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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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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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"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, 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] -
“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) -
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: Suppression hearings
HI: Failure to argue PC at suppression hearing was waiver for appeal
Where the defense didn’t argue a lack of probable cause at the suppression hearing, that could not be raised on appeal. State v. Arbogast, 2025 Haw. App. LEXIS 617 (Dec. 23, 2025) (unpublished).* Defendant’s stop was reasonable and his spontaneous … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: Easily entered iPhone moots how passcode was obtained
Even if the passcode was obtained unreasonably, this iPhone would have been gotten into anyway. The officer had done it before on these earlier models, and that’s inevitable discovery. United States v. Fassero, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 265273 (C.D. Ill. … Continue reading
D.P.R.: No suppression hearing required when there’s no factual dispute
You don’t get a hearing on a motion to suppress without showing a factual dispute to be resolved. United States v. Figueroa-Figueroa, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218467 (D.P.R. Nov. 4, 2025). “A claim that a law enforcement official used excessive … Continue reading
CA1: Video of SW execution sufficiently authenticated for trial
The video of execution of the search warrant was sufficiently authenticated to be admissible at trial despite coming in through a witness other than the one who took it. United States v. Reyes-Rosario, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 16316 (1st Cir. … Continue reading
CO: Incorporation of SW affidavit saves warrant from lack of particularity
“[T]he warrant in this case authorized collection of location data and certain message content surrounding the crimes. While the warrant could have been more particular by limiting each category using the language ‘related to the crimes,’ the warrant’s incorporation of … Continue reading
D.Alaska: Recklessly omitted text messages were material to PC finding; suppression granted
Omitted text messages were material to the probable cause finding, and the officer was at least reckless in not including them. Franks satisfied: “Therefore, the Court agrees with Judge Scoble’s reasoning, adopts his analysis, and finds that, had Detective Ruble … Continue reading
VA: Suppression in a potential criminal case not a civil court remedy
Plaintiff has a turkey hunting plot of land with 100 no trespassing signs around it. Virginia wildlife officers entered the land, found trail cameras and seized them to look at the pictures. Plaintiff sued under the state constitution and statute. … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Multiple counts of things seized under SW not severed
In a motion to sever counts for trial, it was significant that the stuff was seized under the same search warrant. United States v. Lewis, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217086 (D.D.C. Dec. 2, 2024). There was probable cause and nexus … Continue reading
CA8: Pro se def’s standby counsel not ineffective at suppression hearing; not counsel’s role
Defendant chose to go pro se at the suppression hearing, grudgingly accepting standby counsel. After the motion to suppress was denied, he claimed ineffective assistance by standby counsel for not doing more. But that’s not standby counsel’s role. United States … Continue reading
NM: Trial courts can raise search issues on their own
A trial judge in New Mexico noticed that there were an unusual number of suspect warrantless searches going unchallenged by the defense. She set suppression hearings and several cases were nolle prossed. A few survived to be heard. On certification … Continue reading
NY1: Failure to controvert any facts or make an argument justifies denying suppression hearing
“Although the felony complaint, indictment, voluntary disclosure form, arraignment transcript, and search warrant affidavit disclosed to defendant provided him with ‘detailed information about the sequence of events leading up to his arrest’ …, he failed to controvert the specific information … Continue reading
LA5: SW support was thin, but def didn’t carry burden to overcome presumption of validity
Here the affidavit had a gratuitous statement that there were federal wiretaps, but they didn’t involve defendant. Still, it made it into the affidavit for warrant along with identification information. There were also observations of him going into suspect premises. … Continue reading
DE: Def counsel’s failure to challenge PC and particularity in cell phone search warrants post-conviction relief
Defendant sufficiently stated grounds for ineffective assistance of counsel from defense counsel’s failure to challenge the search warrant for lack of probable cause and particularity. “Postconviction relief due to ineffectiveness of counsel must be granted in circumstances where the Court … Continue reading
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
Officers seized a cell phone from Thorne, a suspected narcotics and firearms trafficker. In a search under a warrant, the officers found out the phone actually belonged to defendant. Warrants are directed at things, and that didn’t require them to … Continue reading
OH5: A replevin action can’t be used to suppress evidence seized by SW
A replevin action can’t be used to suppress evidence seized by search warrant. Glass v. Del. Cty. Sheriff’s Office, 2024-Ohio-1301, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 1235 (5th Dist. Apr. 4, 2024). Defendant fails his Franks burden, and the warrant wasn’t stale. … Continue reading
NC: Lack of findings for denial of motion to suppress precludes review; remanded
After a suppression hearing, the trial court orally denied the motion to suppress after hearing conflicting evidence. The state was to prepare findings and didn’t. After defendant was convicted on that evidence, there was nothing for the appeal. Remanded for … Continue reading
PA: PO could send parolee’s GPS tracking to CID
Defendant was on parole for armed robbery, wearing a GPS tracker. It was reasonable for parole to send his tracking information to a detective investigating him for another robbery. Commonwealth v. Rosendary, 2024 PA Super 51, 2024 Pa. Super. LEXIS … Continue reading
IL: A detention hearing right after arrest is not the place for a suppression hearing
A detention hearing right after arrest is not the place for a suppression hearing. Thus, the detention hearing court did not err in not considering Fourth Amendment issues. People v. Parker, 2024 IL App (1st) 232164, 2024 Ill. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def showed enough to reopen his suppression hearing which is usually frowned on
Defendant’s motion to reopen his suppression hearing is granted. “To resolve Defendant’s motion, the Court must determine whether Defendant has provided a sufficient explanation for failing to present at the suppression hearing the evidence that Defendant now wishes to introduce. … Continue reading