Friday, May 8, 2015 | 12:02 p.m.
CARSON CITY — The Nevada Supreme Court has ruled that a search of a Las Vegas high school student's locker by teachers and law enforcement that found marijuana was illegal.
The court said the 17-year old student did not waive his constitutional right to an illegal search even though he signed an agreement to be subject to random searches by school administrators in order to get into the school.
The student, identified only as “L.W.”, had behavioral problems and was given a “last chance” to enroll in Legacy High School only if he and his father signed an agreement that the boy would be subject to random searches.
The school administrators decided to conduct a search and found two bags of marijuana and $129 in cash in L.W.'s locker. He was later found guilty of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell.
The three judge Supreme Court panel, in a decision written by Justice Kristina Pickering, said courts in other areas have ruled that the state cannot condition access to public education in return for a student giving up his right to unconstitutional searches and seizures.
“A school administration’s coercion of a child’s ‘consent’ to unconstitutional searches by holding the threat of closed educational doors over his or her head does not facilitate the desired perception of justice,” Pickering wrote.
The court noted this was different in cases where a student voluntarily goes out for a team or other activities and agrees to such things as random drug tests. In these instances the pupils subject themselves to a higher degree of regulation than that imposed on the general student.
The decision overrules Family Court Judge William Voy who certified the 17-year old was a delinquent. The Court ruled the drugs could not be admitted as evidence.
“The State could not constitutionally condition L.W.’s access to a public education on his waiver of his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure,” Pickering wrote.
The decision said there was no evidence that public education options beyond Legacy were available to him.
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