People v. Sean A.

The juvenile court declared Sean A. a ward of the court (Welf. & Inst. Code, § 602) and placed him on probation after Sean admitted to possessing a controlled substance for sale in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11378.

*185 Sean appeals, contending that the juvenile court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence obtained as a result of a search of his person by a public high school official premised on the fact that he left and returned to campus during the school day. Sean also challenges one of the conditions of his probation.

We conclude that the search was lawful, and that Sean has waived any objection to his probation conditions by failing to object in the juvenile court.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Sean, who was a student at a public high school, was observed by an attendance clerk as he was returning to campus in the middle of the school day. The assistant principal reviewed Sean’s attendance record for the day and noticed that Sean had been absent from his period 1 and 2 classes, present for his period 3 class, and then absent from his period 4 class.

The high school conducts searches of students who leave campus and then return…

I respectfully dissent because my colleagues have approved an unwarranted expansion of the controlling Supreme Court case law, which permits suspicionless searches in public schools only under limited circumstances. I would conclude that the assistant principal’s search of Sean was unlawful because it was not pursuant to a valid policy of suspicionless searches and was not based on reasonable suspicion.

A. The Requirement of Reasonable Suspicion Was Not Satisfied

As my colleagues acknowledge, unless the assistant principal’s search of Sean was performed as a suspicionless special needs administrative search that meets the applicable constitutional requirements, the search is governed by the normal rules for individual searches of public school students set forth in New Jersey v. T. L. O. (1985) 469 U.S. 325, 333 [ 83 L.Ed.2d 720 , 105 S.Ct. 733 ] (T.L.O.). Under T.L.O., a search by a public school official is permitted by the Fourth Amendment if “there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school.” ( 469 U.S. at p. 342 .)

My colleagues do not attempt to argue…