The Massachusetts Appeals Court has upheld the conviction of a Dorchester teen for bringing a loaded gun to Brighton High School, saying his actions in getting into the school were suspicious enough to warrant an immediate search of his clothes without a warrant, the Suffolk County DA's office reports.

Amenhotep Smith had argued an administrator violated his Fourth Amendment and Massachusetts Declaration of Rights protection against unreasonable search and seizure by searching his jacket without a warrant. The administrator found a .380 semiautomatic handgun loaded with four rounds of hollow-point ammunition.

The court, however, agreed with prosecutors that the fact that Smith had been ordered out of school the day before and that he then snuck into school and avoided going through metal detectors at the front entrance gave a school administrator "reasonable" reasons to hold and search him.

Following his trial, Smith was sentenced to a year in jail.