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- Treatise on sale to 11/1
- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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
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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: Standing
OH9: Citizen informant’s 911 call properly admitted at suppression hearing even though hearsay
A 911 call from a citizen informant was properly admitted into evidence becuase hearsay is admissible in suppression hearings. There was a factual basis for defendant’s stop on reasonable suspicion for DUI. The CI’s report was that he was too … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Being handed a bag for five seconds wasn’t enough to create standing
Analyzing bailments under PR law and First Circuit and SCOTUS cases (particularly Rawlings), defendant’s precipitous five second holding of a bag handed off to him wasn’t sufficient to create a bailment or give him standing in the bag. United States … Continue reading
CA1: Standing can’t be based on an untranslated document to put into evidence; even in D.P.R.
Defendant’s claim of standing in the home of another depends upon a Spanish language document [in PR federal court where everyone is bilingual] that was untranslated for the judge [and apparently not for appeal]. Therefore, his standing argument fails. But … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: On remand of Byrd, GFE applied to standing issue
On the Sixth Circuit’s remand of Byrd v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 1518 (2018), to the District Court, the court finds the good faith exception applies to standing issues arising before it was decided. United States v. Byrd, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Renting bedroom from homeowner and paying in drugs still gave renter standing; but owner had apparent authority to consent
Defendant lived in a drug dealer’s house where he rented the room in exchange for drugs. He had unfettered access to come and go. That gave him standing in his own room. The owner, however, also had unrestricted access to … Continue reading
D.Me.: Even if omission was reckless, missing info only added to PC
Even if the officer’s omission was reckless or intentional, adding in the missing information only makes the probable cause stronger. Therefore, his Franks claim fails. United States v. O’Neal, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126426 (D. Me. July 30, 2019).* Defendant’s … Continue reading
KY: Officers approached men on a street corner talking; telling def to “hang tight for a minute” because he wanted to run his name and SSN was a seizure requiring RS
Officers saw a group on a corner, so they initiated contact, just because they wanted to. They also attempted to get them to clean up the trash on the corner, which wasn’t shown to be their fault or responsibility. When … Continue reading
FL2: State doesn’t justify entry into motel room on any exigency after suspect’s arrest; standing raised too late
The court declines to remand for more evidence of standing when the state sat on the claim. The state’s protective sweep argument and associated search incident fails for its failure to show exigency for any entry or officer safety. The … Continue reading
FL2: Def gets benefit of Byrd where issue raised before it was decided; remanded
Defendant was not listed as an authorized driver of a rental car, and he moved to suppress the search of the rental car. Because his case was in “the pipeline,” he gets the benefit of Byrd and the case is … Continue reading
D.Nev.: The fact def’s FIPF prior had a suspended sentence wasn’t material for Franks
A state telephonic search warrant was issued based on allegations that defendant was a felon in possession of a firearm. The fact he got a suspended sentence and it was omitted from the application for the warrant isn’t material. United … Continue reading
PA: DYS inspection order required PC
DYS obtained an inspection order to enter petitioner’s house, but it was issued without specific probable cause to believe any specific acts were occurring inside. Probable cause was required for the order to enter. In the Interest of D.R., 2019 … Continue reading
MA: An unreasonable and overlong detention of the car is also one of the passengers
The mere fact the car was rented provided no indication to the officer that the defendant wasn’t permitted to drive it, thus no reasonable suspicion from that. Thus, the stop was unreasonably extended without reasonable suspicion. When the detention is … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Def failed to show standing at the place where he intermittently spent nights but no showing of when
Defendant failed to show standing in the home of another. He and his girlfriend had a key to the premises where he intermittently spent the night over a fair stretch of time, but there was no showing of when he … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: While def was in jail, he caused robbery evidence to be moved to his sister’s house; he’d been in jail a month by then and lacks standing
Defendant is accused of robbing an ATM technician. The search warrant for his place in Chicago was based on probable cause, and evidence linking him to the robbery was found there. After jail calls suggested evidence was moved to his … Continue reading
No IAC for not moving to suppress where there’s no standing
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not pursuing a motion to suppress that the co-defendant already lost on the merits and for which defendant had no standing. State v. Adkins, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 335 (July 16, 2019).* Defense counsel wasn’t … Continue reading
D.Me.: Byrd doesn’t confer standing in the other car in a caravan
Byrd does not confer standing in a rented car part of a two-car caravan where defendant didn’t rent the other car and wasn’t even in it. United States v. Beauregard, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106904 (D. Me. June 26, 2019). … Continue reading
MS: No passenger standing in car despite well-secreted drugs
Defendant argued he had standing in a car because he was more than a mere passenger because of how the drugs were hidden and “because ‘[h]e had access to parts of the car that were not normally accessible to a … Continue reading
MN: Search of rented room in single family dwelling was reasonable under SW; it wasn’t apparent it was rented
In a stipulated evidence suppression hearing, defendant did not preserve the issue he presents for appeal. Going to the merits anyway, defendant claimed that his rented room in what was, for all appearances, a single family dwelling was reasonable. The … Continue reading
ME: No standing in co-conspirator’s CSLI even when they were tracked together
Defendant lacked standing to contest the CSLI acquisition of his co-conspirator’s cell phone when the police were looking for both. The same rule applies to his Fourth Amendment claim and his claim under Maine’s Electronic Device Location Information Act. State … Continue reading
PA: ID made as a result of warrantless search suppressed, but that which was seen before may be testified to
An officer’s identification made wholly as a result of a warrantless search renders that identification tainted and inadmissible. If, however, eyewitness identification of a defendant occurred prior to illegal conduct by law enforcement may be admissible, if based on observations … Continue reading