May 2024 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA4: Tracking order using cell site simulator with PC was reasonable
- CADC: When searching a cell phone and officers find it belonged to someone else, a new SW isn’t required; SWs are directed at things, places, and people and owner doesn’t matter for PC
- Seattle Times: US drug control agency will move to reclassify marijuana in a historic shift, AP sources
- D.N.M.: Even if def’s DNA was not obtained by consent, inevitable discovery applies
- E.D.Mo.: PV warrant permitted entry to place where def reasonably suspected to reside
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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,
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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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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
NE: Police don’t have to decide the constitutionality of the laws they enforce
Police officers are not legal scholars, and they don’t have to guess as to the constitutionality of the laws they enforced. They need only act reasonably in reliance on statute or ordinance. State v. Albarenga, 313 Neb. 72 (Dec. 23, … Continue reading
OH: The fact a cell phone was found at the scene of a car crash gives no PC to search it for evidence of distracted driving merely by its presence
The fact a cell phone was found at the scene of a car crash gives no probable cause to search it for evidence of distracted driving merely by its presence. “[*P1] In this appeal, we are asked to decide whether … Continue reading
CA10: State SW issued for DNA in Indian country was still in good faith
A state search warrant for defendant’s DNA for an offense in Indian Country was relied upon in good faith, despite defendant’s contention the warrant was issued by an issuing authority outside the jurisdiction. McGirt doesn’t change this. United States v. … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Merely saying in SW affidavit drug dealers usually keep stuff at home isn’t nexus; but GFE applies anyway
Merely alleging in a search warrant application that drug dealers usually keep drugs at home does not satisfy the nexus requirement. It does, however, satisfy the good faith exception. Motion to suppress denied. United States v. Neal, 2022 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Release condition with firearm restriction and search waiver did not violate 2A or 4A
Defendant’s release condition of a firearm restriction and Fourth Amendment waiver because of a prior misdemeanor firearms conviction doesn’t violate the Second Amendment under New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen (2022). Heller supports the court’s conclusion. … Continue reading
CA9: Private search of CSLI made it admissible in admin proceeding
The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries received information from whistleblowers of cell site location information the defendant business collected to show alleged violations of state law. This was a private search, and Carpenter is not implicated. Kleiser v. … Continue reading
WaPo: Police misused Find My app before raiding 77-year-old’s home, ACLU says
WaPo: Police misused Find My app before raiding 77-year-old’s home, ACLU says by María Luisa Paúl:
D.N.M.: DEA admin. subpoena to doctor’s office for all patient records of 41 was overbroad
A DEA administrative subpoena to a doctor’s office was overbroad where it sought all patient records for 41 patients. The doctor’s objection is sustained. The subpoena needs to be narrower in scope to match that of the investigation. United States … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Positive UA is RS for a search of a probationer’s home
A positive UA is reasonable suspicion for a search of a probationer’s home. United States v. Walker, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209507 (M.D. Fla. Oct. 17, 2022). “To prevail on a Fourth Amendment claim for false arrest, Johnson must establish … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: “Place of residence” for a parole search of an absconder includes a motel room he’s staying in
The “place of residence” for a parole search of an absconder includes a motel room he’s staying in. He also has no standing to challenge a search of a trash can outside the room. United States v. Nichols, 2022 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Franks hearing ordered over officer’s claim of smell of MJ
Defendant gets a Franks hearing even if to rebut the government’s claim the good faith exception applies. The affiant officer claimed there was an “overwhelming” smell of marijuana coming from defendant’s house as they approached for a knock-and-talk, which was … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Govt fails on its burden of proving GFE applies; no witnesses called
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone lacked probable cause for lack of specificity. More importantly, the government failed in its burden of proof to show the good faith exception applies. United States v. Armstrong, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 207602 … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Local officer’s arresting in Indian country prior to McGirt was with good faith
A local officer’s arrest of an Indian in Indian country prior to McGirt was with good faith. United States v. Little, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192907 (N.D. Okla. Oct. 24, 2022). Drug interdiction officers working the Detroit Greyhound station because … Continue reading
Techdirt: Federal Judge Says FBI Misled Magistrate When Seeking Safe Deposit Warrants, OKs Searches Anyway
Techdirt: Federal Judge Says FBI Misled Magistrate When Seeking Safe Deposit Warrants, OKs Searches Anyway by Tim Cushing (“Unfortunately, the federal court handling this case doesn’t think the FBI’s lie matters, at least not in terms of determining probable cause. … Continue reading
OH: Exclusionary rule does not apply to statutory violations, here a parole search
Defendant signed a consent to parole search form, but the statute says it has to be on reasonable grounds. Here, even if the statute was violated, the exclusionary rule applies to constitutional violations, not statutory ones. State v. Campbell, 2022-Ohio-3626, … Continue reading
CT: Entry onto def’s deck was for community caretaking function
The officer’s entry onto defendant’s deck here was of a community caretaking function to inform defendant that a loved one was going to the hospital. It was like a knock-and-talk. State v. Kuehn, 2022 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2075 (Sep. 13, … Continue reading
D.Mass.: 6 mo. old info in a drug SW application was stale, and no GFE
The information in a drug search warrant was six months old. No reasonable officer would believe it showed probable cause, despite a magistrate signing off on it. It is “so lacking” in its showing that the good faith exception does … Continue reading
PR: SW may be for more than one place on a proper showing, except this one clearly lacked PC
The search warrant here was for three separate locations which is not per se unreasonable. However, the probable cause showing was lacking because it was based on mere suspicion that a firearm was in one of three possible places. The … Continue reading