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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
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© 2003-18,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. 25k posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
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S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Burden of pleading
CA3: Def’s trespass argument of using key to find door was interesting, but waived
Defendant raises an interesting argument, but it’s raised for the first time on appeal and thus waived: “Wheeler next argues that under the trespass theory of the Fourth Amendment articulated in United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012) and … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Unaccounted for gun and likely presence of another inside was exigency for entry to look for it
Defendant was arrested outside his house, and a firearm expected to be on him was not found during his search incident. There was expected to be another person in the house, and that, coupled with the unaccounted for gun, was … Continue reading
CA7: “This is a hornbook example of how to waive an argument on appeal.”
“This is a hornbook example of how to waive an argument on appeal.” The search issue presented on appeal was never presented to the trial court. “[P]arties cannot conjure up brand new legal theories on appeal like this. Failing to … Continue reading
CA9: Claim that SW was defective on face wasn’t preserved in district court
The specific argument the search warrant was defective on its face wasn’t encompassed within the motion to suppress, so it’s waived for appeal. United States v. Robinson, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 14097 (9th Cir. May 29, 2018). The basis of … Continue reading
OR: Def adequately pled 4A and argued substance to preserve issue for appeal
Defendant preserved her Fourth Amendment claim by citing it in the motion and by arguing at the hearing the stop was impermissibly extended. “Although the question is close, we agree with defendant that her Fourth Amendment argument is adequately preserved … Continue reading
CA10: A verbal judicial order to enter a house to take a child into custody is the equivalent of a warrant
A verbal judicial order to enter a house to take a child into custody is the equivalent of a warrant. Duran v. Muse, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 11481 (10th Cir. May 3, 2018). Motion to suppress was untimely and denied … Continue reading
NY4: Def’s actions supported PC for a body SW
Officers executing a search warrant saw defendant acting like he had something hidden in the back of his pants. Defendant’s squirming and clenching his butt strongly suggested to the officer that he had drugs hidden in his rectum. The search … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: “Affidavit of personal knowledge” to show standing isn’t satisfied by the officer’s police reports
The Second Circuit requires an affidavit of personal knowledge to establish standing to contest a search. The officer’s report wasn’t enough just because the officer believed that defendant’s residence was the target of the search. United States v. Lewis, 2018 … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: A motion for new trial is too late to raise new grounds to suppress
Defendant litigated a motion to suppress and lost. In a motion for new trial, he raised new grounds, and this is rejected as untimely. United States v. Bishop, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57353 (N.D. Ind. Apr. 4, 2018). Defendant’s stop … Continue reading
MS: “Catch all” phrase in SW that permitted seizure of that which was found in plain view was merely a restatement of the plain view doctrine
A “catch all” phrase that permitted seizure of that which was found in the course of a valid search was merely a restatement of the plain view doctrine, and that doesn’t justify suppression. Defendant’s other scope of search claim was … Continue reading
OK: Plain error review of SW fails for lack of a record
Defendant didn’t challenge the search warrant for his DNA in the trial court, so the issue is addressed on plain error. Since the search warrant and affidavit in support aren’t in the record, defendant fails in bringing up a record … Continue reading
IA: IAC Franks claim was speculative; def claims no facts at all
Defendant filed an ineffective assistance of counsel claim alleging that if defense counsel had investigated the officer’s allegations he’d have found a Franks challenge. This was purely speculative because not a word was provided about what such an investigation would … Continue reading
