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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© 2003-19,
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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Sixth Circuit
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D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Dog sniff
CO: Because CO has legalized recreational MJ, use of a drug dog requires PC because a dog sniff uncovers lawful activity
Because Colorado has legalized possession of small amounts of marijuana, admission of possession of it in a car doesn’t permit a drug dog to sniff the car without probable cause to believe there is an illegal amount in the car. … Continue reading
OH12: Package in transit was reasonably briefly detained for dog sniff
Briefly detaining a package in transit at least on reasonable suspicion for a dog sniff was reasonable and not a seizure of the package. They were staying at a local B&B and received two FedEx packages there, one under an … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Drug dog immediately on the scene didn’t extend the stop
Because the drug dog got right there, the dog sniff didn’t extend the stop in violation of Rodriguez. United States v. Thorn, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70781 (W.D. Ky. Apr. 26, 2019). Defendant argues that his case was like Rodriguez, … Continue reading
D.Neb.: SW for cell phone defeats motion for return of phone for time being
Defendant’s cell phone was seized when he was arrested. Five days later, the government sought a search warrant for the phone. Defendant isn’t yet entitled to return of the phone. United States v. Gonzalez, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 61279 (D. … Continue reading
TN: Riley would not be applied retroactively on post-conviction
In a post-conviction case, Riley wouldn’t be applied retroactively by statute to defendant’s cell phone search incident legal before it was decided. Sayles v. State, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 193 (Mar. 28, 2019). The stop was based on a … Continue reading
D.Ore..: Running drug dog around car after a DUI arrest was reasonable
Defendant was arrested for DUII and there was probable cause. “As Mr. Aruiza-Andrade was under arrest, the further delay while a canine was summoned did not unlawfully extend the traffic stop.” United States v. Aruiza-Andrade, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53788 … Continue reading
CA9: Credibility findings re drug dog and handler are binding on appeal
Defendant’s package was opened in transit with a warrant after a dog sniff. After a three day suppression hearing, the district court found the dog handler credible and there was no misrepresentation of facts concerning the dog’s accuracy or training. … Continue reading
KS: Inadequate findings and conclusions must be brought to trial court’s attention before appeal
Defendant should have objected to the adequacy of findings of fact and conclusions of law on his search issue in the trial court first. “Without such an objection, this court must presume the district court found all the facts needed … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Def overcomes presumption of reliability of new drug dog under Florida v. Harris
A USMJ under Florida v. Harris concludes that the defense successfully rebutted the reliability of a drug dog on the job only one month, and the alert based search was held without probable cause. United States v. Acosta, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s ‘alternative facts’ about drug-sniffing dogs
WaPo: The Supreme Court’s ‘alternative facts’ about drug-sniffing dogs by Radley Balko:
D.Ariz.: A dog sniff of the person at the border is not “non-routine”
Defendant crossed into the U.S. at a pedestrian border crossing. A dog sniff of the person was conducted. “The Court finds that the intrusiveness of the canine search did not rise to the level of a non-routine search, which would … Continue reading
KS: Def was already stopped when police approached; he got out of car and locked it and was arrested; no possessory interest involved when a drug dog sniffed his locked parked car
Defendant was stopped on a grocery store parking lot, got out of the car, and locked it. He was searched incident to arrest. A little later a drug dog came and stiffed the car. Defendant was deprived of no possessory … Continue reading
