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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© 2003-20,
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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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General (many free):
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Lexis.com $
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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)
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Category Archives: Protective sweep
CA5: Protective sweep reasonable after def first barricaded himself and then surrendered
A protective sweep was justified on defendant’s arrest after he’d barricaded himself inside and then gave up. United States v. Hernandez, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 17027 (5th Cir. May 28, 2020). Petitioner isn’t entitled to a writ of mandamus for … Continue reading
MO: Radio report of def being potentially armed and dangerous plus unusually cluttered car justified protective weapons search
Defendant was stopped for expired tags. The officer noticed the inside of the vehicle was unusually cluttered. He got the DL and went back to his patrol car to call it in. “After the report came back that Lindsay was … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Protective sweep of house after arrest outside was unjustified; it was a search for a gun
Defendant’s arrest outside his house near his front door did not justify a protective sweep of his house. “Indeed, this Court finds that the marshals’ broad search of the Westberry residence was conducted specifically to find the firearm. … Because … Continue reading
CA9: Protective sweep of house after medical emergency at front door unjustified
Officers responded to a medical emergency at the entryway of defendant’s house. They ended up conducting a protective sweep for which there was no justification whatsoever. The firearm found in the protective sweep is suppressed. United States v. Gonzalez-Martin, 2020 … Continue reading
CA11: Protective weapons search of car or an envelope in the car unjustified by any facts
A purported protective sweep of defendant’s car for a weapon was not justified by any facts, and neither was a search of an envelope which would hardly contain a weapon. Neither was there probable cause for the automobile exception. “In … Continue reading
CA11: 911 call about def threatening people with a gun in his house justified protective sweep
A 911 call reported that defendant pointed a gun at two people and threatened them in his house. Responding, they talked to the victims outside. They entered to do a protective sweep for the weapon, and saw drugs. They got … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: An open container in a car is probable cause under the automobile exception to search for other open containers
An open container in a car is probable cause under the automobile exception to search for other open containers. In addition: “Here, Patrolmen Link and McClamroch had received information that a retaliatory shooting could occur near the location they stopped … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Navarette-like stop was reasonable in shots fired call and that also supported vehicle search for weapon under Long
“Navarette supports a finding of reasonable suspicion here. In light of the totality of the circumstances, including that officers spotted the white pickup in close proximity to the park soon after being dispatched, the court finds that the 911 call … Continue reading
MA: “Observing” a controlled buy from outside an apartment building is not corroboration of the CI
“Observing” a controlled buy from outside an apartment building is not corroboration of the informant under the state constitution. They didn’t see what apartment was involved. Commonwealth v. Ponte, 2020 Mass. App. LEXIS 16 (Feb. 13, 2020). The area surveillance … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: RS arose from domestic argument officer could hear
The officer responded to what sounded like a fight and that was reasonable suspicion. Added to that was defendant’s furtive movements when the officer got there. Defendant’s actions also supported a protective search of the vehicle. United States v. Blount, … Continue reading
OH8: Trial strategy was that the drugs weren’t def’s; a motion to suppress would have to argue standing; no IAC
Pursuing a motion to suppress would have been contrary to trial strategy that it wasn’t his stuff. “In overruling the first assignment of error, on ineffective assistance of trial counsel for failing to move to suppress, this court noted that … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Def’s 2255 claim was based on a fact litigated below and at the trial on the merits; the jury’s determination on credibility can’t be challenged now
In his 2255, defendant claims counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress on the automobile search or consent search grounds. This was contrary to his defense at trial and the original suppression motion that the officers planted the gun, … Continue reading
AL applies GFE to CSLI 2½ years before Carpenter
CSLI obtained by court order, but without showing probable cause, nearly three years before Carpenter was all in good faith. Watson v. State, 2020 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4 (Jan. 10, 2020). Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim against counsel … Continue reading
OH5: Knock-and-talk led to smell of MJ grow; entry for protective sweep before getting SW wasn’t unreasonable
Police came to do a knock-and-talk, and they could smell a marijuana grow from outside. They decided to do a protective sweep for people before they left to get a search warrant because they heard music from inside the home. … Continue reading
CA11: Domestic disturbance call with a report of shots fired permitted a warrantless entry and then a protective sweep for victims
A domestic disturbance call with a report of shots fired permitted a warrantless entry and then a protective sweep for victims: “Based on the 911 call reporting gunshots and a domestic disturbance, combined with Peacock’s initial observations upon arriving at … Continue reading
