APPEALS COURT SAYS LOCKER SEARCH WAS JUSTIFIED

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- An assistant principal, who acted on a tip from an
informant, had a reasonable basis to search the locker of a student who was
later convicted of drug charges, the 2nd District Court of Appeals ruled
Wednesday.

In March 1997, then 16-year-old Bobby Felicelli was summoned from his class
at Tremper High School in Kenosha and told he had to empty his pockets and
lift up his pants leg, said Felicelli's lawyer, assistant state public
defender William Schmaal. James Ipsen, the assistant principal, said he had
been told by a reliable adult in the school building that Felicelli had
brought marijuana into the school.

The search turned up a pager and more than $200 in cash, leading school
officials to make Felicelli open up his school locker for a more extensive
search, which yielded three bags of marijuana.

Felicelli appealed his conviction of possessing marijuana with intent to
deliver within 1,000 feet of a school, arguing the search was unjustified
and the evidence found in the school officials' search should be suppressed.

The court of appeals rejected that argument Wednesday, saying Ipsen had a
reliable source of information and therefore the search was proper.

Schmaal said the decision was wrong because the principal did not know
where the informant got his information.

"No matter how reliable the source of the information, without knowing
where the information came from, I don't know how you can say that's good
enough to start searching people, " Schmaal said.