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Recent Posts
- Treatise 25% off through 7/8
- 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
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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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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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
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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
VT: SWs for animals are different than for other property; more likely subject to exigency
Search warrants for animals are different than for other property in that they are alive and more likely subject to exigent circumstances because animal welfare is always a consideration. When executing a warrant for two animals, others apparently in distress … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: Officers arrived at an injured person call, and the assailant wasn’t around; protective sweep permissible
“Here, the officers arrived to a chaotic scene. The Defendant was severely injured after being hit by a bottle. There were at least two other individuals present. The Police were told the assailant, who had demonstrated his violent nature, was … Continue reading
CA1: Police had good reason to know drug dealing before knock and talk; they knocked, heard running, and door was sealed; breaking in was reasonable
Prior to the police coming to the door, they knew that six figures in cash had been removed from the place in a plastic bag. When they knocked, they heard running and the door was sealed shut. “Given the totality … Continue reading
IA doesn’t recognize officer’s mistake of law
Defendant was stopped in what was thought to be a county park after midnight, but there was no proof that the park was properly established or had closing hours. Assuming that the officer committed a mistake of law, Iowa does … Continue reading
MO: Two week old information in call to child maltreatment hotline was not stale nor without exigency
A call to a child maltreatment hotline was made two weeks after the observation that motivated the phone call. The exigency still existed for a warrantless entry. State v. Prince, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 348 (April 25, 2017). Defendant’s vehicle … Continue reading
CA4: Exigency didn’t justify search of a car for a weapon where there was no threat and no gun crime
Defendant was stopped and arrested on a police call, but it wasn’t for a gun crime. Therefore, because defendant was cooperative and the scene was completely under control and there were no confederates involved, a search of the car for … Continue reading
Cal.2d: Emergency aid search of wrong house was still objectively reasonable
Based on a police dispatch of a screaming woman who was also moaning in distress, the police went to the address (2314) given and entered. They did not find the woman and kept looking upstairs and in closets and found … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Police responding to a panic alarm developed PC for a SW from MJ smell
Police responded to a panic alarm at defendant’s home. He was defensive and really didn’t want them around. They could smell burnt marijuana coming from the house. A sweep was conducted, and then the police obtained a search warrant. The … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: A safe can’t be seized under plain view during an emergency entry after a shooting; its contents are unknown
“Here, police were investigating a serious crime involving gunfire and could not account for a victim. Based on the totality of evidence that the officers were aware of at the time they decided to make entry into the residence, it … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Knocking and getting no answer is not exigency
The entry into defendant’s house on probable cause but without an arrest warrant was unreasonable. The officers claimed exigency from the fact they announced and nobody answered. After the entry, the police went to defendant’s wife and told her of … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: Suicide by cop as exigency requires actual engagement with law enforcement
The government’s claim of exigency from an alleged fear of “suicide by cop” is rejected here. “The Government invokes the inherent danger of suicide and, in particular, suicide by cop, but suicide by cop requires engagement with law enforcement. The … Continue reading
CA9: Hearing apparent domestic abuse inside from choking and threatening to use a gun justified police entry
“The district court properly concluded that probable cause and exigent circumstances justified the police officers’ warrantless entry into the apartment. The officers heard Harris and Leanna Devad fighting; witnesses reported hearing choking sounds and hearing Devad say that Harris had … Continue reading
OH7: House door wide open, no cars in driveway, skittish dog and a lot of dog feces justified entry on exigency
The emergency aid exception justified entry into defendant’s house where the officer reasonably feared the owner or occupant of the house was in some sort of danger based upon the front door being wide open in the middle of winter, … Continue reading
OH5: Statute makes meth lab exigency per se; entry to freeze premises for SW reasonable
Ohio statute states that a methamphetamine lab is per se an exigency, and the officer’s seizure without a search warrant to get a search warrant was reasonable. State v. Umstead, 2017-Ohio-698, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 691 (5th Dist. Feb. 24, … Continue reading
CA4: Pre-Rodriguez stop was valid under law at time
Rodriguez was decided after the stop, and the circuit recognized de minimus delays in the stop. Moreover, the stop is not calculated merely by time: “Under Digiovanni and other pre-Rodriguez cases, that Deputy McMurray may have been able to end … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Def stopped at roadblock from Malheur National Wildlife Refuge could be searched again after he went back to talk others into leaving
Defendant arrived at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January 2016. After arrests and the killing of one, he decided to leave and encountered a roadblock where he was briefly searched. Officers asked if he would go back to the … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Shots fired call is not per se exigency; totality standard must apply
A shots fired call is not carte blanche exigency–the totality of circumstances must still be examined. Here, the court finds no exigency for the warrantless entry or protective sweep and that the exclusionary rule should be applied. The costs aren’t … Continue reading
D.Nev.: No actual or apparent authority to consent shown; presence of gun in motel room not exigency per se
Actual authority to consent and apparent authority in a motel room are two different things. Here, the government can’t show either on this record. The possibility of a gun in the room is not an exigent circumstance. United States v. … Continue reading
NY Co.Ct.: Need for an emergency entry doesn’t need to rise to PC
Uncorroborated hearsay statement defendant was suicidal was still enough for an emergency entry. The need for an emergency entry doesn’t even necessarily have to rise to the level of probable cause. People v. Ormanian, 2016 NY Slip Op 26456, 2016 … Continue reading
M.D.La.: Officer’s claim of a burglary in progress and that a protective sweep was justified was completely unjustified
It should have been apparent to the officers that the defendant was a friend of the homeowner and was a guest in the premises, and their entry was unjustified under a claim of a burglary in progress or that a … Continue reading