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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© 2003-19,
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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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
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General (many free):
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Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
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Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Probable cause
Cal.4: Because CA recognizes recreational MJ, possession of a small amount on the person isn’t probable cause to search the car
Because of recreational marijuana in California, hardly any weight can be attached to possession of a small quantity on a person in a car. People v. Lee, 2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 964 (4th Dist. Oct. 3, 2019):
PA: In a MMJ state, the smell of MJ can still be PC
“Over the past several years, nearly half of our Sister States and this Commonwealth have legalized medical marijuana. Some States have also repealed their prohibitions against recreational use; Pennsylvania has not. [¶] In this appeal, John Batista makes the novel … Continue reading
TN: Belated writ of error coram nobis can’t be used in state court to challenge search that already was used in a federal case too to attempt to undo the federal case
Petitioner appears to be attempting to challenge his federal conviction in state court in a parallel criminal proceeding where the same search was used in both cases. He’s attempting to challenge the search in state court by writ of error … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Colombia requesting U.S. telephone number so they could wiretap it didn’t make this a joint venture
The Colombian government requested a U.S. telephone number, and then they wiretapped it under their law. Later, they provided some information off the wiretap to the U.S. This was not sufficiently a joint venture to invoke the Fourth Amendment. United … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: “Both the issuing judge and the reviewing court should take a totality of the circumstances approach in their review of the affidavit, rather than scrutinize the affidavit line-by-line.”
“Both the issuing judge and the reviewing court should take a totality of the circumstances approach in their review of the affidavit, rather than scrutinize the affidavit line-by-line.” A generalized allegation of “errors” is insufficient to get a Franks hearing. … Continue reading
W.D.Wis.: Officers had a reasonable belief under Payton def was on the premises for execution of an arrest warrant
Based on surveillance, officers had a reasonable belief, even probable cause, to believe that defendant was in the house when they came with an arrest warrant. United States v. Burgess, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157755 (W.D. Wis. Aug. 12, 2019),* … Continue reading
SD: There was reason for def’s stop, but no PC for search of the car
There was reason for defendant’s stop and reasonable suspicion developed from excessive nervousness and a masking agent, but there was no probable cause and exigency for a search of defendant’s car. State v. Terry, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 431 (Sept. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Army CID did not violate Posse Comitatus Act by watching CP investigation at West Point
A West Point cadet was the target of a child pornography investigation. HSI investigated it, and the Army CID didn’t violate the Posse Comitatus Act in being there but not doing anything. Hester v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Criminal history didn’t justify extending stop
Officers exceeded the bounds of the traffic stop because they heard defendant’s criminal history and then ordered him out of the car to seek consent to search without any reasonable suspicion. United States v. Coleman, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152832 … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: PC for search and arrest may be the same
The probable cause for the search of defendant’s car also provided probable cause for his arrest. United States v. Bell, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154275 (W.D. Ky. Aug. 2, 2019).* Defendant consented to a limited search of his computer and … Continue reading
MD: Traffic enforcement saturation for seat belt stops wasn’t a checkpoint
A traffic enforcement saturation to stop people only without seat belts on was founded on reasonable suspicion and wasn’t a checkpoint. Johnson v. State, 2019 Md. App. LEXIS 783 (Sept. 9, 2019).* Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Officer doesn’t have to tell a motorist he smells MJ in the car
The officer recognized defendant as having an arrest warrant on him. When the stop occurred, the officer smelled marijuana and that justified a search of the car. The fact the officer didn’t mention to defendant that he smelled marijuana isn’t … Continue reading
