Court Rules In Favor Of School District In Precedent-Setting Case

LAS CRUCES, NM – A New Mexico Court of Appeals ruled that a school can use evidence obtained through illegal means to discipline a student.

Monday,Judges ruledagainst a former Las Cruces High School student who saidschool officials illegally searched his car.In 2004, Jarrett Scanlon was suspened for one year after school authorities found marijuana and a decorative sword in his car. According to school officials, the car was parked in the school’s parking lot and was searched becauseScanlon was allegedly smoking pot.

In the lawsuit, Scanlon claimed school officials did not have reasonable suspicion to search his car. Therefore, the evidence collected “illegally” from his car could not be used against him. They needed a warrant to search the car, he argued in the lawsuit.

According to court documents, the justices did not rule on the legality of the search conducted on Scanlon’s car. They did rule that if the evidence -in this case the marijuana – was obtained illegally, it could be used in decisions regarding disciplinary action against the student whether they had a search warrant or not.

The reasoning behind the decision sets the precedent that methods of obtaining evidence in a school investigation can differ from a criminal investigation.

Matt Holt, the lawyer for the school district, said the ruling will not change the way the district conducts investigations against students. “The school district has always gone out of its way to avoid violating students’ constitutional rights,” he said.

The court documents did not state if Scanlon faced criminal charges for allegedly having the drug on school grounds.

Scanlonwas transferred to a different school within the district afterserving hissuspension from Las Cruces High.

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Written and reported for broadcast by Doug Wernet

Written for the web by Joe Villasana