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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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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
PA: Birchfield not retroactive on post-conviction
Birchfield is not a new rule for post-conviction purposes and thus not retroactive. Commonwealth v. Olson, 2019 Pa. LEXIS 6120 (Oct. 31, 2019). Defendant was involved in an ATV accident and hospitalized. The state wanted BAC, but he wasn’t available. … Continue reading
OH8: Realtime CSLI was used only to locate def; nothing to suppress
Defendant was called by the police for an interview about a child molestation accusation, and he agreed to meet. He didn’t show. Then the police were concerned maybe he was fleeing and they sought realtime CSLI to locate him. “We … Continue reading
IL: Def’s leaving house to deliver to a controlled buy was nexus for house
There was nexus for the search warrant for defendant’s house where he was alleged to have left his house and driven directly to the scene of a controlled buy where he was delivering. People v. Teague, 2019 IL App (3d) … Continue reading
NY2: Where SW was issued to a small town PD, using officers from other agencies to assist in raid doesn’t violate 4A
The small town police department that obtained the search warrant did not have its own entry team for safety. Using officers from other county and state agencies to assist didn’t violate the warrant. People v. Ward, 2019 NY Slip Op … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Paraphrasing def’s jail calls on hearsay without affiant actually listening to them isn’t a Franks violation
A full forensic search of defendant’s cell phone was authorized by the affidavit which was attached to the search warrant. There were admissions from the defendant on jail calls to others that were reported to the police. The paraphrasing the … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Def’s coming to door and at threshold made him capable of being arrested without police entering home
When defendant came to the door and answered the officers’ knock, and moved into the threshold when they said they were “security forces,” he was subject to arrest right there without the officers violating the privacy of the home. They … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: One officer can swear to an affidavit prepared by another under the 4A
The fact one officer swore to an affidavit prepared by another on the other’s knowledge is not a constitutional violation. Moreover, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Parrish, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178155 (N.D. W.Va. Oct. 15, 2019). … Continue reading
NC: CSLI violation was attenuated because it only helped locate him and then there was a SW in another state
Defendant’s offense was in 2005 and he was originally tried in 2011 and reversed that conviction. On retrial, he filed a motion to suppress a pen register used to locate him in Colorado. CSLI without a warrant was permitted in … Continue reading
CA6: One prior excessive force claim isn’t pattern and practice in a § 1983 case
One other excessive force claim investigated by the City is not evidence of pattern and practice or failure to train. Stewart v. City of Memphis, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 30491 (6th Cir. Oct. 11, 2019).* Defendant’s successor 2255 also raises … Continue reading
FL5: CI rented car for def to commit a robbery; told police and they put GPS on car; stop was with PC
The CI had knowledge defendant was going to commit a robbery and was enlisted to rent a car for it. The CI told the police, and they planted a GPS on the car with the CI’s permission. After the robbery, … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: It was reasonable to stop defendant and inquire where def was parked next to a dilapidated building
Defendant’s stop for parking near a dilapidated maybe abandoned structure was reasonable because the officers were justified in inquiring who he was and what he was doing. In their experience, this activity supported at least an inference that defendant might … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Arrest outside motel room still permitted protective sweep where there was RS someone else was there
Defendant was arrested outside his motel room, but that did not bar a protective sweep of the motel room where the officers had reason to believe others could be present. Baldwin v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175253 (N.D. … Continue reading
