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- FL: Violation of knock-and-announce statute doesn’t require exclusion
- TX3: DUI blood draw while in restraint chair not 4A unreasonable
- TX1: Def has a duty to make his record on PC and the SW; missing affidavit was on him
- N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
- The Guardian: ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
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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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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: Consent
WI: Failure to respond to City’s letter to inspect rat-infested property was implied consent
The city wrote by certified mail to the owner of rat-infested property apparently abandoned since he hadn’t come from home in California since before Covid. State law allows inspections if requested and permitted. The owner never responded. His Fourth Amendment … Continue reading →
GA: SW for things that were not controlled substances entitles target to return of the property
The search warrant here was for delta-8,9,10-THC but 8 and 10 are not controlled substances. Lacking probable cause for them, the search target is entitled to return of its property. Elements Distribution v. State, 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS 535 (Nov. … Continue reading →
NE: Reliability of Google Translate app for use to get consent to search not preserved below
Consent to search granted by a non-English speaking suspect via Google Translate app was not properly preserved for appeal as to the accuracy of the translation. “While Hernandez’ counsel objected to the admission of the evidence obtained from the search … Continue reading →
KY: State could refer at trial to SW for DNA, but it couldn’t say def refused consent
It was not error to permit the state to inquire that a search warrant was used to get defendant’s DNA, as long as there was no reference to his refusal of consent. Finch v. Commonwealth, 2023 Ky. LEXIS 302 (Oct. … Continue reading →
D.Colo.: No REP CI won’t record you
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy against a CI recording him, so defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging it. United States v. Andasola, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 190985 (D. Colo. Oct. 24, 2023).* The officer had reasonable suspicion … Continue reading →
CA11: Mandamus not remedy to overcome waived 2255
Petitioner waived his 2255 and can’t raise his Fourth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim by mandamus. In re Morgan, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 28330 (11th Cir. Oct. 24, 2023). The sheriff solicited nude pictures of a person that became … Continue reading →
CA6: 911 calls about dangerous situation satisfied Navarette
The information from 911 callers was detailed and explained a dangerous situation, and reasonable suspicion existed under Navarette. United States v. Duplessis, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 27980 (6th Cir. Oct. 19, 2023).* “Here, Jordan asked whether Hammond would mind if … Continue reading →
DE: Def consented to search of his cell phone in an effort to prove his alibi
Defendant consented to search of his cell phone in an effort to prove his alibi. Blackwood v. State, 2023 Del. LEXIS 328 (Oct. 11, 2023). Defendant’s guilty plea wasn’t a conditional plea, so the search issue was waived. If he … Continue reading →
OH7: Def didn’t impliedly consent to officer’s entry into hotel room when def was getting his ID
The officer encountered defendant in the hotel lobby. He asked for defendant’s ID, and defendant said he had to go to his room to get it. The officer asked if he could accompany him to the room. The officer’s entry … Continue reading →
N.D.Cal.: Motion to suppress based on state court issuing judge lacking jurisdiction saved by GFE even if true
Defendant’s motion to suppress based on the state court judge issuing the warrant lacking jurisdiction is denied on the merits and by the good faith exception. United States v. Bailey, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179249 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2023). … Continue reading →
CA11: No REP in package shipped to def’s GF where his name wasn’t on package
Defendant showed no reasonable expectation of privacy in a package of fentanyl shipped to his girlfriend at the place where he was staying. United States v. Harris, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 25677 (11th Cir. Sep. 28, 2023). Defendant’s hesitation following … Continue reading →
D.R.I.: Protective sweep unjustified; no reason to believe anyone else was there
Defendant’s premises had been under surveillance for days before the entry and protective sweep. There was no justification for the protective sweep because there was no reason to believe anyone else was there. United States v. Dacruz, 2023 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading →
N.D.Okla.: Video doesn’t support officer’s claim of excessive nervousness
The court does not credit the officer’s claim that defendant was excessively nervous to the point of stuttering during the stop in the officer’s effort to show reasonable suspicion. It appears to the court from the video to be no … Continue reading →
GA: Unjustified protective sweep suppressed
The “security sweep” of defendant’s dwelling violated the Fourth Amendment. No justification for the entry and no exigent circumstances were shown. Defendant’s alleged consent came after the unlawful entry. Denial of suppression reversed. Thompson v. State, 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS … Continue reading →
NM: State had to support search incident to arrest of def’s purse at suppression hearing and didn’t
Defendant’s purse over the shoulder was not part of her person. It was removed from her and later searched incident to arrest. The state failed to support the search incident doctrine at the suppression hearing of where the purse was … Continue reading →
WV: When asked for consent to search his house, def said ‘F*** it. Come on.’ That was consent.
“After some discussion of his choice to voluntarily agree to a search or wait until a search warrant was obtained, petitioner left the trooper’s vehicle, saying words to the effect of ‘F*** it. Come on.’ He walked toward his house … Continue reading →
M.D.Tenn.: Repeatedly re-asking for consent to search cell phone doesn’t make it coercive
“Guerrero argues he was coerced into consenting to the search because the agents continued to ask for consent after he avoided answering the question and they threatened to obtain a search warrant if he did not consent. True, the agents … Continue reading →
FL6: Search incident of backpack and fanny pack removed before stop was unreasonable
Defendant was stopped on a bicycle. His backpack and fanny pack were removed from him and placed on the hood of the police car. The search incident doctrine did not apply to them under Gant. They were out of his … Continue reading →
DC: Juvenile’s mother who owned cell phone and account could consent to search of the phone
A juvenile’s mother who had the child’s cell phone in her name because she bought it and it was on her account and the child lived with her gave her apparent authority to consent to search of the phone. In … Continue reading →
OR: All electronic devices seized to be searched require PC showing
The affidavit for warrant did not show justification for search of all the electronic devices that were seized and then searched. State v. Cannon, 299 Ore. App. 616, 450 P.3d 567 (2019). (Probable cause was conceded as to some devices.) … Continue reading →