BACKPACK RULED 'PRIVATE'

Court Rejects Conviction of Student in Drug Search

LONDON, Ont. - Ontario's highest court has upheld the privacy rights
of high school students by refusing to overturn the acquittal of a
Sarnia youth charged with drug trafficking.

The case concerned a random search of St. Patrick's High School in
Sarnia by police officers and a sniffer dog on Nov. 7, 2002.

The Ontario Court of Appeal rejected the Crown's appeal and agreed
with Ontario Court Justice Mark Hornblower when he disallowed the drug
evidence.

Hornblower acquitted the youth in June 2004 because he said police had
no reason to search the backpack in which drugs were found.

"To admit the evidence is effectively to strip (the youth) and any
other student in a similar situation of the right to be free from
unreasonable search and seizure," Hornblower said at trial.

After the dog indicated the presence of drugs in the backpack located
in a gymnasium, police discovered 10 bags of marijuana, 10 magic
mushrooms and drug paraphernalia.

Hornblower, in acquitting the youth, ruled there were two searches --
one with the dog and one of the backpack.

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association argued that "a student's
backpack should be afforded at least the same degree or respect as an
adult's briefcase."