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Recent Posts
- IA: Court ordered privilege review of search was at its expense
- D.Kan.: Preservation request under SCA isn’t a search or seizure
- UT: RS on a prior day was not RS for stop on day in question
- CA2: Ptf alleged invasion of privacy for 4A violation, and that’s enough
- MA: Mere denial is not a “substantial preliminary showing” for Franks
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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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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
D.N.M.: Def’s IAC claim was frivolous
Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim, including his Fourth Amendment claim, raised at sentencing was essentially frivolous. Defense counsel negotiated a time served disposition that defendants rejected. The minimum punishment after the guilty verdict was life. The Fourth Amendment claims … Continue reading
Phila. Inquirer: Why did more than 1,000 people in the U.S. die after police subdued them with force that isn’t meant to kill?
Phila. Inquirer: Why did more than 1,000 people in the U.S. die after police subdued them with force that isn’t meant to kill? by Reese Dunklin, Ryan J. Foley, Jeff Martin, Jennifer McDermott, Holbrook Mohr, and John Seewer, Associated Press … Continue reading
NPR: Google to delete search data of millions who used ‘incognito’ mode
NPR: Google to delete search data of millions who used ‘incognito’ mode by Bobby Allyn (“Google will destroy the private browsing history of millions of people who used ‘incognito’ mode in its Chrome browser as a part of a settlement … Continue reading
Reason: Judge Quashes Felony Murder Charges Against Former Houston Cop Whose Lies Led to a Deadly 2019 Drug Raid
Reason: Judge Quashes Felony Murder Charges Against Former Houston Cop Whose Lies Led to a Deadly 2019 Drug Raid by Jacob Sullen (“Gerald Goines’ lawyers argued that the indictment did not adequately specify the underlying felony of tampering with a … Continue reading
MN: The state const. doesn’t bar geofence warrants, and this one was issued with PC under 4A and state constitution
Syllabus: “Geofence warrants, which authorize law enforcement to obtain location-history data of cellular devices that were within a defined area during a specified time frame, are not categorically prohibited by the United States and Minnesota Constitutions as general warrants, but … Continue reading
ID: Stop based on alleged unconstitutional regulations was in good faith and not suppressed
A traffic stop based on allegedly unconstitutional regulations was still reasonable. The officer did nothing wrong. State v. Van Zanten, 2024 Ida. LEXIS 34 (Apr. 1, 2024):
CA9: Inventory of backpack before handing it to released defendant was reasonable and within policy
Defendant’s backpack was lawfully inventory searched by the police before returning it to him after he’d been released. They substantially complied with policy. United States v. Sapalasan, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 7580 (9th Cir. Apr. 1, 2024) (2-1). A motion … Continue reading
Three on post-conviction and defaulted 4A claims
“Defendant has procedurally defaulted on this claim by never filing a motion to suppress the evidence, but instead pleading guilty. Moreover, a Fourth Amendment claim such as this one is not cognizable on a § 2255 motion. Stone v. Powell, … Continue reading
NV: The state’s ability to seize a cell phone with exigency doesn’t include the power to search it
The ability to seize a cell phone with exigent circumstances doesn’t include the state’s ability to search it without a warrant. Smith v. State, 2024 Nev. LEXIS 14 (Mar. 28, 2024). Defendant wasn’t seized when the officer first approached him. … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Telling def to “chill out” not a seizure
“Officer Jones never made such a show of authority; he simply told Hagan, while in uniform and in a ‘conversational tone,’ to ‘chill out.’ … Jones neither told Hagan to stop nor asked him any questions. An approach by a … Continue reading
OSHA final rule permits representatives of company on walk through inspections
AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.ACTION: Final rule. [Effective 60 days after publication in Federal Register]SUMMARY: In this final rule, OSHA is amending its Representatives of Employers and Employees [i.e., union reps] regulation to clarify that the representative(s) … Continue reading
IL and DWB, driving while black
There was no lawful basis for defendant’s stop – it was a case of DWB, driving while black, something that needs to be confronted. Reversed. People v. Carpenter, 2024 IL App (1st) 220970, 2024 Ill. App. LEXIS 749 (Mar. 29, … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Nexus can be shown by inference
There was probable cause as to defendant’s house, with nexus a strong inference: “Here, the officers, applying their training and experience to the facts before them, reasonably inferred that Mitchell was a drug dealer and was carrying drugs and other … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Hidden compartment could be searched under automobile exception
Under the automobile exception, a search of a compartment underneath the dashboard paneling was reasonable. United States v. Payton, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57065 (D. Minn. Mar. 29, 2024).* The search issues on appeal weren’t the issues in the trial … Continue reading
CA6: It’s clearly established that RS or PC required for a traffic stop
It was clearly established at the time that reasonable suspicion or probable cause was required for a traffic stop. Fact issues remain, so no qualified immunity. King v. City of Rockford, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 7327 (6th Cir. Mar. 28, … Continue reading
CA8: Police placed a hidden camera across from def’s apt door and used information from it in showing PC for SW; there was PC without it
“Darron Mayo appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a hidden camera police officers placed across from his apartment door. Officers used some of the evidence obtained from the camera in a probable cause affidavit supporting … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Seizure of def’s cell phone in South Africa by their police does not “shock the conscience” or show virtual agency
“The court must first begin with a discussion of the initial seizure of Chang’s cellphone by South African authorities on December 29, 2018. Under the ‘international silver platter doctrine,’ the U.S. can generally receive evidence obtained by foreign authorities with … Continue reading