commvlawrence

Commonwealth v Lawrence L.
Mass SJC-08958 July 2003

__Facts:__ D Commonwealth of MA P Lawrence L.

__Issues/Answers:__ Is a school official searching for drugs acting as an agent of the police when performing a search? Can the evidence of that search be used in a court of law?

__Basis/Rational:__ Legal Basis- Fourth U.S. Constitutional Amendment on probably cause for search Rationale- The Fourth Amendment regulates policy search and seizure, but a lower reasonable suspicion generally applies to school officials.

__Notes:__ A Lynn middle school vice principal smelled marijuana on a student, Lawrence L., and conducted a search. He discovered marijuana on Lawrence L. Lawrence’s attorneys sought to suppress the evidence as inadmissible because the vice principal did not have probable cause to search Lawrence based solely on the scent of marijuana. The court found that even thought the school had an agreement with law enforcement stating that they would contact the police regarding any illegal drug discovery, the school was not acting as the police because of differing goals. The school was trying to provide for the health and safety of its students while the police are trying to discover crime and arrest criminals. Therefore the drugs were allowed to be entered into evidence in Lawrence L.’s trial.