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- VA: Search incident between def’s shorts and underwear was reasonable
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- S.D.Ind.: Post search database search of occupants of a place didn’t show SW affidavit was false at time it issued
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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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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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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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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (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)
ACLU on privacy
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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
N.D.Ind.: Franks challenge in PC clothing fails for no offer of proof
“At first glance, the Defendant’s motion does not appear to be a true Franks hearing request as it does not appear to contest the veracity of the statements of the affiant or assert that she made false allegations. Rather, it … Continue reading
CA6: Def waived Franks argument on appeal by only arguing PC below
Defendant’s Franks argument on appeal fails because the motion to suppress was based on a lack of probable cause and didn’t direct the court to any alleged false statement under Franks. United States v. Baker, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 113 … Continue reading
CA8: Remodeler found video voyeur camera and conducted a private search then turned it over to police
A man remodeling defendant’s house found a USB port in the bathroom, and he gathered that the USB could be used to hook up a camera in the bathroom to record children visiting there. He took the device he found … Continue reading
OH6: CI was identified and admitted his culpability and that bolstered PC
“The fact that Chad was an identified informant and that his statements acted as an admission of his own criminal activity bolstered his credibility. This when viewed collectively with the other three instances of drug activity set forth in the … Continue reading
CAAF: Not all details of alleged offense need to be included in request for search authorization
The military trial judge erred in concluding that the search authorization required AFOSI complete information to determine probable cause for defendant’s DNA in a sex assault case. It’s not. Just because there were differing versions of how dressed the victim … Continue reading
ND: Evidence seized by SW still needs to comply with rules of evidence to be admissible
Just because evidence was seized with a search warrant doesn’t make it admissible. The rules of evidence or other statute or rule still have to be complied with. City of Fargo v. Hofer, 2020 ND 252, 2020 N.D. LEXIS 264 … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: PC to arrest for a drug crime doesn’t require a completed crime
Probable cause for arrest because of planning to commit a drug crime based on corroborated CI information without the drug transaction even happening. United States v. Kristopher, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 236421 (W.D. Ky. Dec. 16, 2020) [e.g., attempt, conspiracy]. … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: SW affidavit was sloppy and partly misleading, but not intentionally so
“A substantial basis existed for the court to determine probable cause existed on the face of the warrant affidavit.” It was, however, sloppy and partly misleading, but, on the totality there is no Franks violation. United States v. Johnson, 2020 … Continue reading
OH6: When lack of PC for a SW is the issue, a suppression hearing isn’t required: it’s a question of law
When the defendant moves to suppress a search warrant claiming only a lack of probable cause, a hearing isn’t required. It’s then a mixed question of law and fact (mostly law). State v. Holt, 2020-Ohio-6649, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 4515 … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Valid strategic reasons for not using SW affidavit at trial
Defendant claimed perjury at trial because search warrant affidavits had information contrary to the trial testimony. There were good strategic reasons for not putting the affidavit in evidence. “Presumably, in deciding this claim, it is only appropriate to consider evidence … Continue reading
NY: Reversal for 4A violation isn’t “favorable termination” for malicious prosecution claim
Reversal because of a Fourth Amendment violation isn’t a “favorable termination” for malicious prosecution claims. Butler v. City of New York, 2020 NY Slip Op 33363(U), 2020 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 10130 (N.Y. Co. Oct. 14, 2020) (Martinez v. City of … Continue reading
CA9: Changing allegedly offending officer in Franks challenge on appeal was waiver
Defendant’s Franks challenge to one officer’s alleged misstatements were changed on appeal to involve another officer. This was waiver. United States v. Arnold, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 37199 (9th Cir. Nov. 25, 2020). In the college admissions scam case, “Here, … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def doesn’t even attempt a Franks offer of proof and it fails
“Defendant fails to provide the requisite offer of proof to make a substantial preliminary showing that Agent Celeste intentionally or recklessly included false information in the Affidavit. Likewise, defendant fails to explain the absence of such an offer of proof, … Continue reading
CA9: Mid-trial change in testimony from SW affidavit may entitle def to Franks hearing, but here issue wasn’t timely raised
Without deciding whether to follow the Fourth Circuit (United States v. White, 850 F.3d 667, 673 (4th Cir. 2017)) holding that trial testimony differing from a search warrant affidavit entitles the defendant to a mid-trial Franks hearing, here the issue … Continue reading
D.N.J.: “The goal is a difficult one to achieve because Franks is narrow in its scope and miserly in the relief it offers.”
After four days of suppression hearing on a Franks issue, the court doesn’t find the discrepancy to be deliberately false. “Put more directly: West doesn’t have the argument of reasonable doubt as to what the police said or did so … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Failure to mention denial of a TRO in civil litigation over similar issue material enough to get Franks hearing
The fact a TRO had been denied in a civil case involving some of the same facts was potentially material under Franks, and he gets a Franks hearing. Also, defendants have no standing in the search of a co-conspirator’s home. … Continue reading
AZ: CSLI order here in 2014 wasn’t a “warrant” but it complies with GFE
Also in a death penalty case, defendant’s CSLI was obtained by court order four years before Carpenter. The court finds that, while it wouldn’t treat the “order” as the functional equivalent of a search warrant [“reasonable grounds” wasn’t probable cause; … Continue reading
D.Neb.: PC for def’s vehicle leaving the scene of a shooting led to nexus to his house
“As explained, witnesses saw a dark colored vehicle speeding away from the scene of the May 27, 2020 shooting and at least two witnesses believe the vehicle was a Nissan. At the same time, police surveillance puts Defendant’s gray Nissan … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: When dwelling was found to be multi-unit, the search was limited to the proper one; ER should not be applied because the officer acted in complete good faith
Defendant failed to make a substantial preliminary showing for Franks purposes that the officer recklessly disregarded the fact there could be two residential units in the building he was seeking the search warrant for. He reviewed property records and Google … Continue reading
PA: CSLI warrant was particular with phone number and time, without name of owner
CSLI warrant was particular when it described the phone number and time period and didn’t have to name the phone owner. Commonwealth v. Davis, 2020 Pa. Super. LEXIS 885 (Oct. 23, 2020). The officer spent a week corroborating the CI, … Continue reading