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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
D.Utah: An A-C communication seized that was still in the hands of the taint team was not a 4A or 6A violation
An attorney-client letter was obtained by search warrant and it was isolated by the taint team. Because no case was pending at the time, the Sixth Amendment was not violated, and the dismissal or disqualification is an necessary remedy. United … Continue reading →
DE: Consent to search cell phone after false statement officers had SW was invalid
Defendant’s alleged consent to search his cell phone came after officers told him they had a warrant, which they didn’t, until the next day. Defense counsel was ineffective for not challenging the search. Matthews v. State, 2024 Del. LEXIS 202 … Continue reading →
D.V.I.: 19 warning shots from USCG helicopter to effect stop of boat wasn’t unreasonable
The Coast Guard did not use unreasonable excessive force in firing 19 warning shots from a helicopter to get defendants to stop their boat. United States v. Menocal-Mero, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99881 (D.V.I. June 5, 2024). Viewing the bodycam, … Continue reading →
CA9: Passenger parolee’s area of car was subject to search under his waiver
Defendant parolee was a passenger in a car, and the area of the car he was sitting in was subject to search. United States v. Pullen, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13604 (9th Cir. June 5, 2024). “The blood draw was … Continue reading →
CO: Statutory driver consent to testing can be revoked
Statutory consent to breath or blood test by driving can be revoked. Tarr v. People, 2024 CO 37, 2024 Colo. LEXIS 461 (June 3, 2024):
D.N.M.: Conflict of laws: Does the law of the circuit of the search apply or where the court sits?
Conflict of laws: The search was in the Ninth Circuit but the court sits in the Tenth. Which version of the independent source doctrine applies? As interesting as that question is, despite differences, it doesn’t actually matter here, because it … Continue reading →
CA11: Denial of 41(g) motion for return of property not appealable while case or investigation is going on
Denial of a Rule 41(g) motion for return of property lacks jurisdiction for an interlocutory appeal when there’s a pending criminal investigation. Burke v. United States, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 12590 (11th Cir. May 24, 2024). “Considering the totality of … Continue reading →
FL: Driver can be ordered from car before dog sniff under Mimms
“We hold that binding Fourth Amendment precedent permits a K-9 officer arriving midway through a lawful traffic stop to command the driver to exit the vehicle for officer safety before conducting a lawful vehicle sweep.” [Mimms] State v. Creller, 2024 … Continue reading →
D.N.M.: DEA’s failure to make a detailed inventory in violation of policy doesn’t require exclusion of evidence
The DEA’s failure to make a detailed inventory is not grounds to suppress the inventory, citing cases from other circuits. United States v. Veale, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88011 (D.N.M. May 15, 2024). Sometimes clients are their own worst enemy … Continue reading →
DC: Accepting a law license is consent to trust account subpoenas
Being a lawyer with a trust account, lawyer’s consent to subpoenas for their trust account. The lawyer’s argument that it’s an unreasonable search is frivolous. In re Doman, 2024 D.C. App. LEXIS 191 (May 16, 2024). Defendant didn’t show standing … Continue reading →
AR: RS def rented a hotel room was sufficient for search waiver; PC not required
For determining whether the place searched, here a hotel room, is a probationer’s for a search waiver, reasonable suspicion and not probable cause is the standard to be applied. State v. Bailey, 2024 Ark. 87, 2024 Ark. LEXIS 74 (May … Continue reading →
D.Md.: Def voluntarily entered passcode into phone where there was a SW for his face and fingerprint to open it
Police had a search warrant for defendant’s cell phone and face and fingerprint to open it. He remained silent. They got past the first step and the phone asked for the passcode. He entered the first four digits without prompting … Continue reading →
VA: Consent to look in backpack permitted search of pill bottle
Defendant’s consent to look in his backpack didn’t require separate consent to look in a pill bottle. Lee v. Commonwealth, 2024 Va. App. LEXIS 258 (May 7, 2024). CBP had reasonable suspicion for the stop of a Jeep meeting four … Continue reading →
D.N.M.: Even if def’s DNA was not obtained by consent, inevitable discovery applies
Even if defendant’s DNA was obtained by coercion, inevitable discovery applies. United States v. Montoya, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77952 (D.N.M. Apr. 29, 2024).* A description of video of a shooting incident that identifies defendant, on independent review, was not … Continue reading →
AZ: Private search and apparent consent don’t support warrantless search of SD card in video voyeurism case
Defendant was convicted of video voyeurism for a camera hidden in the bathroom of his house to record foster children. One of them found it, attempted to read the SD card but failed, and turned it with the SD card … Continue reading →
OH6: Trial court’s failure to explain RS under Rodriguez required remand
The trial court in denying the motion to suppress didn’t adequately explain the Rodriguez moment and whether there was reasonable suspicion. Remanded. State v. Jeter, 2024-Ohio-1442, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 1356 (6th Dist. Apr. 12, 2024). On the totality of … Continue reading →
CA8: 5-day delay between seizure of a cell phone and the SW to get into it was reasonable
A five-day delay between seizure of a cell phone and the search warrant to get into it was reasonable. United States v. Thomas, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 8165 (8th Cir. Apr. 5, 2024). “Considering the factors outlined in Golinveaux, Schnitker’s … Continue reading →
VI: In a pretrial curfew check, third-party custodian can consent to entry and search
Defendant was on pretrial release with a curfew at the home of his third-party custodian. Officers came for a compliance check and knocked at the door. Getting no answer, they went to the back door. They were lawfully on his … Continue reading →
CA8: Motel operator could consent to search for drugs he found cleaning room, and defendant didn’t even know
Defendant rented a hotel room for two nights. He was warned no illegal conduct. After the first night, the motel operator entered to clean the room. The mattress had been moved, so the operator lifted it to move it back … Continue reading →
CA7: False arrest claims before trial are 4A claims; due process after trial
“Claims for false arrest prior to trial are appropriately considered under the Fourth Amendment, not the Fourteenth Amendment. Manuel v. City of Joliet, Illinois, 580 U.S. 357, 367 (2017) (‘If the complaint is that a form of legal process resulted … Continue reading →