Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA2: No 4A requirement for SWs being issued with notice to target
- CA6: Denying ptf access to his own bathroom during a search of his house stated 4A claim
- W.D.Mo.: Not exactly following the inventory policy doesn’t make it unreasonable under 4A
- GA: No IAC for not challenging complete cell phone download before search
- DNYUZ: CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues
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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)
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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
MA: Consent to search for firearms and drugs “in the vehicle” wasn’t notice that the officer would search under the hood; no consent for that search
The trial court properly granted defendant’s motion to suppress because his consent to a search for drugs or firearms “in the vehicle” did not authorize an officer to search under the vehicle’s hood and to remove the air filter, since … Continue reading →
CA8: Ptf couldn’t overcome QI on his facts of consent
After a search warrant was executed with a flash bang device, a St. Louis building inspector came and got consent from the occupant to conduct a search. The building inspector was entitled to qualified immunity because they can’t show their … Continue reading →
CA11: The exact description in the SW was incorrect, but the attachment cured it
“Importantly, the warrant itself refers only to ‘[t]he premises located at: 1701 Bainbridge Avenue, Pensacola, Florida 32507.’ Although Attachment A incorrectly attributes that address to the trailer, the photo and description support the conclusion that the trailer and building are … Continue reading →
NC: Remanded for findings on whether officer exceeded private search in searching flash drive
Defendant’s longtime girlfriend looked in his briefcase for information about a prior housekeeper, and she looked at a flash drive and scrolled through folders. She stumbled upon a photograph of her daughter sleeping shirtless. She turned the drive over to … Continue reading →
NY2: Former evicted tenants back on premises were trespassers and had no REP
The landlord obtained legal process to evict the tenants in an apartment, and the City Marshal changed the locks. When the tenants reentered, they were trespassers and had no legal standing or reasonable expectation of privacy. People v. McCullum, 2018 … Continue reading →
OH4: Changing argument from legality of patdown to plain feel was waiver
Defendant’s appellate argument changed from whether there was reasonable suspicion for a patdown to conceding the patdown was legal but the plain feel of a hard object found in her vagina was not. That’s waiver of the argument. State v. … Continue reading →
ND: Audio of def’s arrest shows he consented to the blood test
Defendant consented to the blood test. “At the suppression hearing the district court heard testimony from both Sergeant Stoltz and Montgomery as well as listened to the audio recording of the arrest. The district court noted an extended dialogue between … Continue reading →
D.Minn.: Def’s admission of violation of internet limits on supervised release was RS
Defendant was on federal supervised release, and the reasonable suspicion of Knights applies, and the officers had it here because defendant admitted a violation of his internet usage agreement with the PO. United States v. Kuhnel, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading →
N.D.Ga.: Def didn’t abandon shopping bag by putting it down while he played basketball
The court declines to adopt the R&R that defendant abandoned or had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a shopping bag by defendant setting it down on gym bleachers while he was in the gym playing basketball. United States v. … Continue reading →
D.Neb.: Giving home alarm code helps show consent
The record supports that defendant consented to his probation search. Giving the alarm code helps show consent. There was no objection to the probation search at any time. United States v. Wilson, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8815 (D. Neb. Jan. … Continue reading →
NE: Driver could consent to search of car when owner was passenger
Defendant was a passenger in his own car, and it was stopped by the police. The driver gave consent, and it was binding on the owner passenger. State v. Hill, 298 Neb. 675, 2018 Neb. LEXIS (Jan. 19, 2018). When … Continue reading →
E.D.Pa.: Officer’s changed testimony about consent makes court find gov’t didn’t meet burden on consent
“After indicating that Baez verbally consented to the search of the Ford Escape, Officer Mahoney changed her testimony and indicated that she did not remember how Baez gave consent to search the vehicle. Yet, somehow, she remembers that consent was … Continue reading →
D.Neb.: Minor mistakes on inventory paperwork don’t make the inventory unreasonable
The officer’s minor errors on the paperwork for the inventory don’t show that was pretextual for a criminal search or otherwise unreasonable. United States v. Lillard, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6613 (D. Neb. Jan. 16, 2018) (wrong vehicle model, failing … Continue reading →
Condé Nast Traveler: Why Hotel ‘Do Not Disturb’ Signs Are Disappearing
Condé Nast Traveler: Why Hotel ‘Do Not Disturb’ Signs Are Disappearing by Mark Ellwood Your right to sleeping in may come second to some bigger issues.
D.N.M.: Abandonment of suitcase followed nonconsensual and unreasonable detention; suppressed
This is another Albuquerque bus station luggage sweep. The officers did not manipulate the baggage; they just opened the container and looked at them. Defendant’s detention was not by consent, and that Fourth Amendment violation led to her abandonment. “The … Continue reading →
N.D.Ohio: Consent was to “take a look around,” but a complete search occurred and it’s suppresed
Consent was to “take a look around.” Instead, a complete search occurred, and that violated the scope of consent. Moreover, directions to the consenter show that she was under police control and not free to leave and that factors into … Continue reading →
OH11: Consent to search pockets didn’t include socks
Defendant consented to a search of his pockets, and the officer exceeded that consent by searching his socks. State v. Ferrell, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 18 (11th Dist. Jan. 3, 2018). Defendant was arrested for assault and battery on a … Continue reading →
D.Md.: While def’s statement is suppressed for a Miranda violation, he still consented to a search of his car during the suppressed statement
While defendant’s confession was suppressed for a Miranda violation, his consent to search was still valid because his will was not overborne. United States v. Woodland, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 319 (D. Md. Jan. 2, 2018):
W.D.Mo.: Shrugging shoulders in response to a question was consent
The court finds defendant consented to a search of his bag on a bus by a shrug of his shoulders. United States v. Salas-Lopez, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 212709 (W.D. Mo. Nov. 16, 2017), adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 212286 … Continue reading →
OH2: Using a car protective spray on interior expecting a search to occur is tampering with evidence
Spraying a car interior protective spray on the inside of a car involved in a crime when expecting that a search would occur for fingerprints and DNA supported defendant’s conviction for tampering with evidence. State v. Scott, 2017-Ohio-9316, 2017 Ohio … Continue reading →