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- ABA CJ: Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment
- M.D.Fla.: Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing
- CA3: Conviction for threats by internet justified supervised release condition of computer monitoring
- D.Ariz.: USPO can turn phone seized in supervised release over to FBI
- Reason: “the Supreme Court’s oral argument yesterday in Barnes v. Felix will be noteworthy.”
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting) -
“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Author Archives: Hall
ABA CJ: Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment
Dominic A. Weiss, Predictive Policing Algorithms and the Fourth Amendment, ABA Criminal Justice 15 (Winter 2025) Leveraging Predictive Policing Algorithms to Restore Fourth Amendment Protections in High-Crime Areas in a Post-Wardlow World by Kelly Koss. Abstract:
M.D.Fla.: Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing
Denying knowledge of the car involved was a lack of standing. United States v. Powers, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 237574 (M.D. Fla. Dec. 18, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8322 (M.D. Fla. Jan. 16, 2025). “The totality of the … Continue reading
CA3: Conviction for threats by internet justified supervised release condition of computer monitoring
Where defendant was convicted of making threats over the internet to a Congressman, a two year computer monitoring condition was reasonable and did not violate the First and Fourth Amendment. United States v. Hall, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1109 (3d … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: USPO can turn phone seized in supervised release over to FBI
It was not improper for the PO to turn defendant’s phone over to the FBI to search it when it was already lawfully seized. “This is not a stalking horse case.” The delay was not unreasonable. United States v. Fuller, … Continue reading
Reason: “the Supreme Court’s oral argument yesterday in Barnes v. Felix will be noteworthy.”
Reason: Prof. Robert Leider on the arguments in Barnes v. Felix by Will Baude: Professor Robert Leider, who writes in both constitutional law and criminal law, passed along these comments on the Supreme Court’s recent oral argument in an excessive … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: “Imprint” of a gun in the pocket can be RS def is carrying
The “imprint” of a gun in the pocket can be reasonable suspicion defendant is carrying. United States v. Morris, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8729 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 16, 2025). Defendant is charged with six Hobbs Act robberies. His vehicle was … Continue reading
D.R.I.: Motion in limine about SW is denied; govt can refer to search in trial
Defendant’s motion in limine about whether a search warrant was utilized is denied. The government can refer incidentally to the search. United States v. Djan, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285 (D.R.I. Jan. 10, 2025). Officers had reasonable suspicion for the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Applying the Sixth Circuit’s “drug dealer inference,” PC exists for the SW for def’s house
Applying the “drug dealer inference” for nexus, the court finds probable cause to believe defendant was dealing drugs from his house to support the search warrant. United States v. Evans, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8686 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 16, 2025):
NY3: Inventory didn’t comply with dept. policy and there was no full inventory
Defendant’s traffic stop was valid, but the state failed to show the impoundment complied with departmental policies. There was no evidence the vehicle was unsecured or unsafe if left at the scene. The inventory search failed to follow departmental procedures … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Running criminal history of passenger unreasonably prolonged the stop
The stop was valid, but the stop was unreasonably prolonged without reasonable suspicion when running the criminal history of the passenger. That was not part of the incidents of the traffic stop. The frisk was also unreasonable. Also, “The Court … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The fact a gun wasn’t found in def’s car doesn’t mean there wasn’t PC to search
“Defendant’s flight from law enforcement is, however, not the only basis to support the existence of probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime or contraband would be found in the Jeep. The probable cause to search the Jeep … Continue reading
AR: “[T]he exclusionary rule—absent a showing of bad faith—does not apply in a revocation hearing.”
“[T]he exclusionary rule—absent a showing of bad faith—does not apply in a revocation hearing.” Wallace v. State, 2025 Ark. App. 19 (Jan. 15, 2025). An officer on patrol in a motel parking lot saw defendant’s car. They drove past each … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: The alleged illegality of the later arrest doesn’t undo def’s abandonment in flight
Defendant fled, he said, in fear of his life, not knowing that it was the police. He abandoned property in flight. The fact the later arrest might turn out to be invalid doesn’t undo the abandonment. United States v. Ross, … Continue reading
CA1: Report of a dead body in a house for a day didn’t justify warrantless entry
The police entered defendant’s home on a report of a dead body inside. They knew, however, the person was dead at least a day and likely wasn’t inside the home by then. The emergency exception did not apply. United States … Continue reading
CA1: SW was in good faith where affidavit was accidentally not filed with court
The Postal Inspector here prepared the search warrant affidavit, and the affidavit was to be incorporated with the warrant. The warrant was filed, however, by the USAO without the affidavit attached. The good faith exception applies. The officer did nothing … Continue reading
DE: Instagram SW was narrowly limited by time
Instagram warrants were supported by probable cause showing both that crimes occurred and that evidence would be found in the account, based on the detailed facts in the affidavits. The warrants satisfied the particularity requirement as the date ranges were … Continue reading
CA5: Where place to be searched appeared to be one residence, not two, SW valid
The search warrant was for 8977 Deer Trail Run, but it turned out to be two properties. “From all outward appearances there was only one property, not two. The officers acted in objectively reasonable good faith in relying on the … Continue reading
E.D.Okla.: Search of lawyers and their cars coming into jail did not obstruct access to counsel
Stopping and searching the car and person of defense counsel coming into a USMS jail did not violate defendant’s right to access to counsel. The limitations were all reasonable. United States v. Freeman, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6745 (E.D. Okla. … Continue reading
NY Albany Co.: Unrestrained administrative searches of cannabis stores violates 4A
Petitioners show a likelihood of success on their claim for injunctive relief from unrestrained “administrative inspections,” essentially without boundaries. Super Smoke N Save LLC v. N.Y. State Cannabis Control Bd., 2025 NY Slip Op 25009 (Albany Co. Jan. 13, 2025). … Continue reading