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Recent Posts
- LA4: Merely having a concealed firearm isn’t RS for a frisk
- OR: Merely driving off the road wasn’t RS, but adding the driver’s demeanor at the time was
- OH6: Trial court’s failure to explain RS under Rodriguez required remand
- CA6: Asking def before a patdown during arrest what he had on him wasn’t barred by Miranda
- NY Queens: PC shown for SW blood drawn at hospital after car wreck
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
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--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) -
“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!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
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Category Archives: Protective sweep
LA1: No REP in an abandoned house
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in an abandoned house he was using, and the trial court erred in finding one. State v. Jackson, 2021 La. App. LEXIS 1354 (La. App. 1 Cir. Oct. 1, 2021). Articulable facts supported … Continue reading
CA5: Even a mistaken critical fact to nexus can still be reasonable for GFE
An asserted fact in the search warrant affidavit that was critical to the target of the search and thus the place to be searched proved to be wrong, which the officer revealed when he learned. Still, the search warrant was … Continue reading
MA: SW for firearm permitted frisk of people inside for weapons
A search warrant for defendant’s premises permitted a frisk of his person for firearms when the object of the search warrant was firearms. Commonwealth v. Suggs, 2021 Mass. App. LEXIS 91 (Aug. 4, 2021). The jury verdict for choking the … Continue reading
CA8: Protective sweep justified by multiple factors: maybe guns, movement and maybe others inside
“Assuming without deciding that Thompson has ‘standing’ to challenge the search, the protective sweep was justified.” “There was good reason here for a sweep. First, Thompson was suspected of stealing several guns from a pawn shop in a burglary, committing … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Def’s response to a SDT showed records existed for later SW; not stale
Defendant’s receipt of and response to a subpoena for fraud records in an older fraud case established timeliness and lack of staleness when the government decided to proceed by search warrant instead. Staleness is a question of probable cause. United … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: SW for person is not limited like a protective sweep
A search warrant for a person is not limited as a protective sweep. It was not unreasonable to look under box springs. United States v. Johnson, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132835 (W.D.Tenn. July 16, 2021). The protective sweep in the … Continue reading
CA7: Confrontation clause doesn’t apply in suppression hearings
The confrontation clause does not apply in suppression hearings. United States v. Bebris, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 20974 (7th Cir. July 15, 2021). The apartment’s search warrant was for evidence of drug sales from it. Those found there at the … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Hot pursuit of man with gun into apt was reasonable; and it wasn’t his apt
Defendant didn’t have standing to contest a warrantless entry into his close friend’s apartment when he was hiding there from the police after having fled an apparent arrest. They were also in hot pursuit of a man with a gun. … Continue reading
VA: “[T]he acquisition of real-time CSLI data to locate a fleeing murder suspect in an exigent circumstance is permissible under Carpenter.”
“[T]he acquisition of real-time CSLI data to locate a fleeing murder suspect in an exigent circumstance is permissible under Carpenter.” Moreno v. Commonwealth, 2021 Va. App. LEXIS 91 (June 15, 2021). The community caretaking exception did not justify officers’ opening … Continue reading
CA6: Protective sweep under a couch was reasonable
The government showed that a protective sweep under a couch was reasonably justified in looking for a person. United States v. Vanhook, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 17245 (6th Cir. June 10, 2021). The contents of recorded jail telephone calls coupled … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Delayed stop and furtive movements justified vehicle frisk
“The Court concludes that the protective sweep exception applies. When the officers first attempted to pull Canada over, Canada took an abnormal amount of time to stop his vehicle, despite a clear roadway with no obstructions. The officers testified that … Continue reading
MD: Not IAC for defense counsel to confirm witness testimony before filing motion to suppress; which here didn’t matter
Defendant contended the search of his place was before the warrant issued at 12:01 am March 1st. It was not ineffective assistance for counsel to attempt to talk to witnesses before filing a motion to suppress. Even if the police … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Protective sweep of hotel room of armored car robbery suspect was reasonable
“Here, the uncontested facts justify a protective sweep of the hotel room. Detective Holmes testified that at the time of Defendant’s arrest, there was still a suspect in the armored truck robbery at-large whose whereabouts were unknown. … As such, … Continue reading
OH10: Citizen informant’s complaint of def flashing gun from car justifies frisk of person and car
A citizen informant’s complaint defendant flashed a gun was justification for both a patdown and a protective weapons search of his car. State v. Shalash, 2021-Ohio-1034, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1043 (10th Dist. Mar. 30, 2021). Calling for a drug … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Govt showed justification for protective sweep of person then car
“The firearms and drugs were found during the protective sweep of the passenger area of the vehicle. The initial stop and pat-down of Defendant were justified under Terry, and the subsequent protective sweep of the car for weapons was a … Continue reading
CA6: Def doesn’t show arrest was delayed to facilitate better protective sweep
The protective sweep finding defendant’s guns on execution of his arrest warrant was reasonable. Defendant does not show that the officers intentionally delayed his arrest with the purpose of exploiting a protective sweep. United States v. Cammon, 2021 U.S. App. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Facebook is not a government actor
Facebook is not a government actor, even if NCMEC is under the Tenth Ciruit’s Ackerman. United States v. Sykes, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9580 (E.D. Tenn. Jan. 19, 2021). 46 days from a child pornography download by the government to … Continue reading
KY: Smell of burning marijuana from a house alone is not exigency
The entry here could not be justified as a protective sweep because of a lack of reason to believe the person sought was there. It also can’t be justified by exigency because of the smell of burning marijuana alone. Nothing … Continue reading
CA10: Uncertainty def was alone inside justified protective sweep
The consenter’s uncertainty that defendant was alone in the apartment justified a protective sweep, and ultimately she consented and the evidence supports that conclusion. United States v. Phyfier, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 133 (11th Cir. Jan. 5, 2021). [Even so, … Continue reading