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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. about 30,000 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)
"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
E.D.N.C.: Removing protective sweep from affidavit for SW still leaves PC
While protective sweep was unreasonable, excising it from the affidavit for search warrant, still leaves probable cause. United States v. Lee, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171270 (E.D. N.C. Sept. 18, 2020). “In sum, counsel reasonably could have concluded that movant … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: Def’s attempts to distinguish Hudson and no ER for knock-and-announce fails
Defendant’s efforts to distinguish Hudson and its refusal to apply the exclusionary rule to knock-and-announce violations fail. United States v. Pyles, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169623 (E.D. Tex. Sept. 16, 2020). Petitioner gets a CoA on the following habeas issue: … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: SW authorized search of safe in house even though in room of another occupant
The search warrant authorized a search of a safe in a house even though the room it was in wasn’t occupied by the target of the search. The search warrant wasn’t stale because the drug activities it refers to were … Continue reading
IL: Mistaken application of unambiguous statute not a Heien reasonable mistake of law
“Kinsella misinterpreted an unambiguous statute, thereby committing an unreasonable mistake of law. See Gaytan, 2015 IL 116223, ¶ 45; see also United States v. Stanbridge, 813 F.3d 1032, 1037-38 (7th Cir. 2016) (‘[The officer] simply was wrong about what the … Continue reading
CA11: 2255 petitioner made a showing that reasonable jurists could disagree on merits of 4A claim not pursued, so he gets a CoA
Defendant, a 2255 petitioner, made a sufficient showing that reasonable jurists could disagree whether the Fourth Amendment claim that wasn’t pursued had merit. Therefore, the CoA is granted. Day v. Fla. Dep’t of Corr., 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 27153 (11th … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Articulable suspicion not needed to run a license plate
Articulable suspicion not needed to run a license plate. United States v. Thompson, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 154156 (D. Mont. Aug. 24, 2020). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not moving to suppress alleged overseizure of a doctor’s patient records where … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Whether defense counsel should file a motion to suppress is strategic decision
“A decision of whether or not to file a motion to suppress is a strategic choice of counsel.” Here, there was no factual basis to file a motion to suppress. Waters v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147764 (W.D. … Continue reading
CA5: Traffic safety checkpoint was scantly justified, but still reasonable
A Mississippi traffic safety checkpoint was reasonable on the totality because every car was stopped, even though the programmatic purpose of the checkpoint was scant. Reasonable suspicion developed that the occupants of the vehicle were being trafficked. United States v. … Continue reading
MD: Defense counsel in drug case had conflict of interest in representing police officer in a divorce case who arrested and searched client and the search wasn’t contested
Defense counsel had a conflict of interest where he represented both a drug case client and the police officer who arrested and searched him and his cell phone. Defendant made a sufficient showing of actual prejudice to warrant a new … Continue reading
D.Me.: No exigent circumstances for BAC blood sample without SW
A Park Ranger in Acadia National Park in Maine followed Maine law to get a blood sample without a search warrant. There were no exigent circumstances, and the blood sample is suppressed. United States v. Manubolu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
Cal.3: Plain view of possession of more than a recreational amount of drugs was PC
Defendant’s detention was reasonable, and, during the stop, three large bags of marijuana were seen on the floor of the car. Possession of under an ounce is legal, but this was more than an ounce, so continuing the detention for … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Two SWs on consecutive days were part of same investigation so they aren’t severed for trial
Two search warrants on consecutive days produced drug counts against defendant. They are part of the same investigation, so they are joined for trial. United States v. Martin, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141845 (D. Minn. July 6, 2020). Ineffective assistance … Continue reading
CA11: A cell phone with 2kg of heroin and cash is PC for the phone
“[L]aw enforcement officers had probable cause to obtain a warrant to search the cell phone because it was found in a truck with two kilograms of heroin and $24,000 of loose currency during the investigation into the heroin-distribution conspiracy.” CoA … Continue reading
CA6: Failure to object to USMJ’s R&R is waiver of 4A claim
Defendant waived his Fourth Amendment challenge to his stop and frisk by not objecting to the USMJ’s R&R. United States v. Smith, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 24261 (6th Cir. July 31, 2020). Defendant doesn’t show any plausible basis for defense … Continue reading
E.D.Wash.: Connecting seized cell phone to internet not a search
Connecting already seized cell phone to the internet was not shown to be a search (citing no law). United States v. Murray, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136292 (E.D. Wash. July 2, 2020). 2255 claim that defense counsel was ineffective for … Continue reading
IN: Def counsel’s not filing a motion to suppress was strategic for plea purposes, not because of conflict
Defendant claimed defense counsel had a conflict of interest in not filing a motion to suppress because counsel also represented defendant’s wife. Their interests were identical in the case. The decision not to pursue the motion was to secure a … Continue reading
