Joshua Polk, then a student at Whetstone High in Columbus, left his book bag on the school bus. An initial search of the bag pursuant to an unwritten school policy didn’t turn up anything but papers identifying Polk as the owner of the bag, but a later, more thorough search in the principal’s office turned up bullets. This caused school officials and a police officer to find Polk, and search the bag he was carrying at the time, which contained a hand gun. Polk was charged with a felony count of possessing a firearm in a school safety zone.

Polk filed a motion to suppress the bullets and the gun, which the trial court granted and the appeals court upheld in a split decision.  But in a unanimous opinion written by Justice Kennedy, on May 11, 2017, the Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the propriety of both searches of the book bag. The court of appeals decision was reversed, and the matter remanded. Read an analysis of the merit decision here.

On March 8, 2018, Polk, who had served ten days in jail for this offense, pled guilty to the stipulated lesser included offense of attempted illegal conveyance or possession of a deadly weapon in a school safety zone, a first degree misdemeanor.

Franklin County Court of Common Pleas Judge Chris Brown sentenced Polk to ten days, credited Polk with time served, ordered the weapon confiscated and destroyed, and closed the case.