In 2006, then 19-year-old Amenhotep Smith was found guilty of bringing a loaded handgun into a public high school and sentenced to a year behind bars. The conviction came two years after Smith brought a .380 semi-automatic handgun loaded with four rounds of hollow-point ammunition into Brighton High. Today, the Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld the conviction of the Dorchester teen. In the appeal, defense counsel argued that the warrantless search during which the gun was found went against the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, which “in some circumstances…affords greater protection against arbitrary government action; than the Fourth Amendment.” Smith had been ordered out of school the day before he brought the gun and told not to return without a parent, prosecutors showed. He was, however, subsequently found wandering the halls while classes were in session. He was called to a school office where an administrator on good terms with him found the gun in Smith’s jacket pocket. Following the appeal, prosecutors argued that the search was reasonable, limited, and followed Smith’s violation of several school rules: Smith entered the school by means other than the front doors and their metal detectors and he was on school grounds without a guardian after he had been suspended. The Appeals Court agreed and ruled that the gun need not be suppressed as evidence as defense counsel argued. ...
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