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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© 2003-21,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. about 30,000 posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
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Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
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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: Ineffective assistance
OH7: Defense counsel’s strategic choice to not challenge search was reasonable; he exploited it in cross of the officers
Defense counsel’s strategic choice to not challenge a search and embrace the result of the search for cross-examination was reasonable. And it was justified because it resulted in acquittal on a big count. State v. Baker, 2020-Ohio-7023, 2020 Ohio App. … Continue reading
CA10: Code enforcement officer coming to ptf’s door to talk to him didn’t violate curtilage
A city code enforcement officer who came to plaintiff’s door for a couple of minutes to attempt to talk to him about a sign code violation did not violate the curtilage. Clark v. City of Williamsburg, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Def counsel not ineffective for not arguing Carpenter protects bank records because it doesn’t
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in bank records such that the government needed a warrant to get them. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing that there was such an interest. “Carpenter did not overrule Miller but merely … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def’s car that others were known to drive being outside house of another wasn’t reasonable belief he was there
Officers did not have a reasonable belief defendant was on the premises of another just because he was seen there a month earlier and what was somewhat believed to be his car was parked out outside just before the entry. … Continue reading
CA6: CoA denied for federal defense counsel not pursuing claim SW violated state law
CoA denied for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim that defense counsel didn’t investigate the claim that the state court search warrant hadn’t been properly issued and then filed and was thus invalid. It wouldn’t be because there was essentially … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Trial testimony showed search was by consent, so no IAC
Defendant’s 2255 claim that defense counsel was ineffective for not challenging a search is belied by trial testimony, the only suggestion there is, that the search was by consent. Francis v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 245228 (N.D. Ohio … Continue reading
NC: GPS tracking warrant affidavit showed PC
The warrant for installing a GPS tracker on defendant’s vehicle showed probable cause, the subject of the tracking to places he’s been and to locate potential conspirators. State v. McNeill, 2020 N.C. App. LEXIS 947 (Dec. 31, 2020).* Not having … Continue reading
CA11: Obscured LPN justified stop, even if statute was unconstitutionally vague
Defendant’s obscured LPN gave probable cause for the stop, even if the statute were to later prove to be unconstitutionally vague. The latter question is not decided. United States v. Sanchez, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 40243 (11th Cir. Dec. 23, … Continue reading
OH2: Post-conviction 4A claim of lack of PC for SW fails for failure to include affidavit in record
Defendant’s post-conviction claim that defense counsel was ineffective for not challenging the validity of the search warrant in his case fails. He has to show he would have prevailed on the search issue, but the affidavit for the warrant isn’t … Continue reading
OH: Touching fog line not traffic violation
Resolving a state conflict, touching the right fog line is not a violation of Ohio’s traffic laws. State v. Turner, 2020-Ohio-6773, 2020 Ohio LEXIS 2814 (Dec. 22, 2020). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing at a hearing an issue … Continue reading
CA5: GFE applies to SW with outdated Google Map image but with correct address
The good faith exception applies to the officer’s accidentally using an outdated Google maps image in a search warrant application but with a correct actual address. “The circumstances make clear that [Officer] Herron’s mistake was an honest one-a far cry … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Seizure under SW not 5A taking
A seizure under a search warrant is not a Fifth Amendment taking. Woods v. Milwaukee Cty. Dist. Atty’s Office, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231416 (E.D. Wis. Dec. 9, 2020). Defense counsel was not ineffective for not raising defendant’s search issue … 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
OH1: Specific BOLO of being involved in shooting justified stop
A specific BOLO for a vehicle alleged to be involved in a shooting led to defendant’s stop with reasonable suspicion. Probable cause then developed. State v. Houston, 2020-Ohio-5421, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 4301 (1st Dist. Nov. 25, 2020). “In his … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Arrest during mayor’s civil unrest proclamation was unreasonable, and vehicle plain view suppressed
Defendant’s arrest under the Cleveland Mayor’s civil unrest proclamation was unreasonable, and the plain view was a result of the illegal arrest. United States v. Long, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 213676 (N.D. Ohio Nov. 16, 2020). Petitioner generally claimed the … Continue reading
