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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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Category Archives: Good faith exception
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
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
FL5: Dog alert on MJ before case law said it wasn’t PC anymore was in good faith
Newer cases hold that a drug dog can’t differentiate between legal and illegal marijuana, so a dog alert doesn’t provide probable cause. Where the dog sniff occurred before that holding, however, it was reasonable under the good faith exception. Ford … Continue reading
ME: Standing is a threshold issue, and court could examine it despite the state’s stipulation
Despite the state stipulating to standing, it’s a threshold issue and the court finds no standing here. Defendant was a passenger in a car and kept some stuff in it, but he still lacked standing to contest this search. State … Continue reading
D.Mass.: 17-day delay between seizure and SW was reasonable
“[T]he government’s seventeen-day delay between the warrantless seizure of Thompson’s property and the issuance of the search warrants was reasonable. The first factor favors the government because seventeen days—eleven of which were business days—is relatively short and far shorter than … Continue reading
OH10: Suicidal domestic call followed by ShotSpotter alert was RS
Police had a call about a domestic situation with a suicidal man with a gun. Shortly thereafter, there was a ShotSpotter alert of 20 gunshots from a house nearby. Officers arrived and patted down those found there. This is substantially … Continue reading
AR: LA judge could issue SW for LA medical records for AR crime
After an accident in South Arkansas, defendant was airlifted to a hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana. A search warrant in Louisiana was issued for his medical records. There was no requirement that an Arkansas judge issue a warrant first, just so … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: PC and nexus to cell phone shown by drug deal arranged on an app
Probable cause and a nexus to defendant’s phone was shown because of arranging drug transactions through its apps. United States v. Hughes, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219482 (E.D. Mich. Dec. 4, 2024). Probable cause didn’t have to be decided because … Continue reading
CA9: Arrest on mistaken warrant was objectively reasonable
Defendant’s arrest on a mistaken warrant was still objectively reasonable. The officer did all he could to verify defendant was the right guy. United States v. Nomee, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 30533 (9th Cir. Dec. 4, 2024):
IL: Arrest on recalled AW not suppressed where officers checked and rechecked it
Officers checked a law enforcement database and found an arrest warrant on defendant. They rechecked. Afterward, it turned out the warrant had been recalled but was still in the system due to a clerical error. The court will not suppress … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Def succeeds in a Franks challenge
Something we don’t see hardly ever: The omitted information was material to probable cause and the affiant omitted it thinking it didn’t matter. But it did. And the good faith exception doesn’t apply here. United States v. Pettigrew, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
D.S.D.: SW for 11 years of iCloud lacked all particularity and GFE didn’t save it
The warrant here authorized search of defendant’s iCloud account for 11 years worth of information despite the probable cause being limited to one event in 2022. The warrant was based on a template that authorized search of the entire account, … Continue reading
CA9: Inevitable discovery doesn’t apply when it’s speculative
The good faith exception doesn’t apply where binding appellate precedence doesn’t specifically authorize the officer’s actions. And, as to inevitable discovery of defendant’s cell phone seizure, it was found speculative because he happened to be at the scene and they … Continue reading
CA3: Handcuffed detainee can still be frisked with RS
Just because a detainee is handcuffed, the potential threat hasn’t abated, and a frisk can occur. United States v. Jackson, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 28229 (3d Cir. Nov. 6, 2024). The affidavit for the warrant for defendant’s home was based … Continue reading
IN: Search of passenger’s bag in car before handing it over so he could leave was reasonable when there was PC as to the car
After a traffic stop of a rental vehicle produced a marijuana smell, the driver and passenger were detained. The passenger was shortly let go and asked for his bag from the car. The officer’s search of the bag before handing … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Def counsel’s failure to object to GFE in R&R not IAC where it couldn’t win anyway
The R&R also decided the good faith exception applied to this search, but defense counsel didn’t object. It’s a meritless issue, so defense counsel can’t be ineffective for not objecting. United States v. Harp, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194730 (W.D. … Continue reading
CA6: Shooting at officers executing SW justified 6 level USSG increase
Shooting at SWAT officers executing a warrant justified a 6 level Sentencing Guideline enhancement. United States v. Weaver, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 27036 (6th Cir. Oct. 24, 2024). The affidavit for warrant describing two CI’s buys from defendant at his … Continue reading
CA6: Cell phone SW affidavit relying on officer’s experience was sufficient on GFE, even if PC was lacking
Defendant was a suspect in robberies, and when he was arrested, there was a cell phone at his feet. There was no direct link to the cell phone and the robberies. The affidavit relied on the officer’s experience [of course] … Continue reading
CA11: CI’s veracity wasn’t really specific enough, but it was still enough for the GFE to apply
“Second, the affidavit establishes the informant’s veracity. … But the statements about the informant’s reliability, while lacking specificity, are at the very least ‘indicia of probable cause.’ Whether or not probable cause existed, this warrant (though inartfully drafted) presents enough … Continue reading