Archives
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Recent Posts
- LATimes: Ex-L.A. County sheriff’s deputy gets prison time for using search warrant for a private client
- Privacy Daily: Chatrie’s Clarification to Fourth Amendment a Win for Privacy, Experts Say
- D.Alaska: Def’s half hour detention was without RS
- CA9: When the PC for SW dissipates, the search must stop; no GFE
- C.D.Cal.: SW for all software in gambling case was overbroad and no GFE
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
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“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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Burden of pleading
AR: SW for evidence linking to a homicide in another county found clothes worn seen in video
In a homicide investigation, officers showed probable cause for defendant’s house for evidence of the murder where the victim was abducted, driven 75 miles, and her body dumped in another county. Defendant was on video surveillance where the abduction occurred, … Continue reading
CA9: Private searcher mimicking her computer search for police was reasonable
Defendant’s former girlfriend found child pornography on his computer. She took the computer to the Reno sheriff’s office, and the police there had her show them what she did and go no farther. This was admitted by the government to … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: RS still existed on I-85 after apparent hand-to-hand transaction in front of stash house
Defendant’s doing a hand-to-hand transaction from a car in front of a stash house was still reasonable suspicion when the officers caught up with him on I-85 after a license plate reader found the car after they lost sight of … Continue reading
TX4: No REP in totaled car at the wrecker yard
Defendant totaled his car in an accident. The black box evidence was sought by warrant, but the court holds that defendant effectively abandoned the car to the wrecking yard. Vitela v. State, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 2759 (Tex. App. – … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Empty sandwich bag in car not subject to plain view; incriminating nature not immediately apparent
The government failed to establish reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop on an anonymous tip where nothing of substance was furnished contrary to Navarette. Moreover, it wasn’t immediately apparent an empty sandwich bag in the car was incriminating for plain view. … Continue reading
NM: Motion to suppress checkpoint stop too general to put state on notice
“We conclude Defendant’s motion was insufficiently particular to alert the metropolitan court or State that the grounds for suppressing evidence related to the checkpoint’s illegality.” “Defendant’s motion, rather, was based upon the State lacking reasonable suspicion to detain Defendant. The … Continue reading
D.C.Cir.: Admin. law: 4A claims must be brought at agency level first
In an action before the Board for Correction of Naval Records, the service member had to raise his Fourth Amendment claim before the agency or it is waived, which is what happened here. McPherson v. Del Toro, Sec’y of the … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Video of def and cell phone at scene of crime is PC for phone
Defendant with his cell phone in hand was at the scene of a shooting as shown by surveillance video. That’s probable cause for the phone. United States v. King, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53647 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 24, 2022). When the … Continue reading
Not being candid about the SW or affidavit in the motion to suppress isn’t good for the defense
“Moreover, even if Defendant is correct that SAPD lacked probable cause to search his vehicle, a motion to suppress is unlikely to succeed. Defendant focuses on one paragraph of the search warrant affidavits and ignores the other four paragraphs detailing … Continue reading
CA4: If you’re going to call the search “egregious,” at least cite a case
“Dr. Dong next asserts, without citation to case law, that ‘[e]gregious procedural deficiencies in the investigation, prosecution, trial and sentencing’ occurred such that his convictions and sentence must be reversed. Opening Br. 18. He first points to alleged deficiencies in … Continue reading
OH3: Where PC exists as to a car, use of a drug dog before the physical search not unreasonable
Once the officer smells marijuana, it violates no law to use a drug dog first rather than just proceeding to search the car. State v. Jones, 2022-Ohio-561, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 487 (3d Dist. Feb. 18, 2022). (The less intrusive … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: A reasonably conducted eviction is not a 4A violation
“Most eviction-type seizures do not violate the Fourth Amendment. Thomas v. Cohen, 304 F.3d 563, 574 (6th Cir. 2002) (citing Soldal v. Cook County, 506 U.S. 56, 71, 113 S. Ct. 538, 121 L. Ed. 2d 450 (1992)). Seizing an … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: A “network of pole cameras” doesn’t violate 4A
Five pole cameras were trained on defendant’s house. A “network of pole cameras” isn’t a Fourth Amendment violation. See United States v. Tuggle, 4 F.4th 505 (7th Cir. 2021). Moreover, he does not rebut the presumption of good faith with … Continue reading
OH4: That stop was with RS isn’t arguing that it was continued with RS, and that’s waiver
Defendant started with the argument that the stop lacked reasonable suspicion, but he did not argue that the stop was continued with reasonable suspicion until the appeal. Failure to raise it that way in the trial court was waiver. State … Continue reading
CA11: Failure to plead facts of standing or REP requires denial of motion to suppress
“If a defendant fails to plead sufficient facts to show a reasonable expectation of privacy, ‘a trial court may refuse a defendant’s request for a suppression hearing’ and deny his motion to suppress.” United States v. Robinson, 2022 U.S. App. … Continue reading
CA9: Govt “tucked” independent source argument into another and then abandoned it for years; not fully developed
The government’s independent source argument was (1) tucked into another argument and then not fully developed, and (2) then essentially abandoned for years during the litigation. It was not fully developed. United States v. Osborne, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 2682 … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: The state used Google satellite images to corroborate officer’s testimony of stop
The government used Google satellite images and distancing to corroborate the officer’s testimony defendant didn’t signal his turn in time. After the stop, the smell of marijuana was apparent. United States v. Miles, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14860 (S.D.Ind. Jan. … Continue reading
OH2: Police car blocking def’s car in a parking lot was a seizure without RS
“We conclude that a police officer’s act of positioning the cruiser in a way that made it difficult, albeit not impossible, for Jones to drive away constituted a show of authority sufficient to cause a reasonable person in Jones’ position … Continue reading
CA1: Def preserved Rodriguez argument without citing it
Defendant preserved his Rodriguez argument by stating that the stop was continued without reasonable suspicion but not citing the case. Nevertheless, he loses on the merits. United States v. Reyes, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 1417 (1st Cir. Jan. 19, 2022). … Continue reading
DE: Mere citation of a case in motion to suppress didn’t put state and court on notice as to other issues
Defendant’s citation of a case in his motion to suppress that was on point to only one issue but not the others was insufficient to put the state and court on notice as to the others. State v. Hollar, 2021 … Continue reading