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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)
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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
NM: Officer’s statement seeking consent he’d never been turned down for a SW was coercive
The officer’s statement seeking consent that he’d sought and obtained 222 search warrants and never been turned down for one was coercive. Thus, there had to be a showing of probable cause to the defendant and probable cause here was … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: How def answered other questions during his stop was pertinent to the voluntariness of his later consent
How defendant answered other questions about his paperwork and where he was going was important to show that he understood when asked for consent on the totality of circumstances. United States v. Reyes-Martinez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217510 (W.D. Ky. … Continue reading →
KS: GFE applies to blood draw before court held it unconstitutional
“Applying State v. Perkins, 310 Kan. 764, 449 P.3d 756 (2019), to the circumstances of this case, the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies and allowed the district court to consider the results of a blood test for blood … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: “The Sixth Circuit has long held that a police officer does not violate the Fourth Amendment by asking a driver questions after the initial traffic stop has ended.”
“The Sixth Circuit has long held that a police officer does not violate the Fourth Amendment by asking a driver questions after the initial traffic stop has ended. United States v. Erwin, 155 F.3d 818, 823 (6th Cir. 1998) (en … Continue reading →
E.D.Tenn.: Issue preclusion applies in criminal cases but state’s dismissal of criminal case after motion to suppress doesn’t preclude feds
Issue preclusion applies in criminal cases, too, and the state’s dismissal of a case in the face of a successful motion to suppress doesn’t preclude the federal government from prosecuting afterward. This is a recognition of dual sovereignty. United States … Continue reading →
KS: Conduct can show consent
Nonverbal conduct can show consent. Here, defendant swept his arm in front of him suggesting only “come in.” State v. Daino, 2020 Kan. LEXIS 256 (Nov. 13, 2020). Defendant’s limited association with drug premises under surveillance wasn’t enough to make … Continue reading →
OH5: Failure to preserve search issue by conditional plea that would lose on merits wasn’t IAC
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not making sure defendant had a conditional plea to preserve his search issue because the appeal would fail. State v. Smith, 2020-Ohio-5241, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 4117 (5th Dist. Nov. 6, 2020). “Here, it is … Continue reading →
TX13: Legibility of issuing magistrate’s signature on SW is subject to GFE
The legibility of the signature of the issuing magistrate for a search warrant is an issue subject to the good faith exception. This court first held the illegibility was reason to suppress, but the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed. State … Continue reading →
S.D.N.Y.: Householder had common authority over def’s room to at least enter
A pair of shoes in plain view in defendant’s room in somebody else’s house were validly seized. The householder had sufficient common authority to at least consent to enter the room. It was not defendant’s primary residence. The officer’s reliance … Continue reading →
W.D.Ky.: When there is PC and the automobile exception applies, the 4A doesn’t require a drug dog be used
The officer had probable cause on the totality for a vehicle search under the automobile exception. It wasn’t required that the drug dog that was there be used, too. United States v. Moralez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206109 (W.D. Ky. … Continue reading →
CA8: If officers “lingered” during protective sweep, nothing else was found as a result
Defendant complained that the officers “lingered” during the protective sweep. Even if they did, nothing else was found as a result. United States v. Crutchfield, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 34446 (8th Cir. Nov. 2, 2020). The driver of the car … Continue reading →
N.D.Ill.: Def had standing to challenge search of a garage of another he was using and had exclusive control over at the time
“Perez has provided enough evidence to show that, at the time of the search, he had control over the Dakin garage and the ability to exclude others from it. He was storing materials there, there was no one else on … Continue reading →
CA6: Def consented to expanding breadth of SW because it was in his interest
Police had a search warrant for defendant’s property with marijuana grow operation, but the warrant didn’t cover outbuildings [usually they don’t even have to to cover them]. Here, defendant consented to the breadth of the search, and it was voluntary … Continue reading →
D.S.C.: Renter of hotel room had authority to consent to search of room but not her partner’s safe he brought to room
The renter of a hotel room has apparent authority to consent to its search. She did not, however, have either actual or apparent authority to consent to his safe in the room. United States v. Jaqu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading →
D.S.C.: Going from and back to house after drug deals showed nexus
Defendant’s going from and back to his house after drug deals showed nexus to the house for a search warrant. United States v. Jaqu, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183603 (D.S.C. Oct. 5, 2020). Plaintiff’s claim that he should have been … Continue reading →
CA5: Vehicle in hit-and-run could be seized as “instrumentality of crime”
Plaintiff’s car could be seized on an apartment building parking lot as an “instrumentality of crime” when it had been involved in a hit-and-run. (Neither party cites what the court thinks is a case in point, which it follows.) Rountree … Continue reading →
OH11: Def’s admission he was wearing same shoes as the day of the murder was plain view
Defendant’s admission at his police interview that he was wearing the same shoes as the time of the murder justified seizure of the shoes as plain view. State v. Thomas, 2020-Ohio-4635, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 3482 (11th Dist. Sept. 28, … Continue reading →
CA11: Shooting suicidal person who posed no threat to others unreasonable
Shooting a suicidal person three times without an effort to deescalate was unreasonable. The officer came upstairs with a gun drawn without knowing of any risk to himself, and there never was. Teel v. Lozada, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 30358 … Continue reading →
CA2: Just because officers couldn’t agree on def’s words of consent doesn’t mean there wasn’t consent
Just because none of the officers could recall the exact words used, they were consistent that defendant consented, and the district court’s crediting that was entitled to substantial weight. United States v. Frye, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28465 (2d Cir. … Continue reading →
N.D.Cal.: Court doesn’t credit that a person could just walk away from a police encounter; people get shot for that
Defendant was seized by a police car parked face-to-face with his car and spotlights shining in. Defendant couldn’t be expected to drive on the sidewalk to just leave. “The Court concludes that when the uniformed police officer here parked a … Continue reading →