## Facts

- A student at Thomas Jefferson High School reported to Vice-Principal Sterling Thurston that he had seen Mike Slattery selling marijuana in the school parking lot.
- Thurston treated the report as trustworthy because he had prior experience with the reporting student and had also heard other reports that Slattery was involved with illegal drugs.
- Thurston called Slattery to the office and asked him to empty his pockets; Slattery had about $230 in small bills and a slip of paper with a pager number.
- Thurston contacted school security, and a security officer searched Slattery’s locker; nothing incriminating was found.
- Thurston then told Slattery they would need to search Slattery’s car on school property; Slattery refused.
- A security officer told Slattery that officials would get into the car “one way or another.”
- After speaking with his mother by phone, Slattery gave the officials his keys.
- School officials searched the car and found a pager and a notebook listing names with dollar amounts.
- Officials opened the locked trunk and found a locked briefcase.
- Slattery first denied knowing who owned the briefcase, then said it belonged to a friend and claimed he did not know the combination.
- Security officers pried open the briefcase and found about 80.2 grams of marijuana.
- Police were called, Slattery was arrested, and the State charged him with possession with intent to deliver marijuana.
- The trial court denied Slattery’s motion to suppress; Slattery was found guilty at a trial on stipulated facts and appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the warrantless search by public school officials of a student’s car, including the locked trunk and locked briefcase, on school grounds violated the Fourth Amendment.
2. Whether the same search violated article I, section 7 of the Washington Constitution.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Washington, Division One, affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress and affirmed Slattery’s conviction.
- The court held the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment school-search standard because it was justified at its inception and reasonable in scope.
- The court held the search was also permissible under article I, section 7 because school officials had reasonable grounds under Washington’s student-search analysis.
- The court upheld the search based on the school-search doctrine rather than on voluntary consent.

## Legal Principles

- Under *New Jersey v. T.L.O.*, a warrantless search by school officials is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment when (1) the search is justified at its inception and (2) the search as conducted is reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justified the interference.
- A student tip can supply justification for a school search when the reporting student is known to school officials and the information is supported by additional circumstances indicating wrongdoing.
- The scope of a school search may expand step-by-step as officials find facts consistent with the suspected misconduct, so long as the search remains tied to the suspected violation and is not excessive for the situation.
- Washington’s article I, section 7 requires “authority of law,” but Washington courts evaluate school searches by asking whether officials had reasonable grounds, considering: (1) the student’s age, history, and school record; (2) the prevalence and seriousness of the problem the search targets; (3) the need to act without delay; and (4) the probative value and trustworthiness of the information relied on.
- The school-search exception is not limited to searches of students’ persons or lockers; it can extend to a student’s automobile and containers on school property when reasonable grounds support the search and the search remains reasonable in scope.

## Conclusion

The court upheld the warrantless search of Slattery’s car, trunk, and locked briefcase on school property because school officials acted on a trusted student report of on-campus marijuana sales and corroborated that report with items consistent with drug dealing, making the search reasonable under *T.L.O.* and supported by reasonable grounds under Washington’s article I, section 7.


State of Washington v. Slattery, 787 P.2d 932 (1990)