Scanlon v. Las Cruces Public Schools

• Decision Date: 01 October 2007
• Docket Number: No. 26,334.,26,334.
• Citation: 172 P.3d 185,2007 NMCA 150
• Parties: Ted SCANLON and Ruth Scanlon-Christopher, as Next Best Friends and Personal Representatives of Jarrett Scanlon, a Minor, Petitioners-Appellants, v. LAS CRUCES PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Respondent-Appellee.
• Court: Court of Appeals of New Mexico

172 P.3d 185

2007 NMCA 150

Ted SCANLON and Ruth Scanlon-Christopher, as Next Best Friends and Personal Representatives of Jarrett Scanlon, a Minor, Petitioners-Appellants, v. LAS CRUCES PUBLIC SCHOOLS, Respondent-Appellee.

No. 26,334.

Court of Appeals of New Mexico.

October 1, 2007.

C.J. McElhinney, Las Cruces, NM, for Appellants.

Holt Babington Mynatt P.C., Matthew P. Holt, Las Cruces, NM, for Appellee.

OPINION

FRY, Judge.

{1} Jarrett Scanlon was a student at Las Cruces High School when he was suspended for one year for possessing marijuana and a weapon on school property. Jarrett's parents, Ted Scanlon and Ruth Scanlon-Christopher, appeal his suspension on his behalf, claiming: (1) that the school hearing authority should not have considered evidence obtained in violation of Jarrett's federal and state constitutional rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and (2) that Jarrett's right to procedural due process was violated when he was not permitted to cross-examine the students who told school officials that the marijuana they were smoking belonged to Jarrett. We hold that the hearing authority properly considered the evidence presented to it, because even if the evidence was seized in violation of Jarrett's constitutional rights, the exclusionary rule does not apply in school disciplinary hearings. We also hold that the hearing authority could base its decision on the testimony of the assistant principal who investigated the incident, since due process does not require that Jarrett be permitted to cross-examine the students who gave the assistant principal his information. Accordingly, we affirm the district court.

BACKGROUND

{2} After a school groundskeeper reported that he saw four people smoking something inside Jarrett's car, which was parked in the school parking lot, school employees searched the car and found marijuana in the passenger compartment and a decorative sword in the trunk. Jarrett ran away from the school employees, but the other students who had been in the car were taken to Assistant Principal Carlos Romero's office, where they stated that the marijuana belonged to Jarrett and that all four of them had smoked it.

{3} Jarrett and his parents were given notice that the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) sought to suspend him for a one-year period. At the suspension hearing, the assistant principal testified about what the three other students told him. The students did not testify. The three-member LCPS hearing authority found that Jarrett had violated school policies against possessing drugs and weapons, and suspended him for one year. Jarrett was offered the opportunity to enroll in an alternative school in the Las Cruces Public Schools system. The Scanlons appealed the hearing authority's decision to the superintendent, who affirmed the suspension.

{4} The Scanlons filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the district court pursuant to Rule 1-075 NMRA. Before the district court, the Scanlons argued that Jarrett was denied procedural due process in the suspension hearing because he was not permitted to confront his student accusers. They also argued that school officials did not have reasonable suspicion to search the trunk of Jarrett's car, and that even if they did have reasonable suspicion, they could not search the trunk without either a warrant or exigent circumstances. The district court determined that due process did not require LCPS to permit Jarrett to cross-examine the students. The district court then determined that school officials lacked "probable cause" to search the trunk of Jarrett's car, despite the fact that both parties had argued that the proper standard is whether the officials had "reasonable suspicion" that the search would uncover evidence that the student violated the law or school rules.

{5} LCPS appealed the district court's use of the incorrect legal standard, and the Scanlons filed a cross-appeal raising several additional claims of error. This Court assigned the case to the summary calendar pursuant to Rule 12-210(D) NMRA. Our notice of proposed summary disposition proposed to reverse and remand for the district court to apply the reasonable suspicion standard to the search of the trunk. We made no mention of the arguments the Scanlons raised in their cross-appeal. Neither party filed a memorandum in opposition to the notice of our proposed disposition; consequently, we issued a memorandum opinion reversing the district court for the reasons given in the notice. On remand, the district court concluded that school officials had reasonable suspicion to search the trunk of Jarrett's car, and affirmed the decision of the LCPS hearing authority to suspend Jarrett. The Scanlons appeal.

DISCUSSION

The Scanlons' Failure to File a Memorandum in Opposition in the Prior Appeal

{6} As a threshold matter, we must decide whether the Scanlons' claims are properly before us. The issues the Scanlons raise in this appeal are essentially the same as those raised in their earlier cross-appeal. LCPS suggests that-with the exception of the Scanlons' argument that there was no reasonable suspicion to search the trunk of Jarrett's car-these claims were "implicitly rejected" when this Court issued its order reversing the district court for its improper use of the probable cause standard. Therefore, LCPS argues, the law of the case doctrine requires us to find that the law applied in the first appeal is binding in the second appeal, and that the Scanlons cannot reargue these claims of error. We do not agree.

{7} Under the law of the case doctrine, "[i]f an appellate court has considered and passed upon a question of law and remanded the case for further proceedings, the legal question so resolved will not be determined in a different manner on a subsequent appeal." Ute Park Summer Homes Ass'n v. Maxwell Land Grant Co., 83 N.M. 558, 560, 494 P.2d 971, 973 (1972). Our notice of proposed disposition did not reflect any evidence that this Court "considered and passed upon" the issues raised by the Scanlons in their cross-appeal, since it made no mention of the issues at all. Id. Facing such a notice, the Scanlons might reasonably have believed that this Court wished to reserve judgment on the remaining issues until the district court applied the correct law. While it would have been advisable for the Scanlons to file a memorandum in opposition to the proposed disposition in order to seek clarification, under the circumstances of this case, we will not penalize the Scanlons for the ambiguity of our notice. See State v. Breit, 1996-NMSC-067, ¶ 12, 122 N.M. 655, 930 P.2d 792 (noting that application of the doctrine of law of the case is discretionary with the court and stating that an appellate court "will not apply this doctrine to perpetuate an obvious injustice"). Accordingly, we address any of the Scanlons' claims on appeal that were preserved below.

The Admissibility of Evidence Obtained During the Search of Jarrett's Vehicle on School Grounds

{8} Relying on State v. Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, 122 N.M. 777, 932 P.2d 1, the Scanlons argue that school officials could not search Jarrett's vehicle without a warrant unless there were exigent circumstances. In Gomez, our Supreme Court departed from federal precedent to hold that under Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution, a warrantless search of an automobile requires both probable cause and a particularized showing of exigent circumstances. See Gomez, 1997-NMSC-006, ¶ 39. Recognizing that when a search is conducted by school officials on school grounds, the standard is the lower standard of reasonable suspicion, see In re Josue T., 1999-NMCA-115, ¶¶ 15, 23, 128 N.M. 56, 989 P.2d 431, the Scanlons argue that a warrantless search of an automobile by school officials must be justified by both reasonable suspicion and exigent circumstances.

{9} Even if the Scanlons are correct, the constitutional violation would affect Jarrett's suspension only if the evidence obtained during the search could not be considered as a basis for the hearing authority's disciplinary action. Because we conclude that the exclusionary rule does not apply in school disciplinary hearings, any violation of Jarrett's constitutional rights would not alter the evidence before the hearing authority. As a consequence, we need not address the Scanlons' claim that the search violated Jarrett's rights under Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution.

{10} We conclude that the exclusionary rule does not apply in school disciplinary proceedings because the purpose of the exclusionary rule is not advanced in such proceedings. We first consider the purpose of the rule under the federal constitution and then discuss the somewhat different purpose served by the rule under the state constitution.

{11} Under the federal constitution, the exclusionary rule is not a personal constitutional right, but is instead a prudential rule intended to deter governmental actors from committing future Fourth Amendment violations. See Withrow v. Williams, 507 U.S. 680, 686, 113 S.Ct. 1745, 123 L.Ed.2d 407 (1993). Because the United States Supreme Court has found that the exclusionary rule is not a constitutional right and has declined to extend its use to civil proceedings, see Pa. Bd. of Prob. & Parole v. Scott, 524 U.S. 357, 362-69, 118 S.Ct. 2014, 141 L.Ed.2d 344 (1998) (holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply in parole revocation proceedings because the deterrent effect would be minimal), Jarrett has no federal constitutional right to exclude from his disciplinary hearing any evidence found during an illegal search by school officials. See Thompson v. Carthage Sch. Dist., 87 F.3d 979, 981-82 (8th Cir.1996) (holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply in a high school disciplinary hearing).

{12} In contrast, the New Mexico Supreme Court has interpreted Article II, Section 10 of the New Mexico Constitution to...