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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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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)
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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: Emergency / exigency
EFF: NSA Spying: Government’s Latest Delay Tactic Fails
EFF: NSA Spying: Government’s Latest Delay Tactic Fails by Cindy Cohn: The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit today rejected the government’s latest attempt to delay consideration of whether the NSA’s tapping into the Internet backbone is … Continue reading
DC: Entry on a domestic dispute unjustified by exigency; everybody involved was outside the house
The entry into defendant’s house was not supported by exigency. The police interviewed the participants in a domestic dispute outside, and there was no reason at all to believe that there was someone in the house in need of aid. … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Mere possession of a small amount of marijuana is not a serious offense to justify an exigent circumstances entry
Police lacked exigency for an entry into defendant’s home. They were called and didn’t go right away, and the best that could be said for the government’s position was that the occupants possessed marijuana, which the court distinguishes from the … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: A blood trail at a house 2½ hours after a shooting with missing participants was exigency
The previous night there was a shootout in East St. Louis in defendant’s neighborhood, some shots a block from defendant. Two people ended up in the hospital, neither associated with defendant’s address. In investigating at defendant’s house 2½ hours later, … Continue reading
NJ: The emergency aid exception is based on objective known facts, not hindsight
Casino and police received a report of a hotel room robbery in Atlantic City, and the officer called for SWAT backup. The officers went to the floor where the robbery occurred, and they entered a room when there was no … Continue reading
NC: A broken window and screen off is not an exigency without a burglary call or more information
A broken window at a house and a screen leaning against the house without other objective evidence of a break in was not reasonable cause to believe that there was a recent or ongoing burglary to justify a police entry … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: Exigency still applied to entry into house day after a shooting where a possible victim unaccounted for
The day after a shootout, the police find another possible location for gunfire and enter the house under the emergency exception. The entry is reasonable because one person was unaccounted for and it was possible that person was inside. Observations … Continue reading
AK: Emergency exception applied to state trooper’s entry several hours after being called because of the remoteness of the location
This case was a domestic shooting in rural Alaska. Tribal officers were called, and they called for the State Troopers who were far better trained in crime scene preservation and homicide investigation. Their later entry was still under the emergency … Continue reading
Two on emergency: DV call and multiple erratic 911 calls threatening to use a gun
A domestic violence call from an hysterical woman at a hotel room justified a warrantless entry into the room when the police could finally locate her room. Commonwealth v. Caple, 2015 PA Super 159, 2015 Pa. Super. LEXIS 425 (July … Continue reading
E.D.La.: Exigency had dissipated by the time this stop occurred, and it’s suppressed
Officers heard a threat to kill defendant and they went looking for him to warn him. But, the court finds no sense of urgency, and they stopped defendant’s car, claiming the emergency exception. There was an emergency if they acted … Continue reading
NJ: There is a rebuttable presumption that a dropped 9-1-1 call is an emergency, and the presumption applied here on the objective facts
Here, the objective facts supported the conclusion that there was an emergency from a dropped 9-1-1 call. There is a rebuttable presumption that a dropped 9-1-1 call is an emergency, and the presumption applied here. State v. Reece, 2015 N.J. … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Reaching in def’s door to grab him and pull him out to arrest was based on PC and exigency of threat of violence
Officers received a call about defendant having a sawed off shotgun and pointing it at somebody. They had enough information to be probable cause. They went to defendant’s house to arrest, and defendant came to the door but wouldn’t come … Continue reading
CA10: Where no emergency suggested, welfare check entry violated Fourth Amendment
The officer here came to serve a summons at plaintiff’s house, and he looked through the window and saw the place was in disarray. He went to the door, and it was unlocked. He never knocked. He decided to perform … Continue reading
NC: SW can’t issue merely because order of protection issued; showing of PC something will be found required
A search warrant cannot issue for defendant’s house merely because the court issues a domestic violence order of protection. There must be a showing of probable cause and for what to enter the house. “Special needs” doctrine does not apply. … Continue reading
MA: Hot pursuit into garage permissible for a jailable misdemeanor
Defendant was fleeing from the police after an attempted traffic stop, and he drove into his garage. The officers could enter his garage in hot pursuit from a jailable misdemeanor. The court declines to adopt a different standard under the … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Distancing oneself from ownership and control over the vehicle searched “effectively has eviscerated his ability to challenge the warrantless search of it.”
Defendant’s distancing himself from ownership and control of the vehicle searched by the government “effectively has eviscerated his ability to challenge the warrantless search of it.” He has no standing to suppress what his wife had. United States v. King, … Continue reading
OH10: Emergency or hot pursuit didn’t justify entry during knock-and-talk
Bike patrol officers smelled burning marijuana, and that led to them to a hotel room. When they knocked, defendant opened the door and they barged in. The entry was unlawful and couldn’t be sustained under any emergency or hot pursuit … Continue reading
CA9: Denial of a suppression hearing is reviewed for abuse of discretion; no contested facts, no abuse
Denial of a suppression hearing is reviewed for abuse of discretion. Here, there were no contested facts, and the district court found that the use of a flashlight to illuminate defendant’s car seeing a gun in plain view was reasonable. … Continue reading
MA: Any objective facts of domestic violence inside on a 911 call supports entry
There is weighty interest of the state in preventing and prosecuting domestic violence. Accordingly, the court almost comes out and says that police get the benefit of the doubt for a warrantless entry under the emergency aid exception if any … Continue reading