4
C
ASE: 1
You Be the Judge!
You Be the Judge!
Sources
The case brie ng above contains excerpts and direct extractions from the sources noted
below that have been combined with the author's own expert legal input. The case has
been condensed and formatted from its original content for purposes of this workbook.
Commonwealth v. Snyder, 413 Mass. 521, 597 N.E. 2d 1363 (1992).
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Berkshire
August 25, 1992. Opinion written by the Honorable Herbert P. Wilkins.
In the U.S., the
police (or other law
enforcement offi cials)
cannot simply search
someone for no reason.
If proper legal steps
are not followed, that
search can be classifi ed
as unreasonable.
Probable Cause:
Evidence that would
lead a reasonable
person to believe that
a crime was or is being
committed by the
person being accused.
in Assistant Principal Canning's presence, Principal Day asked Je rey
if it was true, as reported to her, that he had o ered to sell marijuana
in the school. Je rey admitted that he had. Je rey, who was very
upset, said that he could not believe this was happening and had never
before engaged in this type of activity.
Je rey explained that a friend had given him the marijuana to
sell, that he had become troubled about doing it, and he had called
his friend to come to the school at 2 pm to take back what he had not
sold. Je rey admitted that the book bag, the videocassette case, and
the bags of marijuana belonged to him. Je rey said there were four
bags of marijuana but he had sold one for $25 to a student. Principal
Day called Je rey's mother, who came to the school, while Assistant
Principal Canning called the police.
At trial, Snyder argued that since he had a legitimate expectation
of privacy in his locker as per the school code, all evidence taken was
illegally seized and not admissable against him.
e Commonwealth argued that there was no reasonable expec-
tation of privacy as to his locker and in the alternative, even if there
was, the locker search was valid as school administrators conducted a
search of the locker that was reasonable under all the circumstances.
In other words, while school administrators must be "reasonable,"
they are not restricted by the probable cause or warrant requirements
of the Fourth Amendment.
For Evaluation Purposes Only