Opinion
No. CAF 08-01335.
December 31, 2008.
Appeal from an order of the Family Court, Erie County (Paul G. Buchanan, J.), entered May 1, 2008 in a proceeding pursuant to Family Court Act article 3. The order, among other things, adjudged that respondent is a juvenile delinquent.
DAVID C. SCHOPP, LAW GUARDIAN, THE LEGAL AID BUREAU OF BUFFALO, INC., BUFFALO (CHARLES D. HALVORSEN OF COUNSEL), FOR Respondent-Appellant.
CHERYL A. GREEN, COUNTY ATTORNEY, BUFFALO (MICHAEL J. LISZEWSKI OF COUNSEL), FOR PETITIONER-Respondent.
Before: Martoche, J.P., Smith, Centra, Green and Pine, JJ.
It is hereby ordered that the order so appealed from is unanimously affirmed without costs.
Memorandum: Respondent appeals from an order adjudicating him to be a juvenile delinquent based on the finding that he committed the crime of unlawful possession of weapons by persons under 16 (Penal Law § 265.05). That statute expressly provides that "[a] person who violates the provisions of [section 265.05] shall be adjudged a juvenile delinquent." Respondent contends that Family Court erred in refusing to suppress the gun without conducting a hearing because he was illegally searched by the school principal. We reject that contention. A suppression hearing was unnecessary inasmuch as respondent's "allegations on their face `did not lay out a factual scenario which, if credited, would have warranted suppression'" ( Matter of Elvin G., 47 AD3d 527, 527, quoting People v Coleman, 82 NY2d 415, 432). According to respondent, the principal confronted him based on information from another student that respondent was in possession of a gun in his book bag. "Under ordinary circumstances, a search of a student by a . . . school official will be `justified at its inception' when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating . . . the law" ( New Jersey v T. L. O., 469 US 325, 341-342) and, here, respondent "did not present a legal basis upon which to challenge the [principal's] conduct" ( Elvin G., 47 AD3d at 527-528).