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- VA: Search incident between def’s shorts and underwear was reasonable
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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)
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“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
NY Claims: Searching officer’s later perjury indictment over another SW affidavit supports claim over claimant’s conviction set aside as a result of disclosure
Claimant was convicted of drug possession. The state notified him after the fact that the arresting officer had been indicted for perjury for a false search warrant affidavit in an unrelated case. His criminal case was a credibility contest about … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Apparently likelihood meth in office building could be moved justified warrantless entry
“[T]he Court finds that the evidence is materially credible and consistent and, taken as a whole, indicates that it appeared very likely that law-enforcement activity had been detected by the time of the warrantless entry, that there was a high … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: AUSAs apparently failed duty to court to mitigate this Brady/Giglio issue before it reared its head
The court’s finding of the officer’s recklessness in this search warrant affidavit leads the government to file a motion to reconsider, presumably because it will become Brady/Giglio material in future cases as to the officer. Not only is that denied, … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Seizing a cell phone in plain view with PC for later SW is reasonable
“[T]he court must conclude that probable cause existed to seize Kurland’s phone at the time of his arrest and that the plain view exception permitted the government to seize it. To be sure: simply seeing a device in plain view … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Collective knowledge doctrine requires passing on some of the “knowledge”
Another officer stopping the defendant under the collective knowledge doctrine at least has to be informed of what the “knowledge” is that warrants the stop. Without it, no reasonable suspicion. United States v. Roman, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30416 (D.Conn. … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: A Franks challenge based on omissions is a higher bar to clear
When a Franks challenge is based on omissions, the bar is higher. Here, defendant didn’t meet it. United States v. McCoy, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30230 (E.D.Mich. Feb. 18, 2022):
OH4: No standing in codef’s patdown
Defendant has no standing to challenge a codefendant’s patdown. In addition, admission of his jail calls was not a Fifth Amendment violation. (Finally, defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for withdrawing a motion to suppress that was destined to fail.) State v. … Continue reading
DC: Throwing backpack over a wall running from police is abandonment
The police gave chase to defendant, and he ran down an alley and threw his backpack over a wall into somebody else’s backyard. “In the present case, we assume without deciding that Mr. Kyle retained a subjective expectation of privacy … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Prosecutor absolutely immune for SW application
A prosecutor is absolutely immune in presenting search warrant applications to a court. Miller v. Rivas, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22754 (D.N.J. Feb. 8, 2022). The affidavit for search warrant here was based on probable cause. The executing officers waited … Continue reading
NY2: Def stated IAC claim that defense counsel never looked at SW materials
Defendant stated a claim for ineffective assistance of counsel that defense counsel never obtained the search warrant materials to even investigate. Reversed to have the state produce it. People v. Tindley, 2022 NY Slip Op 00886, 2022 N.Y. App. Div. … Continue reading
CA11: Computer searches as condition of supervised release for gun crime not plain error
The district court did not plainly err in allowing supervised release searches of defendant’s computer for a gun crime. U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(d)(7). Under precedent, a search condition does not have to be specifically related to the crime. United States v. … Continue reading
OH4: That stop was with RS isn’t arguing that it was continued with RS, and that’s waiver
Defendant started with the argument that the stop lacked reasonable suspicion, but he did not argue that the stop was continued with reasonable suspicion until the appeal. Failure to raise it that way in the trial court was waiver. State … Continue reading
CA6: There was PC and exigency for search of car even though district court didn’t say “automobile exception”
The smell of marijuana from defendant’s car was probable cause. The district court didn’t say “automobile exception,” but that’s what it meant. United States v. Hall, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 2983 (6th Cir. Feb. 2, 2022).* Defendant’s Franks allegation fails … Continue reading
CA11: Failure to plead facts of standing or REP requires denial of motion to suppress
“If a defendant fails to plead sufficient facts to show a reasonable expectation of privacy, ‘a trial court may refuse a defendant’s request for a suppression hearing’ and deny his motion to suppress.” United States v. Robinson, 2022 U.S. App. … Continue reading
Cal.4: GPS monitoring with a search waiver were reasonable conditions of home confinement
GPS monitoring with a search waiver were reasonable conditions of defendant’s home confinement sentence. People v. Gerson, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 72 (4th Dist. Jan. 28, 2022). “Although Defendant complied with Franks by (1) specifically identifying the portion of the … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Failure to incorporate attachments to SW affidavit subject to GFE
The attachments to the affidavits were attached but not incorporated by words in the affidavit. The court doesn’t decide that this is a Fourth Amendment violation because the good faith exception applies. The search of a cell phone attempted within … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Complaint about co-def’s cell phone search was “specious,” and def doesn’t even have standing
Defendant’s claim the information about a co-conspirator’s phone search must be fabricated because that search warrant wasn’t in his discovery was “specious.” He doesn’t even have standing. Edwards v. United States, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14407 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 26, 2022).* … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Govt’s post-trial concession search was illegal undermines half the counts of conviction, and no harmless error on remainder
The government concedes after conviction on seven counts that three of the counts against defendant were the product of an illegal search. They argue the remainder can stand without it. It can’t because, if there was any doubt for any … Continue reading