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- VA: Search incident between def’s shorts and underwear was reasonable
- Reason: Border Cops Seize Nurse’s Phone Filled With Psychiatric Patient Information
- MI: Handcuffing uncooperative def at scene of accident wasn’t unreasonable
- S.D.Ga.: Def’s car in driveway next to sidewalk was not on curtilage
- 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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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)
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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
D.Neb.: Def motion for SW materials denied for time being; ongoing investigation
Where there is a First and Fourth Amendment and common law right to discovery of search warrant materials, Supplemental Rule G also provides for it for forfeiture. Here, however, the government shows in camera that disclosure now would jeopardize an … Continue reading
CA6: Def’s IAC argument that suppression argument could have been better made fails because it wouldn’t prevail in any event
“Maurice Carter pled guilty to a variety of sex crimes and received a twenty-year prison sentence. He now petitions for habeas relief. Carter alleges his attorneys were constitutionally ineffective for failing to make the best arguments for suppression of key … Continue reading
KS: Even with roadside Miranda violation, PC still exists under the 4A without the statement
Defendant’s statement at the side of the road was taken in violation of Miranda and should have been suppressed. This does not affect, however, the Fourth Amendment analysis of whether there was probable cause because there was without the statement. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def succeeds in his Franks offer of proof; PC doubtful
Defendant succeeds in his Franks offer of proof. The omitted information undermines probable cause, and a hearing will be held. United States v. Reed, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206986 (D. Minn. Dec. 7, 2018):
DE: No REP in shared Facebook photos
“Moreover, Harris’ contention that his public Facebook photos were ‘illegally seized’ has no merit.” There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a shared social media post. Harris v. State, 2018 Del. LEXIS 540 (Dec. 3, 2018). Defendant argued that … Continue reading
LA: False statement in affidavit passed from another officer was harmless on PC question
The statement the officer used in the affidavit came from another officer. At worst it was negligent and not an intentional misrepresentation. No matter what, however, it doesn’t undermine the probable cause, so the motion was properly denied. State v. … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Boilerplate Franks claim fails on its face
“The defendant’s boilerplate claim that the ‘information used to obtain the search warrant from the Circuit Court judge was flawed with false allegation….’, … does not meet the Franks test for a hearing.” “While defendant did not explicitly argue that … Continue reading
FL4: SW papers are public records, and due process requires def to see them
Search warrant papers are discoverable to the defense and the unredacted parts are public records that must be disclosed. “The state asks us to prevent the disclosure of information that it had redacted from search warrants and warrant applications related … Continue reading
DE: Lack of temporal limitation in data search only results in suppression of the excess, not all
The search warrant for information was based on probable cause, but it lacked a temporal limitation. That, however, doesn’t lead to suppression of the whole; just suppression of that which was obtained that predates the probable cause. State v. Anderson, … Continue reading
CA9: Question about telephone number before Miranda warning wasn’t protected by warning
Question about defendant’s telephone number prior to his Miranda warning wasn’t covered by Miranda. The phone number linked defendant to a dropbox account with child pornography. United States v. Chilaca, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 33136 (9th Cir. Nov. 26, 2018). … Continue reading
MA: “Freezing” house for alleged prostitution for alleged exigency was unreasonable
Police “froze” a house and searched the second floor for evidence of alleged prostitution; couldn’t be justified on this record. What physical evidence would there be? Commonwealth v. Owens, 480 Mass. 1034 (Nov. 7, 2018). There was a mistake in … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Car not abandoned by fleeing def because a co-def stayed with it
A car is not abandoned by the defendant merely because, when he fled, a confederate stayed behind. United States v. Gibbs, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187572 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 2, 2018). The audio recording of the police-citizen interaction has enough, … Continue reading
D.Md.: Omitted information that supported PC belies the officer was attempting to mislead as to a mistake in the affidavit
The failure to include the date of uploading of child pornography images wasn’t known to the officer at the time the search warrant was obtained, so the officer did not mislead the magistrate issuing the warrant. The misstatement of the … Continue reading
D.Kan.: After a Franks hearing, PC exists despite omitted information
Defendant was under investigation for threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. After the search, police found child pornography, too. He filed a Franks motion about omitted information and got a hearing. The court finds probable cause and no … Continue reading
CA11: Affiant’s not putting what he thought from CI was false didn’t violate Franks
The officer declined to put the CI’s inconsistent statements in that he thought were false. This didn’t violate Franks, and there was probable cause anyway. United States v. King, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 30122 (11th Cir. Oct. 25, 2018):
TX14: Two prior searches for blood constitutionally or statutorily didn’t need to be mentioned in affidavit for third
Defendant was in a car wreck that killed another at 1 am, New Years Day 2014. There were three blood draws: one for medical purposes at the hospital, one directed by the police at the hospital, and one after a … Continue reading
MA: Justification for no-knock shown by risk of destruction of evidence because def’s apartment on 3d floor with locked outside door
A no-knock entry to prevent destruction of evidence was justified by the fact defendant’s apartment was on the third floor and police had to navigate a locked first floor door before they got to his apartment. Commonwealth v. Silva, 2018 … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Franks requires attaching affidavit to the motion to suppress
Defendant’s Franks request for an evidentiary hearing without attaching the affidavit for the search warrant is denied without prejudice. The court has nothing to compare. United States v. Carswell, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 165132 (N.D. Ind. Sep. 26, 2018). The … Continue reading
CA9: Police supervisor’s alleged after-the-fact acquiescence in an alleged illegal search isn’t a § 1983 claim
A police supervisor’s post-hoc alleged acquiescence that he didn’t participate in an alleged illegal search doesn’t state a claim against the supervisor. Hunt v. Davis, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 26265 (9th Cir. Sep. 17, 2018). The officers corroborated enough of … Continue reading
OH9: Probable hand-to-hand drug deal from car was RS for stop
Potential hand-to-hand drug deal in a car was reasonable suspicion for a stop. It’s what these officers were always looking for. [It may have ultimately had an innocent explanation, but it looked like it to them.] State v. Dunlap, 2018-Ohio-3658, … Continue reading