State v. A.S.
State v. A.S.
Opinion of the Court
¶ 1 A.S. appeals her conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of *705a controlled substance. A.S. argues that the trial court erred by denying her motion to suppress evidence found by the vice principal of Meadowdale Middle School when he searched A.S.'s backpack on school grounds. Because the search of A.S.'s backpack was not reasonable under the circumstances, we reverse.
FACTS
¶ 2 On April 11, 2016, Meadowdale staff received information about an alleged threat involving then 14-year-old A.S., who was not a Meadowdale student. Meadowdale staff looked up A.S.'s picture using the district's computer system so that they would be able to identify her should she appear on campus. Later that day, Joseph Webster, Meadowdale's vice principal, saw A.S. walk by the school's office. Webster approached A.S., called out her name, and asked her to come with him to the office. Webster later testified that if he were to encounter an individual he thought did not have a reason to be on campus, he ordinarily would ask that person to leave. He did not do so here because he believed A.S. was there for a "negative reason."
¶ 3 A.S. complied with Webster's request to accompany him to the school office. Webster brought A.S. to Principal Jennifer Kniseley's office, where Kniseley began asking A.S. questions about why she was on the Meadowdale campus. A.S. was not very cooperative. After about five minutes, Kniseley remarked to Webster that A.S. was not being very cooperative and decided to call the police. A.S. was told that the police were being called. Webster later testified that had A.S. gotten up and decided to leave, she would have been allowed to do so. Webster also testified that because A.S. was not a student at Meadowdale, he and Kniseley did not have any ability to issue any discipline to A.S.
¶ 4 At some point while A.S. was in Kniseley's office, Webster noticed an odor that he recognized as marijuana emanating from A.S. Webster then searched A.S.'s backpack, which was sitting next to her, and found suspected marijuana and drug paraphernalia. A.S. did not say or do anything to resist Webster's search of her backpack.
¶ 5 A police officer responded at 2:29 p.m.-less than half an hour after Webster first observed A.S. on campus-and A.S. was later charged by information with possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. Prior to trial, A.S. moved to suppress the evidence of the suspected marijuana and drug paraphernalia found in her backpack, arguing that the evidence was the fruit of an unlawful search and seizure. Specifically, A.S. argued that the "school search exception" to the warrant requirement did not apply to her because she was not a Meadowdale student when Webster searched her backpack and even if the exception did apply, the search was not reasonable.
¶ 6 The trial court denied A.S.'s motion and, following a stipulated bench trial, convicted A.S. of both possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of a controlled substance. A.S. appeals.
ANALYSIS
Standard of Review
¶ 7 The facts are not in dispute, and A.S. challenges only the trial court's conclusions of law. Accordingly, we review the issues de novo. State v. Meneese,
The School Search Exception
¶ 8 Under both the state and federal constitutions, a government actor must obtain a warrant supported by probable cause to conduct a search unless an exception applies. U.S. CONST . amend. IV ; WASH. CONST. art. I, § 7 ; Meneese,
¶ 9 One of these exceptions is the "school search exception," which allows school authorities to conduct a search of a student without probable cause if the search is reasonable under all the circumstances.
*706State v. B.A.S.,
¶ 10 Washington courts have established the following factors ( McKinnon factors) as relevant in determining whether school officials had reasonable grounds for conducting a warrantless search:
"[T]he child's age, history, and school record, the prevalence and seriousness of the problem in the school to which the search was directed, the exigency to make the search without delay, and the probative value and reliability of the information used as a justification for the search."
State v. Brooks,
Warrantless Search of A.S.'s Backpack
¶ 11 As an initial matter, A.S. urges this court to conclude that the school search exception cannot apply to searches of nonstudents. We decline to adopt such a bright-line rule because doing so would reach beyond the facts here: Even assuming that the exception applies to nonstudents, the search conducted by Webster does not pass muster under the McKinnon factors.
¶ 12 Specifically, nothing in the record suggests that Webster, who guessed that A.S. was middle school aged, knew anything about A.S.'s history or school record. Indeed, Webster testified that when he looked up A.S. in the district database, he was only interested in her picture. Furthermore, there was no evidence that drug use was a problem at Meadowdale. Rather, when asked whether Meadowdale had a drug problem, Webster responded, "I don't believe so." He also testified that he did not deal with drugs on a regular basis as a school administrator and that Meadowdale had only "occasional incidents" on its campus involving students bringing drugs or drug paraphernalia on campus. Additionally, there was no exigency to conduct the search without delay, given that the police had been called, and A.S.-who had been told that the police were called-gave no indication that she was trying to leave the principal's office. And finally, the odor of marijuana alone did not create an exigent circumstance, particularly where Webster had no other reason to believe that A.S. used marijuana or that her backpack would contain marijuana. For these same reasons, the search of A.S.'s backpack was not justified at its inception.
¶ 13 The State argues that the search of A.S.'s backpack was reasonable because courts have generally " 'recognized students have a lower expectation of privacy because of the nature o[f] the school environment.' " Br. of Resp't at 13 (quoting York v. Wahkiakum Sch. Dist. No. 200,
¶ 14 To this end, the underlying rationale for the school search exception is that " 'teachers and administrators have a substantial interest in maintaining discipline in the classroom and on school grounds' which often requires swift action." Meneese,
¶ 15 The facts at bar are readily distinguishable from cases where we have applied the McKinnon factors and concluded that a school search was reasonable. For example, in Brooks, where the vice principal had received information from a student that Steve Brooks was selling marijuana out of a school locker, we upheld the warrantless search of student Brooks' locker.
¶ 16 Similarly, in Slattery, we upheld the search of a locked briefcase in student Mike Slattery's car where another student had notified the vice principal that Slattery was selling marijuana in the school parking lot.
¶ 17 Here, unlike Brooks or Slattery, nothing in the record suggests that before his encounter with A.S., Webster had any information about A.S.'s prior conduct that would lead him to believe that A.S. used or possessed marijuana, or that a search of A.S.'s bag would reveal marijuana. Indeed, Webster testified that he did not do any investigation into the alleged threat involving A.S. and that when he looked up A.S. in the district computer system, he was only interested in her picture. Furthermore, there is no evidence that drug use was a serious, ongoing problem at Meadowdale. Rather, Webster testified that he did not believe that Meadowdale had a drug problem and that Meadowdale had only "occasional incidents" involving students bringing drugs on campus. Additionally, no exigency was present because unlike Slattery, there was no car involved. At the time of the search, A.S. was sitting in the principal's office, waiting for the police to arrive. The State argues that A.S. could have walked away and then school officials would have had no control over her, but this argument is not persuasive given that A.S. never indicated that she wanted to leave and given that she had been told that the police were being called. The facts in Brooks and Slattery are sufficiently dissimilar to the facts here that they do not control.
¶ 18 The State next argues, citing State v. Brown,
"The presence of weapons in a school environment is a serious problem in schools throughout the country and has specifically impacted the Moses Lake School District (e.g., Barry Loukitas [sic] ). That a Moses Lake school administrator would be concerned about the presence of weapons on the campus of a school in the Moses Lake School District is to be expected. There was an exigency in that lunch was fast approaching and students would be returning to the parking lot. A student could have removed the knife (or any other weapon) from the vehicle. The probative value and reliability of the information used to justify the search, i.e., Officer Lopez's visual observation of a weapon in Respondent Brown's vehicle, was high. Given these considerations and given the circumstances, the 'school search' exception to the warrant requirement applies in this case, and the school administrators' search of Respondent Brown's vehicle was reasonable."
Id. at 55,
¶ 19 Brown is distinguishable from this case. The suspected possession of marijuana by a 14-year-old child sitting in the principal's office waiting for the police to arrive and giving no indication that she plans to leave-and who school officials have no reason to believe is selling drugs to other students-does not pose the same threat to the discipline and order of a school that is posed by a gun with bullets found in a high school student's car in the school parking lot just before the lunch hour.
¶ 20 The State next argues that the search was justified because A.S. was acting suspiciously when she did not report to the main office as directed by signage at the school and when she refused to state her business on campus. The State urges that these circumstances indicate that A.S. was hiding something "and that something could include marijuana." Br. of Resp't at 15. The State also argues that A.S.'s presence at Meadowdale when she should have been in school was "alarming" and that "[t]he search of the bag was necessary to ensure that any additional marijuana would not be a factor in a potential conflict on campus." Br. of Resp't at 10-11. In short, the State attempts to draw a nexus between A.S.'s alleged truant status and Webster's search of A.S.'s bag.
¶ 21 Even if A.S. was in fact truant and did in fact intend not to check in with the main office,
*709B.A.S., is instructive. B.A.S. involved Auburn Riverside High School, which had a "closed campus" policy.
¶ 22 In reversing B.A.S.'s subsequent conviction, we rejected the State's argument that by violating school rules, a student necessarily draws individualized suspicion on himself. Id. at 554,
There is no indication that B.A.S. habitually broke the law or school rules, or that he or his friends had ever brought contraband onto the school's campus. The record is also silent on whether B.A.S. had either academic or behavioral difficulties in school. In short, there was nothing about B.A.S.'s age, history or school record that justified the search. Finally, there were no exigent circumstances present here. In sum, there was no basis articulated in the record for suspecting B.A.S. was carrying proscribed items, and the search was therefore unreasonable.
Id. at 556,
¶ 23 Here, as in B.A.S., nothing in the record suggests Webster believed that A.S. habitually broke the law or school rules, had ever brought contraband onto Meadowdale's campus, or had academic or behavioral difficulties. Indeed, Webster had only secondhand knowledge about the alleged threat involving A.S. and confirmed that he did not do any further investigation into the alleged threat. And, as discussed above, there were no exigent circumstances present. Furthermore, the fact that A.S. did not-or perhaps had not yet had time to-check in with Meadowdale's main office is not a justification for searching her bag for marijuana: Nothing in the record suggests that A.S. acted suspiciously or that she was questioned-much less deceptive-about any marijuana use. Cf. State v. E.K.P.,
¶ 24 This case is also distinguishable from United States v. Aguilera,
¶ 25 Based on the information provided by the caller, including a description of the young man seen with a weapon, campus security *710monitors located Gustavo Aguilera with a group of young men on the school campus.
¶ 26 Aguilera argued to the trial court that the shotgun discovered in his waistband should be suppressed, contending, among other things, that Aguilera's status as a nonstudent took him outside the parameters of the school search exception.
[T]o extend the [school search exception] to non-student visitors who present a credible threat of physical harm to students on campus would seem a small and logical step. In short, the court finds that defendant's status as a non-student should not determine the response of school administrators to the threat of gun violence.
¶ 27 Here, A.S., who was sitting in the principal's office-not roaming the campus as Aguilera was-did not present a credible threat of physical harm when she was searched. Indeed, Webster never indicated that he searched A.S. because he thought that her use or possession of marijuana presented a credible threat of physical harm. Aguilera is not persuasive here.
¶ 28 If anything, Aguilera suggests that if the school search exception is to be extended to a nonstudent, it should be extended only when the nonstudent presents a credible threat of physical harm to students on campus and when the scope of the search conducted (in the case of Aguilera, a frisk for dangerous weapons) is directly related to that threat. That was not the case here, and Aguilera does not control. Cf. In re D.D.,
¶ 29 As a final matter, the State cites State v. Marcum,
¶ 30 We reverse.
WE CONCUR:
Leach, J.
Appelwick, C.J.
The record does not indicate whether A.S. had a valid excuse to be away from school that day. The record also does not indicate how long A.S. was on the Meadowdale campus before Webster approached her.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.