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- MI: Stop was initiated on roadway but ended in driveway; stop on curtilage here was reasonable
- Malwarebytes: Your car’s app could be telling Big Tech who you are and where you go
- S.D.Tex.: Govt can’t raise new 4A exception in motion to reconsider
- NY4: Def was missing and police couldn’t find him; entry into backyard and then house were reasonable under Mitchell and Brigham City
- FL5: Only matching description of anonymous caller’s burglary report wasn’t RS; nothing about def suggested he was a burglar
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
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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)
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“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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Ineffective assistance
CA10: Gant permits search for DL in car when def fails to identify himself
Gant search incident permits a search for a driver’s real driver’s license in a car when he fails to properly identify himself. United States v. Pinder, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 29995 (10th Cir. Nov. 26, 2024). Complaining generally about a … Continue reading
CA6: Defense counsel not ineffective for not forecasting Carpenter three years early
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not forecasting Carpenter years before it was decided. Cooper v. United States, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 29853 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024).* Defendant was on parole for a child exploitation offense, and he was polygraphed … Continue reading
D.Me.: State mandated GPS tracking of lobster boats reasonable under closely regulated business exception
Under the closely regulated business exception, the State of Maine can require lobsterman to have GPS tracking on their boats. (It’s an important question and the plaintiffs are urged to appeal to the First Circuit.) Thompson v. Keliher, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
VA: Furtive movements during stop justified protective sweep of car
Furtive movements during a traffic stop added to reasonable suspicion of a potential weapon. Bazemore v. Commonwealth, 2024 Va. App. LEXIS 659 (Nov. 12, 2024).* “Under our highly deferential standard of review, it also created a sufficient—if weak—nexus between Deeble’s … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Def counsel’s failure to file a motion to suppress that might have been plausible isn’t IAC per se
“That a motion to suppress or an objection based on trial testimony regarding the aerial surveillance video might have been reasonable falls short of establishing deficient performance by counsel. United States v. Reyes, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134866, 2012 WL … Continue reading
OH4: Asking motorist about destination doesn’t measurably extend stop under Rodriguez
Asking a motorist about his or her destination during a traffic stop does not measurably extend the stop under Rodriguez. State v. Woods, 2024-Ohio-5301, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 3997 (4th Dist. Oct. 29, 2024). Similar: “Officers may question the driver … Continue reading
FL1: Lack of candor in appeal brief earns admonition
Affirmed per curiam. The concurring opinion: The facts concerning the stop and search in the appeal brief demonstrate a serious lack of candor which the state didn’t even challenge. All counsel included was his cross-examination and omitted the state’s direct … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Use of coarse language during prison strip search didn’t make it unreasonable
Prison strip search was not unconstitutional. “Shepard has failed to allege facts to support that the November 2022 search was unreasonable. She acknowledges that such searches are routinely conducted before an inmate leaves the correctional institution for outside medical appointments. … Continue reading
D.Alaska: Unsigned SW affidavit still in GF where officer was sworn
The affidavit for warrant was unsigned by the officer but he had been sworn before the warrant issued. The good faith exception saves this search. United States v. Hampton, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200326 (D. Alaska Nov. 4, 2024) Defendant’s … Continue reading
TX12: Texas livestock officer lacked general law enforcement powers
A special ranger employed by the Texas & Southwest Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA) recognized as part of the Texas DPS held himself out to be a law enforcement officer. Special rangers are limited to livestock and limited offenses. Instead, he … Continue reading
CA5: Police shooting from behind after escalating violent situation was not unreasonable
The police shooting here from behind was not unreasonable on the totality. “When McVae threw the rock, Trooper Perez had to make an immediate reflexive decision of how to protect himself in a rapidly evolving situation against an increasingly violent … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: There was PC before the dog stuck his nose through the window
The dog sticking his nose through the window was a search, but the officers already had probable cause by then. Therefore, no exclusionary. United States v. Newberry, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 195271 (N.D. Iowa Oct. 28, 2024). On the government’s … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Def counsel’s failure to object to GFE in R&R not IAC where it couldn’t win anyway
The R&R also decided the good faith exception applied to this search, but defense counsel didn’t object. It’s a meritless issue, so defense counsel can’t be ineffective for not objecting. United States v. Harp, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194730 (W.D. … Continue reading
NY: Not IAC to not raise a novel knock-and-announce argument
Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel argument that defense counsel was deficient in not raising a novel argument about not following SCOTUS’s Hudson knock-and-announce case fails. No reasonable defense lawyer would have seen the need to raise it, and the merits … Continue reading
CA2: That a DNA sample was potentially excludable didn’t need to be disclosed in SW affidavit
There were two DNA samples here. The fact the second was potentially subject to suppression didn’t need to be disclosed in the affidavit for more testing. United States v. Green, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25836 (2d Cir. Oct. 15, 2024). … Continue reading
UT: NCMEC didn’t look at the CP this time, but it had this case, and that’s enough
The fact the hash value of defendant’s material was known to be child pornography, it didn’t matter that NCMEC didn’t view the material before passing it on to the police who did. There was a prior private search. State v. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: No need to test a roach for PC, plus def admitted what it was
“During the stop, Mr. Winston himself confirmed that the roaches were marijuana; his possession charge, however, is not based on them. There was thus no reason to test the roaches to confirm the presence of marijuana. The failure on the … Continue reading
OH1: “Suspicious vehicle” report didn’t justify stop when it drove off as officers were looking at it
Officers had a report of a suspicious vehicle on an apartment complex parking lot. They stopped and shined lights on it and looked. After about a minute, the vehicle drove off. The stop was without reasonable suspicion and was a … Continue reading
CA6: New evidence of possible Franks violation for successor habeas not adequate to possibly alter outcome
2255 petitioner’s successor petition claims newly discovered evidence from an FOIA response that casts doubt on the affidavit for the search warrant obtained in 2011. “So Duval has not shown that the search warrant affidavit contained a false statement. Nor … Continue reading