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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com© 2003-20,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. 25k posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
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Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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General (many free):
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Lexis.com $
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F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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)“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"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]“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: Dog sniff
CA4: Tip describing man with a gun found a block away walking away was RS
Bystander’s tip that a black man in red pants and a black shirt had left a large fight at a West Virginia bar going east after having displayed a gun. A block away to the east, officers found defendant walking … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Drug dog’s reliability doesn’t need to be shown in SW application
A search warrant application does not have to support the reliability of a drug dog used to establish the probable cause under Harris. The remedy is a motion to suppress. “As this Court reads it, Harris is a reiteration of … Continue reading
CA8: Due process right to informational privacy not clearly established
Surveying SCOTUS cases, the court concludes that a due process right to informational privacy is not clearly established. Therefore, the motion to dismiss is granted. “Under Reichle, therefore, the uncertain status of the right to informational privacy means that Defendants … Continue reading
HI: Dog sniff for drugs in traffic stop was not reasonably related to the purpose of the stop
Dog sniff for drugs in traffic stop was not reasonably related to the purpose of the stop, and it is suppressed. State v. Ikimaka, 2020 Haw. LEXIS 139 (June 9, 2020):
AL: Dog sniff at apt door unreasonable under Jardines
“We consider whether the use of a drug-sniffing dog to sniff the door seams of the apartment was, under the reasoning of Jardines, an illegal search in violation of Earl’s Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. We … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Franks challenges have two elements; failure of one is failure of the claim
The court can resolve Franks challenges by answering the easiest of the two questions, falsity or materiality, since both are required. Here, the alleged falsity wasn’t material to the probable cause determination, and that ends the inquiry. United States v. … Continue reading
CA11: Officer reasonably mistook dog’s whimper inside for person in distress; entry valid
“The major question presented on appeal is whether it was reasonable for officers, mistaking a dog’s whimper for a person in distress, to enter Evans’s home without a warrant. Given the totality of the circumstances, we say yes.” United States … Continue reading
CA4: Search incident of backpack of handcuffed def still reasonable
Despite his being handcuffed, a search incident of defendant’s backpack was reasonable because he could still try to access it. (First holding was abandonment for disavowing the backpack). United States v. Ferebee, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 12940 (4th Cir. Apr. … Continue reading
KY: Detaining bystanders to facilitate the arrest of one was reasonable
State case law already permits officers to detain bystanders for a reasonable period for officer safety in execution of search warrants. The court adopts the Sixth Circuit rule and extends it to arrest warrants, too. “We hold that detaining Constant … Continue reading
D.Utah: Dog handler’s subjective belief dog alerted unreasonable
The dog handler’s subjective belief that his drug dog alerted is inadequate for a search of a person’s car. United States v. Jordan, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71048 (D. Utah Apr. 21, 2020):
S.D.Fla.: Tip of man brandishing a gun was more like Navarette than J.L.
“The undersigned finds that the instant case is more akin to Navarette, than J.L. Although the tipster in the instant case was completely anonymous, there was sufficient indicia of reliability, based on the totality of the circumstances, to support Officer … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Def was arrested for DUI; so, already detained, a dog sniff wasn’t unreasonable
Defendant was arrested for DUI, and the court finds, based on United States v. Hunnicutt, 135 F.3d 1345, 1350 (10th Cir. 1998), that “detention of the driver at the scene to accomplish a canine sniff is generally reasonable where the … Continue reading
OH12: Not challenging reliability of drug dog not IAC without showing result would change
Defendant doesn’t show that the outcome would be different if defense counsel had challenged the certification and reliability of the drug dog. State v. Wash, 2020-Ohio-152, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 131 (12th Dist. Jan. 21, 2020). “Accordingly, the court finds … Continue reading
ID: Def left his own door open before the dog sniff; and sniff wasn’t otherwise unreasonable
Defendant got out of his car and left the door open, so it was already open when the dog sniff occurred. Opening the door was not a command. “We decline, however, to rule that an officer’s knock on a driver’s … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Using drug dog in the patrol car didn’t prolong the stop
There was a factual basis for the stop, and the drug dog at hand did not prolong the stop. After the alert, defendant then consented to the search of the vehicle. United States v. Navarro, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3062 … Continue reading
D.Utah: Unlatching but not opening car door to look inside then shutting it was attenuated from dog sniff that gave PC
Officers unlatched the door of a suspicious car parked on an cul-de-sac away from houses, and the car was suspected of a theft from a Sam’s store. The door was shut without looking inside and then a drug dog was … Continue reading
