Court gives schools right to search students who show up at school unannounced after being kicked out

By adamg on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 3:14pm

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.

Topics:

Crime

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Comments

Amenhotep?

By Flip on Thu, 07/03/2008 - 3:29pm.

I'm surprised he didn't bring the Staff of Ra.

I'll call that reasonable

By Gary McGath on Fri, 07/04/2008 - 7:21am.

He'd been suspended for bringing in a loaded gun. That doesn't mean the same would apply to someone who'd been suspended for yelling in class.

Well, I'd have to disagree,

By Lizk (lizkdc) on Fri, 07/04/2008 - 10:38am.

Well, I'd have to disagree, Gary. At the high school level, I think basically you want to keep an eagle-eye out for *anybody* on the property illegally.

That would include all suspended kids (for whatever reason) and all those not currently enrolled (dropped out, goes to another school).

You really should do a clothes and backpack search on any young person you find in those circumstances.

Basically, "snuck into school" is typically a huge red flag for, at a minimum, starting fights, and a maximum, a shooting.

From experience in both Washingon DC and here, if you go back over a large list of incidents of violence in the high schools, you'll find a large percentage feature that very thing.

Red flags

By Gareth on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 12:38pm.

Sneaking into school does sound like aberrant behavior to me. When I was a kid, we snuck out of school (uphill both ways).

I'm so sorry to be so effing

By anon (white with a "diversity"... on Sat, 07/05/2008 - 4:01pm.

I'm so sorry to be so effing shallow and all, but, come on...Amenhotep? How ghetto fabulous is that?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP7AJiQM2RI

Ghetto fabulous?

By eeka not logged in on Sat, 07/05/2008 - 4:21pm.

Isn't it the name of an Egyptian pharaoh?

Hmmmmm....

By independentminded (not verifie... on Mon, 07/21/2008 - 12:25pm.

This:

"he then snuck into school and avoided going through metal detectors at the front entrance"

raises a question, not to mention ( probably) more than afew eyebrows here:

How did he manage to elude the metal detectors at the front entrance of the school with a firearm, yet?