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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
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© 2003-20,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. 25k posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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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)
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)
ACLU on privacy
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Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: Probable cause
NC: Obtaining blood sample by court order without PC or even RS suppressed
Blood draw evidence should have been suppressed because the order obtaining it was based on no showing of probable cause or even reasonable suspicion. Second degree murder conviction reversed. State v. Scott, 2020 N.C. App. LEXIS 69 (Jan. 21, 2020):
OH12: Not challenging reliability of drug dog not IAC without showing result would change
Defendant doesn’t show that the outcome would be different if defense counsel had challenged the certification and reliability of the drug dog. State v. Wash, 2020-Ohio-152, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 131 (12th Dist. Jan. 21, 2020). “Accordingly, the court finds … Continue reading
LA4: Lack of apt no. in SW wasn’t inspecific where officers were directed to his door
The search warrant for defendant’s apartment didn’t have the apartment number, but the warrant was specific and directed the officers to his door. That was constitutionally adequate. State v. Gilmartin, 2020 La. App. LEXIS 118 (La. App. 4 Cir. Jan. … Continue reading
The Center Square: Illinois Supreme Court could decide if smell of marijuana is enough to justify police search
The Center Square: Illinois Supreme Court could decide if smell of marijuana is enough to justify police search by Greg Bishop:
OH6: 3 controlled buys by 2 CIs was PC; no requirement of showing how they were arranged to happen
Three controlled buys by two CIs was probable cause. There was no showing required of how the drug deals were to be arranged. State v. Reed, 2020-Ohio-138, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 107 (6th Dist. Jan. 17, 2020).* There was probable … Continue reading
VA: Search of speeder’s purse violated Gant and denied sovereign immunity
Plaintiff was arrested and in handcuffs in a police car for speeding. The officer searched her purse in the car, and all this was post-Gant and no evidence of speeding would be found in the purse. This was beyond mere … Continue reading
CA8: Officer’s training and experience not needed in SW affidavit if it shows PC
The facts in the affidavit for images on defendant’s cell phone were enough for probable cause. The officer did not have to detail his training and experience in sex assault cases, too. The alleged Franks violation, even if it was, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The unusually talkative have no special right to be Mirandized
“Because the officers knew that he had a tendency to talk about the case, Williams-Bey argues, Officer Roddy should have given him his Miranda warnings, rather than entertaining his question. Again, Williams-Bey provides no legal authority to support this contention.” … Continue reading
AL applies GFE to CSLI 2½ years before Carpenter
CSLI obtained by court order, but without showing probable cause, nearly three years before Carpenter was all in good faith. Watson v. State, 2020 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4 (Jan. 10, 2020). Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim against counsel … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Multiple cell phones in car in a cross-country drug run was PC to search the phones
Multiple cell phones in the car in a cross-country drug transportation enterprise was probable cause for searching the phones with a search warrant. “The Court finds that these facts, considered in the totality of the circumstances, provided the issuing magistrate … Continue reading
injusticewatch.org: Illinois Supreme Court to decide whether smell of pot is grounds to search a car
injusticewatch.org: Illinois Supreme Court to decide whether smell of pot is grounds to search a car by John Seasly (“With marijuana now legal in Illinois, the state high court heard arguments Tuesday on whether the smell of marijuana grants police … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def’s motion to join codef’s motion to suppress requires showing of REP in joinder motion
Defendant’s motion to join a codefendant’s motion to suppress requires a showing of his reasonable expectation of privacy in the joinder motion. United States v. Palafox, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3698 (D. Nev. Jan. 7, 2020). “[T]he affidavit includes facts … Continue reading
