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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© 2003-19,
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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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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LII State Appellate Courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
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S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
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Westlaw.com $
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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Ineffective assistance
S.D.N.Y.: Army CID did not violate Posse Comitatus Act by watching CP investigation at West Point
A West Point cadet was the target of a child pornography investigation. HSI investigated it, and the Army CID didn’t violate the Posse Comitatus Act in being there but not doing anything. Hester v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Older information in SW application substantiated by CI information from day before; not stale
Parts of the information were old, but the search warrant was not stale because a critical part of the affidavit showed that there was credible reason to believe drugs would be found there because of the CI’s observation the day … Continue reading
D.Me.: No withdrawal of plea for alleged 4A IAC where search was valid
Defendant doesn’t get to withdraw his plea to claim ineffective assistance of counsel to his search under a supervised release condition. The search appears lawful. United States v. Goguen, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 152148 (D. Me. Sept. 6, 2019):*
CA2: RS of stolen car not immediately dispelled by computer check
Officers had unusual facts during their stop of defendant that supported reasonable suspicion the vehicle might be stolen. Even a computer check didn’t completely dispel reasonable suspicion, so brief continuation of the stop was proper. United States v. Wallace, 2019 … Continue reading
CA5: Assuming def’s suppressed search led to custody and his incriminating jail call, the call was attenuated under Strieff
The district court suppressed one of defendant’s searches that led to his arrest. While in jail, he made incriminating phone calls about the location of drugs. Assuming that the call from the jail was a fruit of the unreasonable search, … Continue reading
MN: CSLI obtained by state statute was valid because of PC showing; it also complied with Carpenter
Defendant’s CSLI was obtained under a state statute that had a probable cause requirement, and the state showed it. There were two statutes involved, and the wrong one was cited, but the state nonetheless met the standards of both. The … Continue reading
MA: Def’s statement was suppressed, and that led to suppression of phone and CSLI for lack of nexus
Defendant’s cell phone search was based on a statement in violation of Miranda, and it must be suppressed. When the affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s CSLI has the information removed that was the product of that search, there … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Request for consent within 20 seconds of handing over tickets didn’t unreasonably extend stop
A request for consent within 20 seconds of handing the tickets to the defendant did not unreasonably extend the stop. The court finds the consent voluntary. United States v. Perez-Almeida, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 144705 (E.D. Va. Aug. 26, 2019). … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: 2255 petitioner succeeds in showing overlooked motion to suppress would have been granted
2255 petitioner makes his case that defense counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress the impoundment and search of his car as illegally parked because it wasn’t. Counsel’s wife was seriously ill, and he was out of the office … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Govt subpoena to photograph gang tattoos of incarcerated def not violation of 4A or 5A
The government seeks a subpoena to photograph defendant’s tattoos in an effort to corroborate gang membership. The motion to suppress is denied. “The Court is persuaded that the Government search contemplated by the description in the August 7 Letter is … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: Delay in initiating protective sweep was reasonable because officer was waiting for backup
The officer’s warrantless entry into defendant’s house was reasonable based on exigency of the potential for destruction of drugs. Once he was in the basement on a protective sweep, he found a firearm. Defendant argues his delay in the basement … Continue reading
