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Recent Posts
- CA5: Even if parole search was to aid criminal investigation, it was still reasonable
- IN: Cell phone linked to murder by TM sent before; PC for search
- C.D.Cal.: Inquiry into actions of others besides the officers involved in search is a new Bivens claim and barred
- D.Minn.: Regular CI had “extensive knowledge of street gangs, firearms, and narcotics distribution”; there was PC
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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,
citations, and links -
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (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) -
“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: Reasonable expectation of privacy
E.D.Mo.: Strip search of civilly committed patient refusing pat search was reasonable and with QI
Plaintiff was strip searched when civilly committed when she refused to permit a pat search. “Considering all the circumstances described in Plaintiff’s Complaint, the search Plaintiff underwent, though surely unpleasant, was not unreasonable. “But even if the Court concluded the … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: No REP in tent where def was trespassing
Where defendant was staying in a tent on TXDOT property with no trespassing signs, he had no reasonable expectation of privacy when an officer opened the tent flap and saw marijuana and a gun. He was a felon in possession. … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Ptfs state claim that City of Green Bay’s installation of listening devices in public hallways likely violates the 4A
The City of Green Bay installed listening devices in public hallways of City Hall to monitor all conversations there for security purposes. When they found out, plaintiffs sued claiming a reasonable expectation of privacy in conversations conducted in such a … Continue reading
WV: Police looking at the exterior of defendant’s car was not a search and violated no REP
Police looking at the exterior of defendant’s car was not a search and violated no reasonable expectation of privacy. State v. Estep, 2024 W. Va. LEXIS 92 (Feb. 20, 2024).* The trial court granted a Franks motion, but the state … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Shed on curtilage shown on Google satellite image attached to affidavit was properly searched although not specified in SW
A shed by the house was properly searched under a warrant for the house. “As a general rule, a supporting affidavit or document may be read together with (and considered a part of) a warrant that otherwise lacks sufficient particularity … Continue reading
DE: Def can’t show vindictive prosecution to get names of those who allegedly provided false information to police for SW of public records
In a case involving a public official accused of misappropriating funds, there was a search warrant for office records. She claimed she was entitled to the names of those who might have provided false information to investigators for the warrant … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Boilerplate in affidavit doesn’t matter if the critical facts show PC
Boilerplate information in the affidavit for warrant doesn’t matter as long as the critical facts show probable cause, and here they did. There were five facts supporting probable cause. United States v. Morton, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7580 (W.D. Ky. … Continue reading
NY4: No standing in search of a common basement storage area “not associated with his apartment”
Defendant showed no standing to contest a search of a common basement storage area, “not associated with his apartment.” People v. Ocasio, 2023 NY Slip Op 06623, 2023 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6727 (4th Dept. Dec. 22, 2023). Even if … Continue reading
OH8: State showed need for evidence for further investigation after indictment dismissed without prejudice so no return
Evidence was seized, including a cell phone, and defendant was charged with a violent crime. As the case progressed to trial, the state moved to dismiss without prejudice so it could investigate further. Defendant sought return of the evidence. On … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: No REP against being tracked by bait bill tracker from bank robbery
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy to not be tracked by a device planted in bait bills taken in a bank robbery. United States v. Day, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 226779 (W.D. N.C. Nov. 6, 2023), adopted 2023 U.S. … Continue reading
GA: A court order for medical records by statute requires PC
There is a statutory privacy interest in one’s medical records, and an “appropriate court order” is required for the government to access them in a criminal case. An ex parte order not shown to be based on probable cause is … Continue reading
CA7: Surveillance cameras covering courthouse lockup toilets are reasonable
The use of surveillance cameras viewing the toilet areas of the Cook County Courthouse lockups are, on balance of the interests involved, reasonable. Alicea v. Cty. of Cook, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 33401 (7th Cir. Dec. 18, 2023):
D.N.M.: Greyhound’s cooperation with the DEA doesn’t give rise to a 4A cause of action against it
Just because Greyhound cooperates with the DEA in Albuquerque doesn’t mean it can be sued there under the Fourth Amendment. Fernandez v. Greyhound Lines, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211564 (D.N.M. Nov. 28, 2023). Homeless in Los Angeles likely had … Continue reading
CA11: Def claims he was talking with a VA clinician, but it was a CI; no REP in conversation
Defendant was ultimately accused of theft of government funds and false statements about his VA benefits. A phone call with an informant was recorded. He claims he thought it was a clinician with whom he had a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: No REP in a computer possessed in a halfway house
Plaintiff had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a computer given him by Goodwill for whom he worked while he was living in a halfway house. He was still an inmate of the BOP. “There is no reasonable or legitimate … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Posting political candidate’s address online violated no REP
A candidate running for office had his address posted online, and this did not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy or Fourth Amendment right. His voter registration address was already online. Sharma v. Hirsch, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202163 (E.D.N.C. … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Overnight guest ordered out no longer had REP
Defendant was an overnight guest, but the homeowner told him to get out and called the police on him because he was tearing the place up. “The Court finds it doubtful that “society is prepared to recognize as reasonable” Starghill’s … Continue reading