Archives
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Recent Posts
- SCOTUS: Geofence warrants governed by Carpenter and are a search; remanded for resolution of issues (interesting take on third party doctrine, too)
- The Guardian: ‘It’s dangerous and it’s going to erode trust’: redesign of US government websites stokes surveillance fears
- W.D.N.Y.: Possibility of co-conspirators in mass murder justified emergency disclosure request to Apple, Verizon, and Facebook
- E.D.N.Y.: Flight out a window is exigency for police to enter
- W.D.Tenn.: A driveway isn’t always curtilage
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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 -
"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: Emergency / exigency
E.D.Mich.: A 16 year old girl, over the age of consent, was in a hotel room with a 45 year old man; that alone was not exigency
A 16 year old girl, over the age of consent, was in a hotel room with a 45 year old man. That alone did not create exigent circumstances. Certainly the parents would be concerned, but there was no evidence that … Continue reading
W.D.Okla.: DOJ subpoena issued under the Right to Financial Privacy Act was “relevant to [a] law enforcement inquiry”
A DOJ subpoena issued under the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, 12 U.S.C. §§ 3401-3422 (“RFPA”). “Having carefully reviewed the United States’ detailed response, the Court finds that there is a reasonable belief that the records sought are … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Emergency aid exception doesn’t apply to justify entry where victims are accounted for outside
The government didn’t meet its burden of showing the emergency aid exception applied where all the purported victims were accounted for and outside the apartment they wanted to search. The protective sweep doctrine as an alternative doesn’t apply here because … Continue reading
NV: Even if PBT was a 4A violation, SW was moot because there was both PC and exigency for warrantless search
The trial court erred in suppressing the telephonic search warrant for defendant’s blood. Even if the PBT was unconstitutional, there was both probable cause and exigent circumstances without even considering it. State v. Sample, 134 Nev. Adv. Op. 23, 2018 … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Def’s Franks IAC claim fails for lack of any allegations of fact
“Lloyd makes four claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. Those claims border on the ridiculous.” As to his Fourth Amendment IAC claim for not making a Franks challenge, he alleges nothing was false. United States v. Lloyd, 2018 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA9: Shell casings in front of house corroborated shooting call police received then def “blatantly lied” about somebody else in house
Police received a call about an emergency at defendant’s house. Once there, defendant came outside and promptly lied about anybody else being inside because they’d seen somebody just enter, and there were shell casings in the front yard corroborating that … Continue reading
PA: Reasonableness inquiry always required for warrantless blood draw
Trial court failed to make a reasonableness inquiry of whether the warrantless search of defendant’s blood was objectively reasonable. Reversed and remanded. Commonwealth v. Trahey, 2018 PA Super 72, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 276 (Mar. 26, 2018):
CA10: Carelessly unloading watermelons from a box truck away from a loading dock and in middle of night with “nonsensical” answers was PC
Officers had probable cause to search defendants’ box truck. They were unloading watermelons in the middle of the night on wet grass and not at some loading dock coupled with all the unusual, vague, and even “nonsensical” excuses for why … Continue reading
IN: Landlord saw blood in the property and called the police; this was a valid emergency entry
Defendant was an emergency contact on the property, but he lived in Chicago, not at the apartment. Therefore, he had no standing. On the merits, the landlord checked on the property and saw blood stains inside. He called police for … Continue reading
OH12: 911 call about OD permitted seizure of drugs and paraphernalia in plain view
Officers responded to a 911 call about an overdose. When they got in the house, drugs and paraphernalia were in plain view, and they could be seized. State v. Pettiford, 2018-Ohio-1015, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 1073 (12th Dist. Mar 19, … Continue reading
CA10: Three CIs corroborated each other and were independently corroborated
The affidavit for the arrest warrant was based on three CIs who corroborated each other and which were independently corroborated by the police. A Franks challenge was included that a prior search resulted in finding drugs that were not mentioned … Continue reading
OH10: Def walking down street with a bullet magazine on belt wasn’t violating law and he could ignore officers
Defendant was walking down the street, and officers noticed he had a bullet magazine on his belt. They followed him to his residence, and he declined to talk to them and went inside. Their entry into his residence violated the … Continue reading
MA: Officer could follow def into open garage during active drug trafficking investigation
“A Superior Court judge properly denied a criminal defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress evidence discovered following a police officer’s warrantless entry into an open garage through which the officer followed the defendant after observing him standing inside it during a … Continue reading
OH5: Exigency for blood draw from accident at 1:30 am and hospitalization
Exigent circumstances existed which justified the warrantless draw of defendant’s blood. “The accident occurred at approximately 1:30 a.m. on May 8, 2016. After his initial contact with Appellant, Officer Lewis was unable to investigate further due to Appellant’s condition. Emergency … Continue reading
NY4: CSLI obtained by exigency mere third party information not subject to suppression
Police discovered defendant may have been involved in a quadruple homicide, and they submitted an exigent circumstances request for his CSLI for the four days around the homicide, and that put him there. His motion to suppress the CSLI was … Continue reading
FL4: Exigency required finding def’s cell phone to locate a school bus stop shooter
Exigent circumstances in finding a shooter at a school bus stop necessitated the officers pinging the cell phone to locate the shooter. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the search because it would have failed. Barton v. State, 2018 … Continue reading
FL3: Warrantless blood test justified by exigency where it was 4:22 am Sunday and it would take 4 hours to get SW
Exigent circumstances justified a warrantless blood test because defendant’s accident occurred at approximately 4:22 a.m. on a Sunday, the accident was serious, resulting in an instantaneous death, defendant himself was seriously injured, taken to a hospital for treatment, and induced … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Admissions about one’s own drug use to police during 911 call about unresponsive woman were RS
Police and EMTs responded to a 911 call about an unresponsive woman who later died. At the scene, admissions about defendant’s own drug abuse were made. “The court finds that the information about E.M.’s drug use, particularly when coupled with … Continue reading
NM: Trial court found truth between dashcam video and the testimony of the officer and the def; still entitled to deference on appeal
The trial court considered the dashcam and the officer’s and defendant’s testimony because the dashcam wasn’t conclusive: “But I think it just goes to show you really need to review the video in every case. And in this case, after … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def was a suspect in a stabbing, and police entered his property without a warrant claiming exigency; there was no exigency
Police came to defendant’s house because he was alleged to have stabbed somebody. They entered the curtilage without a warrant to look for evidence, and they found a bent bloody knife out in the rain. The warrantless entry was not … Continue reading