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Recent Posts
- CA6: Impeaching def’s trial testimony about the search of his property using his proffer agreement was prejudicial, but harmless
- D.S.D.: Tribal officers governed by 4A and Indian Civil Rights Act
- CA9: Knock-and-announce failure doesn’t lead to suppression
- D.Minn.: Rehashing 4A argument to USMJ isn’t a proper objection to the R&R
- OH5: Drug dog officer’s touching car to redirect dog wasn’t a search
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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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) -
“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: Automobile exception
D.Minn.: The fact a gun wasn’t found in def’s car doesn’t mean there wasn’t PC to search
“Defendant’s flight from law enforcement is, however, not the only basis to support the existence of probable cause to believe that evidence of a crime or contraband would be found in the Jeep. The probable cause to search the Jeep … Continue reading
NC: Knock-and-talk led to smell of MJ and attempt to bar the door, and that was exigency
The officer came to defendant’s door for a knock-and-talk about marijuana sales, and, when the door was opened, he could smell marijuana. Defendant shut the door and attempted to put a bar up to block access, and that was all … Continue reading
CA8: Car on car hauler’s tractor trailer still mobile for automobile exception
Defendant shipped a car on a car hauler paying in advance. All things considered, the hauler suspected drugs were involved because it had happened to him before. He called HSI which came to investigate. On the totality, there was probable … Continue reading
IL: Smell of raw cannabis from car in a recreational state is still PC
“In sum, we hold that the odor of raw cannabis coming from a vehicle being operated on an Illinois highway, alone, is sufficient to provide police officers, who are trained and experienced in distinguishing between burnt and raw cannabis, with … Continue reading
OH12: No reason why a federal search warrant can’t result in a state prosecution
A federal search warrant produced the drugs in question, and they were not inadmissible for that reason in a state prosecution. State v. Hana, 2024-Ohio-5548, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 4234 (12th Dist. Nov. 25, 2024). The trial court found that … Continue reading
PA: Merely reaching in car to secure gun in plain view was reasonable under state’s more stringent automobile exception
It was reasonable for the officer to reach in an open door and secure a gun seen in plain view under Pennsylvania’s more stringent automobile exception. Commonwealth v. Saunders, 2024 Pa. LEXIS 1734 (Nov. 20, 2024) (and there’s three opinions; … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: DUI stop justifies search for open containers
Defendant’s DUI stop justified a search for open containers, and a firearm was validly found. United States v. Stuckey, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 207801 (N.D. Iowa Nov. 15, 2024). Defendant moved to suppress a cell phone warrant at the border … Continue reading
IN: Search of passenger’s bag in car before handing it over so he could leave was reasonable when there was PC as to the car
After a traffic stop of a rental vehicle produced a marijuana smell, the driver and passenger were detained. The passenger was shortly let go and asked for his bag from the car. The officer’s search of the bag before handing … Continue reading
OK: Exclusion not the remedy for knock-and-announce violation under state constitution either
Exclusion is not the remedy for a knock-and-announce violation, following Hudson under state constitution, too. State v. Velasquez, 2024 OK CR 29, 2024 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 28 (Oct. 24, 2024). Officers had a warrant for defendant’s arrest, and when … Continue reading
SD: PC for drugs as to driver extends to passenger’s purse
Once there was probable cause to search a vehicle because of what was on the driver, there was also probable cause to search the purse of his passenger. State v. Edwards, 2024 S.D. 62, 2024 S.D. LEXIS 136 (Oct. 16, … Continue reading
IA: When there’s PC and the automobile exception, inventory irrelevant
There was probable cause for search of the car under the automobile exception so the impoundment and inventory are irrelevant. State v. Baylor, 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 740 (Oct. 16, 2024).* Defendant’s car was parked with lights on at night … Continue reading
YouTube: How has the Supreme Court applied the Fourth Amendment in the context of automobiles?
YouTube: How has the Supreme Court applied the Fourth Amendment in the context of automobiles? with Orin Kerr
CA2: A wrecked vehicle that has to be towed away is mobile for the automobile exception
Defendant wrecked his rental car and it was undriveable. It was still subject to the automobile exception because it would almost certainly be towed away, and that’s mobility. United States v. Jones, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 25563 (2d Cir. Oct. … Continue reading
IN: Warrantless pulling on a loose car door panel was with PC and reasonable
The officer’s warrantless pulling on a loose car door panel with probable cause was not an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment or state constitution. Young v. State, 2024 Ind. App. LEXIS 279 (Oct. 4, 2024). The arrival of drug … Continue reading
IA: A brief detention at the scene is not “arrest” for speedy trial purposes
“Arrest” for speedy trial purposes doesn’t include a brief detention at the scene before the actual arrest. State v. Harris, 2024 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 79 (Oct. 4, 2024). Defendant satisfied his first Franks burden of a substantial preliminary showing of … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Warrantless ion scan of car door handle was reasonable
A DNA ion scan of a car door handle was reasonable, relying on United States v. Jones, 2024 WL 1810220 (D. Minn. Apr. 25, 2024), finding no reasonable expectation of privacy in an ion scan on an apartment door from … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Military command authorized search for CP on electronics was valid; listing IP addresses of devices not required
Defendant was in the Marine Corps and a Command Authorized Search and Seizure (CASS) for his electronic devices was executed for child pornography. It was sufficiently particular to satisfy the Fourth Amendment. “In this case, the challenged warrant did not … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Search under automobile exception can be as broad as a SW would allow considering what is sought
When there is probable cause under the automobile exception, the search can be as broad as a search warrant would allow. United States v. Carmichael, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116946 (W.D.N.C. July 1, 2024). The protective sweep of defendant’s hotel … Continue reading
E.D.La.: SW for def’s surveillance video had no PC for weapons search; suppressed
Police got a search warrant for the DVR and storage for defendant’s surveillance camera that likely could have caught a homicide across the street. The warrant included weapons and ammunition when there was no justification for it. The warrant lacked … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Dissipation of PC for automobile exception search?
Defendant argues dissipation of probable cause in an automobile exception search, but cites no cases. Probable cause always has to exist at the time of the search. One can imagine that it can go stale, but not generally, and not … Continue reading