technically on school property.
• What evidence supports the felony firearm charge, because, Gerou wrote, Michigan Compiled Law 750.227b “specifically excludes” carrying a concealed weapon as well as his earlier challenge about the possibility of combining two of the charges.
• Gerou also asked for more information on what evidence supported allegations of threats by Schepansky.

The case returns to Gerou’s courtroom at 8:30 a.m. May 6.