Archives
-
Recent Posts
- D.N.M.: 2¼ hour detention was still with RS despite 10th Cir.’s 90 minute limit
- W.D.Pa.: ALPR hit on stolen vehicle was RS for stop
- S.D.Miss.: Cell tower dump violated 4A as a de facto geofence warrant
- NC: Def’s bloody shirt seized as evidence from ER didn’t need a SW to test for DNA
- CA6: SW in drug case led to finding CSAM, SW was still particular
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
-
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
S.Ct. Shadow Docket Database
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
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
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
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 -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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: Franks doctrine
Cal.1: Search condition for mental health diversion was within court’s discretion
The trial court acted within its statutory discretion imposing a search condition on defendant during his mental health diversion. His criminal history justified it. Thompson v. Superior Court, 2026 Cal. App. LEXIS 459 (1st Dist. July 30, 2026). One defendant … Continue reading
PA: For resisting arrest on a warrant, the state has to prove the warrant valid
“To prove the lawful arrest element of resisting arrest where the resisted arrest is premised on an arrest or bench warrant, the Commonwealth must produce evidence of the validity of a warrant beyond its mere existence. Because the Commonwealth failed … Continue reading
PA: Private hunting lands were not open fields under state constitution
The Pennsylvania Constitution’s search and seizure provision extends to “possessions,” something broader than “effects” under the Fourth Amendment. The Pennsylvania court concludes that private hunting lands were not blanket open fields where wildlife officers could just enter. The court also … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Voluntary statement during search that “everything is mine” was admissible
Voluntary statement from the handcuffed defendant during the search of his house when he saw his handcuffed girlfriend crying that “everything is mine” were admissible. United States v. Espinosa, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 160387 (E.D. Pa. July 20, 2026). Defendant’s … Continue reading
LA5: Nervousness and avoiding getting on airplane to LAX (a source city) was RS
DEA and State DTF officers had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant departing the NOLA airport for LAX (a source city) when he saw them as they looked all nervous and then walked away from boarding the airplane. State v. Wells, … Continue reading
DC: Officers were a good ways away from def when he fled without any apparent reason
“We now hold that the officers had the requisite reasonable articulable suspicion to justify their seizure of D.W. when they grabbed his leg. We reach that conclusion largely because D.W. ran upon the mere sight of police officers approaching from … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Standing has to be shown for the time of the search, not at some time in the past
“Earl was required to show, not that he had an expectation of privacy in the home at some time, but that he had that expectation at the time of the search. United States v. Brazel, 102 F.3d 1120, 1148 (11th … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Flight out a window is exigency for police to enter
Defendant was wanted for a shooting incident in Flatbush, Brooklyn caught on video. When they came to where they suspected he was, he attempted to flee out a window. That gave exigency to enter. United States v. Richard, 2026 U.S. … Continue reading
FL: Violation of knock-and-announce statute doesn’t require exclusion
A violation of the knock-and-announce statute for serving search warrants doesn’t require exclusion of the evidence under Hudson, which is followed. State v. Times, 2026 Fla. LEXIS 982 (June 25, 2026). “Idling” is not a crime for a passenger vehicle … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
A search warrant isn’t invalid just because the issuing magistrate previously represented the defendant in a drug case as a defense lawyer. The judge didn’t violate the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct either. Besides, the good faith exception applies because … Continue reading
Cal.4: SW not needed to test DNA abandoned in a rape
Defendant’s DNA left at the scene of two rapes was abandoned, and the state didn’t need a warrant to search it. People v. Konther, 2026 Cal. App. LEXIS 369 (4th Dist. June 12, 2026). In a drug case bench trial, … Continue reading
D.R.I.: Defense attorney’s affidavit for Franks motion was insufficient for lack of personal knowledge
The defense attorney’s affidavit for defendant’s Franks motion is insufficient because he had no direct knowledge. There was probable cause for the warrant. United States v. Rosario, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125981 (D.R.I. June 8, 2026). Protective sweep for a … Continue reading
IL: A backpack is not as personal a repository of stuff as a purse or wallet; officers ordered it left in vehicle for safety reasons and it was inventoried
Defendant’s backpack is not as much a personal repository as a wallet or purse. When officers ordered the occupants out of the car, the backpack was at defendant’s feet, and he was ordered to leave it behind. The inventory was … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
The state search warrant in this case was not served within three days as required by Ohio law. That did not violate the Fourth Amendment, and he shows no prejudice. United States v. Calhoun, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121202 (N.D. … Continue reading
TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
“In this case, the evidence was that, although the Defendant lived in the van, the van was registered to someone else, and the vehicle registration indicated the same. The doors to the van were wide open and it was parked … Continue reading
LA4: Acting like carrying a gun and wearing a ski mask in New Orleans in June was RS
The juvenile here acted like he was carrying a weapon and he had on a ski mask in June in New Orleans. That was reasonable suspicion. State In the Int. of L.V., 2026 La. App. LEXIS 1070 (La. App. 4 … Continue reading
TX1: No standing to challenge seizure of ketamine off co-def, but PC was lacking for his own arrest
Defendant didn’t have standing to challenge the seizure of ketamine off a codefendant. [Even better for him,] There was no probable cause for his warrantless arrest. Akinrinlola v. State, 2026 Tex. App. LEXIS 4935 (Tex. App. – Houston (1st Dist.) … Continue reading
MA: When a likely Franks violation comes out at trial, def gets to reopen the suppression issue
When a likely Franks violation comes out at trial, defendant gets to reopen the suppression issue. Here, the officer’s false statement he was present for a third controlled buy satisfied Franks and was excised. Defense counsel showed that it couldn’t … Continue reading
CA2: Taking 3-day-old son from mother affected father’s 4A & 14A rights too
Plaintiff stated a claim for relief under the due process clause and Fourth Amendment for the City taking his 3-day-old son from his mother based on actions of her other boyfriends without any court order. He was three years getting … Continue reading
D.Md.: Mere delay in opening hotel door for arrest warrant didn’t justify protective sweep under the mattress
The protective sweep of defendant’s room is suppressed because the government articulates no reasonable suspicion to believe anyone else was in there. Delay in opening the door isn’t it. Searching between the mattress and box springs was also unreasonable. Waiting … Continue reading