JUSTICE LAYS DOWN THE LAW FOR CLASS

LAKELAND -- Students at Kathleen High School's Criminal Justice, Law
and Career Academy on Thursday received an interactive lesson in the
U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

The teacher: Florida Supreme Court Justice Fred Lewis.

Using his years of legal experience -- and a mock trial and appeal --
Lewis demonstrated the difficulties of interpreting the amendment,
which bars unlawful search and seizure by the government.

And he showed how its protection is relevant even in the lives of
high school students.

"A high school baseball player urinating in a cup for drug testing,
is that (an issue) under the Fourth Amendment?" Lewis asked the class
Thursday morning.

The students' heads slowly wagged "Yes" or "No."

Questions over the legality of such testing relate to the Fourth
Amendment, said Lewis, a Florida Southern College graduate.

At FSC, Lewis was named president of the sophomore, junior and senior
classes. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1998 by the late
Gov. Lawton Chiles.

The Fourth Amendment, ratified in the Bill of Rights in 1791,
protects citizens from unlawful searches in their homes or from being
searched without probable cause.

Lewis showed the Kathleen High School students how ambiguous
interpretations of the amendment can be.

While police most certainly need a search warrant to look through a
home or an apartment, a warrant may not be needed if public safety is
in danger.

"Like if someone had a weapon inside a car," Lewis said.

Lewis even plucked a few students from their desks and made them the
state prosecutor, public defender and circuit judge in a real Fourth
Amendment case.

Lewis presented the case of "J.L.," a 16-year-old who was searched
for a concealed weapon at a Miami bus stop after police received an
anonymous call.

Police found a gun.

Later he was charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a
license and possession of a firearm by a person under the age of 18.

The students argued their points on why J.L. should or shouldn't be charged.

The mock public defender said her client was picked out by an
anonymous caller who only gave a description of J.L. over the phone
and said police had no "probable cause" to arrest the teen.

The mock state prosecutor said if J.L. hadn't been arrested, he might
have been a threat to public safety.

The mock circuit judge ruled in favor of the defense.

But the state prosecutor appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, made
up of the remaining students. Most voted for allowing the search.

In the real life decision, J.L. won the Florida Supreme Court case, Lewis said.

"I was defending J.L., but the state was saying I was wrong. It helps
us understand how the law works," said sophomore Melissa Meadows.

Lewis helped the Fourth Amendment come to life, said Sam Scott, one
of the teachers at the criminal justice academy.

"(Lewis) can bring in a lot of his experiences. He's seen so many
cases. He can give the kids a feeling of how it is to be a judge."

Even though the Bill of Rights was written more than two centuries
ago, it still applies to modern life, Lewis said.

"Man, those guys had some good ideas 200 years ago, huh?" Lewis said.