TRI In The News

Burlisons Appeal Ruling in Lawsuit Over Drug Search at Central High

May 07, 2012

From News-Leader

Springfield City Councilman Doug Burlison and his wife, Mellony, have appealed a federal court ruling that Springfield Public Schools and the Greene County Sheriff’s Office didn’t violate students’ Fourth Amendment rights by using trained dogs to sniff for drugs at Central High School.

In an 11-page brief filed in February, the Burlisons alleged an April 22, 2010 was an “unreasonable search and seizure.”

The original lawsuit was filed against the district and sheriff’s office and names Superintendent Norm Ridder, Central High Principal Ron Snodgrass and Sheriff Jim Arnott. The same parties are named in the appeal.

The Burlisons allege the privacy of their son, Connor Mizer, was invaded by the school when the teen was removed from his classroom so a drug detection dog provided by the sheriff’s office could sniff the classroom — and students’ belongings — for illegal drugs such as marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamines.

Nothing illegal was found during the search.

According to the brief, the “lockdown exercise” subjected students to “mass and suspicion-less seizures of their backpacks, cases and other belongings because the students were forcibly separated from their effects. This interference with student property rights was constitutionally meaningful not only because they were dispossessed of their possessions, but also because the students were unable to see their belongings and were unable to determine if even more drastic interferences with their privacy rights took place.”

In late January, U.S. District Judge Richard E. Dorr found in favor of the district and sheriff's office “on all counts.”

In his judgment, Dorr wrote: “The long and short of all of this is that the written policies and procedures of the Greene County Sheriff and the Springfield Public Schools involved in this case appear to be reasonable and not in any way a deprivation of a federal right.”

Attorney Ransom Ellis III said the district maintains that the search was “completely constitutional.”

Ellis, who represents the district, and local attorney John Housley, who represents Arnott, said this week the appeal is still in the briefing process. They are both preparing a response to the appeal.

“They filed their initial petition,” he said. “We’re in the process of putting ours together.”

The Burlisons are represented by local attorney Jason Umbarger and the Rutherford Institute, a nonprofit civil liberties organization based in Virginia.

In January, Arnott and school officials expressed interest in recouping legal expenses to defend the lawsuit. At the time, the district had spent more than $63,000 and the sheriff’s office had spent more than $30,000.

“The decision on whether or not to seek attorney fees has not been made,” Ellis said. “It’s an open issue at this point.”