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- Cal.1st: Minor in possession of MJ is PC for search of car
- D.P.R.: Def waived his Franks by providing nothing to show what’s what
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- D.Utah: Drug dog arriving within 7 minutes was reasonable and part of the initial stop
- D.Kan.: Preliminary hearing moots claim of lack of PC for arrest
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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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) -
“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!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
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Category Archives: Reasonable suspicion
LA Times: California police required to state reason for traffic stops before questioning drivers next year
LA Times: California police required to state reason for traffic stops before questioning drivers next year by Noah Goldberg (“Starting Jan. 1, California police officers will have to tell drivers why they’ve been pulled over before questioning them on any … Continue reading
NM: No valid purpose for impoundment and inventory of def’s car parked in his own driveway
Impoundment and inventory of defendant’s car parked in his own driveway was unreasonable. There was no valid community caretaking function to be served here. State v. Ontiveros, 2023 N.M. LEXIS 281 (Dec. 18, 2023). 2254 petitioner had a full and … Continue reading
LA4: Lack of PC finding at first appearance required OR bond
Defendant was arrested on a warrant. At the first appearance there was no determination of probable cause for the arrest, so state law required that he be ORed. The $10,000 bond is set aside. State v. Nelson, 2023 La. App. … Continue reading
CA8: Def’s condition (“rotting teeth, quick speaking, profuse sweating, and rapid, shallow breathing”) plus odd travel plans was RS
Defendant’s condition (“Baltes had observed Betts’s symptoms of drug use: rotting teeth, quick speaking, profuse sweating, and rapid, shallow breathing.”), a torch lighter, and unusual travel plans added up to reasonable suspicion to extend the stop. United States v. Betts, … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Bullet holes in a car isn’t RS without more
On remand from the Ninth Circuit to reconsider defendant’s argument on prolonging the stop, the court finds that his finally producing registration ended that part of the officer’s inquiry. Defendant’s car was also “riddled with bullet holes” but that wasn’t … Continue reading
C.D.Ill.: No RS car with SC plates and tinted windows violated IL law
There was no reasonable suspicion that the window tinting on a car with South Carolina plates found in Illinois violated Illinois law. United States v. Timms, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220195 (C.D. Ill. Dec. 8, 2023).* Plaintiff state prisoner’s § … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: A Terry stop can occur for civil infractions
A Terry stop can occur for noncriminal offenses, such as traffic citations. Here it was for vaping in the wrong place. United States v. Perez, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 218640 (N.D. Okla. Dec. 8, 2023). Volunteering one is armed “when … Continue reading
LA3: Cell phone ping to locate def in a shooting investigation was exigent
“In our view, the trial court did not err in finding that exigent circumstances justified the warrantless procurement of Defendant’s cell-site information. Defendant was attempting to flee from the investigation of this violent crime, [and there was a serious risk … Continue reading
D.Utah: Questions about anything of “concern” or “illegal” inside vehicle were not about officer safety
The traffic stop was valid, but the extension of the stop was not, and defendant’s statements during the stop are suppressed. “Here, the officers extended the traffic stop to ask whether there was anything ‘of concern’ or ‘illegal’ inside of … Continue reading
CA3: Two minutes for a criminal records check during a traffic stop was reasonable under Rodriguez
“Law enforcement officers conduct traffic stops every day. No matter how minor the apparent infraction, every traffic stop must comply with the Fourth Amendment. It wraps every person, and every traffic stop, with a cloak of constitutional protection. The Fourth … Continue reading
New Law Review: Policing Emotions: What Social Psychology Can Teach Fourth Amendment Doctrine
Wayne Logan, Policing Emotions: What Social Psychology Can Teach Fourth Amendment Doctrine, 77 Buffalo Law Review (forthcoming 2024):
TX7: Four county highspeed chase was RS
Defendant’s argument failed that a license plate reader hit couldn’t provide a basis for a stop when he went on a four county highspeed chase when the police tried to stop him. Landers v. State, 2023 Tex. App. LEXIS 8817 … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Scrolling through electronic devices at the border is reasonable in CA11
Merely scrolling through an electronic device at the border is a reasonable border search. United States v. Vrdoljak, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208332 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 20, 2023). The officer was incidentally following defendant, and he observed her driving within … Continue reading
LA4: CI’s success rate not important when CI corroborated by controlled buy
The affidavit for the warrant here did, in fact, show probable cause and nexus from the informant’s reports corroborated by observations of the officers. The lack of a success rate by the CI wasn’t as important when he was corroborated … Continue reading
D.Haw.: State officers allegedly violating state law in warrant process or execution irrelevant under 4A
The fact state officers might have violated state law in executing the warrant wasn’t material to the Fourth Amendment reasonableness requirement. United States v. Miske, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 203981 (D. Haw. Nov. 14, 2023).* There was reasonable suspicion or … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Even if search preceded arrival of SW, independent source applied
Even if the search preceded the warrant being issued, the decision was already made and the independent source doctrine validates the search. United States v. Ellis, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202209 (E.D.N.C. Oct. 20, 2023), adopted, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Posting political candidate’s address online violated no REP
A candidate running for office had his address posted online, and this did not violate any reasonable expectation of privacy or Fourth Amendment right. His voter registration address was already online. Sharma v. Hirsch, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202163 (E.D.N.C. … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Car company with security interest had claim for alleged illegal disposal of seized car
A motorist was stopped and searched and his car was seized, towed, and impounded. Later it was sold by the towing company for expenses. Toyota had a security interest in it. Toyota stated a claim for loss of the car. … Continue reading
WV: A summons is not a 4A seizure
Claiming plaintiff was “forced to turn himself in” on a summons didn’t state a claim for a Fourth Amendment seizure. State ex rel. Atty.-Gen. v. Ballard, 2023 W. Va. LEXIS 473 (Nov. 9, 2023). “The warrant in this case listed … Continue reading