Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Re: My Son was searched at school for pot

It is not illegal for the school officials to search a student's locker, backpack or other container on the school's property.

The only issue along this line that I have had to sift through is whether the school is doing the search as an "agent" of law enforcement - i.e., the police asked/told the school to do the search. The problem here is that police searches - unlike school official searches - may conflict with constitutional protections, like the right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures. Cops have to have a search warrant or a viable exception to the search warrant requirement. The cops cannot do an "end run" around that requirement by directing private citizens to do it for them.

But when school officials are doing searches like this, they are not doing it in order to further a criminal/delinquency investigation. They are trying to protect the school environment so other students don't get hurt. This is just like a parent who searches the kid's bedroom: it's to protect the child and others in the home from the contraband. They can do searches that cops might not be able to do without a judge's approval. The fact that the school officials (and even parents in similar home searches) contact police afterwards and turn the evidence over the the cops does not retroactively make the search illegal. The focus has to be on whether they were acting as an agent of the police when the search occurred.

There is no harm in pleading not guilty and getting a lawyer's advice as to the best course of action. You might even be able to consult with a lawyer in private practice for free or a nominal amount before your son's first court hearing, but you ought to get a copy of the police report first from the prosecutor or the court so the attorney you talk to can see what the police say the facts are.