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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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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: Consent
VI: Procedural errors in telephonic SW not suppressible without recklessness or bad faith
The procedural deficiencies in obtaining the telephonic warrants did not render them invalid. There was no showing of bad faith by the officers. People v. Glasford, 2022 VI SUPER 42, 2022 V.I. LEXIS 40 (Apr. 19, 2022). A person detained … Continue reading →
S.D.Miss.: 4A isn’t a basis to challenge federal marijuana criminalization
The Fourth Amendment provides no basis to claim that federal prosecution of marijuana cases violates the Constitution. United States v. Jones, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73000 (S.D.Miss. Apr. 21, 2022).* The officer here had probable cause to arrest plaintiff for … Continue reading →
N.D.Ill.: Going to drug deal from house and then going back is nexus to the house
Defendant left his house, went to a drug deal, and returned. This is not the officer’s mere reliance on what drug dealers normally do or he would expect to find. United States v. McCreary, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69838 (N.D.Ill. … Continue reading →
D.N.J.: Whether this state court judge could legally issue a telephonic warrant isn’t a 4A violation
Whether a lower court judge could issue a telephonic search warrant under state law doesn’t matter in federal court or the Fourth Amendment. “To begin with, the defendant raises at best a state-law technicality that is not of federal constitutional … Continue reading →
N.D.Ga.: No standing from hiding a gun and clip in the breakfast area of a hotel
Defendant has no standing to contest police finding his gun and clip he hid in separate cabinets in the breakfast area of his hotel. United States v. Blakely, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 59245 (N.D.Ga. Feb. 28, 2022),* adopted, 2022 U.S. … Continue reading →
OR: Asking juror question about refusal of consent was error, but here harmless
Oregon permits juror questions, and here one asked whether defendant willingly provided a DNA sample. Asking it on the record all amounted to error, but under plain error review, with other evidence in the case, it’s not reversible. State v. … Continue reading →
Bloomberg Law: Police Search of Rape Victims’ DNA Tests Meaning of Consent
Bloomberg Law: Police Search of Rape Victims’ DNA Tests Meaning of Consent by Lydia Wheeler:
UT: Searching a sleeping driver unreasonable; not community caretaking function
The state’s justification of rousting a person sleeping in a car was a seizure and not justified by the community caretaking function. The state bore the burden, and it failed. This was treated by the officers as a criminal investigation … Continue reading →
W.D.Mich.: With no evidence to rebut the prosecution evidence def consented to search of his person, the govt met its burden of proof on consent
“In this case, Defendant expressly indicated that he does not dispute the validity of his consent, but solely the scope of that consent. Detective Fox testified that he asked for Defendant’s general consent to search his person and that Defendant … Continue reading →
SD: Refusal to submit to DUI blood draw, itself an offense, could be instructed upon without violating 4A
Where refusal to submit to a DUI blood test is the offense and statute makes refusal to submit admissible, it did not violate the Fourth Amendment to instruct the jury on refusal. State v. Nelson, 2022 SD 12, 2022 S.D. … Continue reading →
LA5: Motorist assist led to plain smell and valid search
Police were called for a motorist assist to unlock a car. Once opened, the car smelled of marijuana, and that created probable cause. The police were invited to the curtilage. State v. Keller, 2022 La. App. LEXIS 247 (La. App. … Continue reading →
C.D.Ill.: Jail telephone provider can’t be sued under the 4A for recording telephone calls
A jail telephone provider can’t be sued under the Fourth Amendment for recording telephone calls. An alleged violation of the Illinois wiretapping statute is not a constitutional violation. Hunt v. Securus Techs., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26452 (C.D.Ill. Feb. 15, … Continue reading →
S.D.Ohio: Officer’s reading a note during consent entry violated scope of consent
Defendant consented to an entry but the officer’s reading a note exceeded the scope of consent. That made the later search warrant based on that void. United States v. Genco, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21055 (S.D.Ohio Feb. 7, 2022). The … Continue reading →
CO: Prosecutor’s closing argument that def refused consent to searching for DNA sample was reversible error
Prosecutor’s argument defendant refused to consent to taking his DNA in a sex crime prosecution violated the Fourth Amendment and was error here. People v. Buckner, 2022 COA 14, 2022 Colo. App. LEXIS 163 (Feb. 3, 2022). The bodycam video … Continue reading →
DC: Possession of a knife doesn’t mean RS for possession of a firearm
A warrant for premises found a visitor there, and the record shows nothing about why he was searched and the trial court upheld it. “As discussed, the factors the trial court relied upon to validate the patdown of Mr. Bingman—his … Continue reading →
M.D.Fla.: Cell phone calls with co-conspirator was PC for phone, and GFE applies anyway
Defendant was indicted in Florida for endangered species trafficking, occurring partly in California and Florida. The fact he talked 186 minutes with a co-conspirator over a year was probable cause to search his phone for evidence. Also, the good faith … Continue reading →
CA9: IRS didn’t coerce consent, def was advised of rights in writing
“To prove a Fourth Amendment violation, Orrock needed to show by clear and convincing evidence that an IRS agent induced a consent search by deceit, trickery, or an affirmative misrepresentation. … No IRS agent made an affirmative misrepresentation. Rather, Orrock … Continue reading →
TX: Pet’r gets remand over alleged pattern of lies elsewhere of one officer on SW application
Petitioner gets remand and a hearing that a police officer caught in lies on multiple search warrant applications around the same time could have here, too. Ex parte Mathews, 2022 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 36 (Jan. 26, 2022). Defendant’s father … Continue reading →
Cal.3: Warrantless seizure of car to get a warrant for it was without PC and search suppressed
In this murder case, officers had a search warrant for defendant’s house and any cars on the property. They learned he had another car at a ranch of a friend. They entered the friend’s property and seized the car and … Continue reading →
IL: Refusal to submit to SW for blood or urine was obstruction of justice
Defendant’s refusal to submit to a search warrant for his blood or urine in a DUI case supported his conviction for obstruction of justice. People v. Hutt, 2022 IL App (4th) 190142, 2022 Ill. App. LEXIS 28 (Jan. 18, 2022). … Continue reading →