ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla. — An attorney, representing an Altamonte Springs teenager accused of plotting to kill a classmate, wants evidence against his client ruled inadmissible.
Attorney Edward Lopez, who represents Isabelle Valdez, filed a 12-page Motion to Suppress Evidence in the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit Court in Seminole County earlier this week. He said the evidence should never have been used in this case.
“Ms. Valdez has standing in this matter under the plain language of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution… as well as the Florida Constitution, as Ms. Valdez was illegally seized, searched, and questioned,” Lopez writes. “Since law enforcement illegally seized, searched, and arrested Ms. Valdez, Ms. Valdez has statutory standing under Florida Statutes … to suppress the evidence police obtained unlawfully.”
When reached for comment, Lopez said he had nothing to say until a hearing for his client is scheduled.
“We see it in schools all the time,” said Jose Rivas, a defense attorney who is not involved with the case. “Teenagers are being questioned without the presence of their parents, you know, they’re giving up the rights. What they’re saying is that, law enforcement cannot avoid reading the rights simply by substituting the questioning or doing the questioning through a school of official.“
Valdez is accused of plotting with her friend Lois Lippert to kill a classmate. Prosecutors said the two girls joked about their plans and even laughed about it in the backseat of the police car after their arrests.
Authorities said investigators acted on a tip and stopped the girls before they could carry out their plans. A knife and an apology note were recovered from Valdez’s backpack.
It’s unclear whether Lippert’s attorney filed a similar motion.
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