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Recent Posts
- MD: Hot pursuit can be days later, here exigent CSLI to find him
- D.D.C.: Alleged illegal arrest doesn’t void DNA SW
- S.D.Fla.: Inventory that omitted “miscellaneous personal items” was not unreasonable
- CA4: The fact that ptf charged with witness intimidation didn’t do it again wasn’t material for Franks
- CO: Not 4A or state constitutional violation for govt to access def’s computer via peer-to-peer sharing with BitTorrent software
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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)
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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: Automobile exception
MA: Traffic stop “morphed” into arrest for no DL, inventory, then automobile exception
Driving on a suspended license is an offense for which (1) search incident is valid, and (2) the driver can’t continue and the vehicle would be impounded and subject to a proper inventory. In this case, the inventory was not … Continue reading
KY: Def’s car search lacked PC; not def’s burden to show state lacked exigency, it’s the state’s burden to show it
The search of defendant’s car was completely unjustified. The car was parked and he was sitting in it. The officer was curious and approached to talk to him. Nothing was seen suggesting crime was “a foot.” The state’s argument that … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Car being stuck in snow and key fob not there doesn’t nullify application of the automobile exception
A car stuck in the snow at the end of the alley and defendant without the key fob is still mobile for the automobile exception. “Any temporary loss of mobility is insufficient to take Williams’s case outside the automobile exception.” … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Advance notice def driving into state doesn’t require SW for car under automobile exception
Defendant concedes officers had probable cause. Just because they had advance notice defendant was coming because of the breadth of their investigation, the automobile exception allowed a vehicle search because of the mobility of the car. Advance notice still doesn’t … Continue reading
FL5: Car search was justified by search incident; automobile exception finding not even appealed
Defendant’s traffic stop was justified for stopping in the crosswalk before turning on red. The search of the car was found by the trial court with probable cause and justified by the search incident doctrine and the automobile exception. Defendant … Continue reading
SD: There was reason for def’s stop, but no PC for search of the car
There was reason for defendant’s stop and reasonable suspicion developed from excessive nervousness and a masking agent, but there was no probable cause and exigency for a search of defendant’s car. State v. Terry, 2019 Del. Super. LEXIS 431 (Sept. … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Driving one’s car to ER and going in isn’t abandonment; dead battery doesn’t remove exigency for automobile exception
Having been shot, defendant did not abandon his car when he drove to the ER and went in, leaving his keys in the car at the entrance. The fact the battery was dead in the car didn’t remove the exigency. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Automobile exception permits search of locked box inside vehicle
With probable cause to believe that a vehicle has evidence in it, the automobile exception allows entry into a locked container (here a locked box) inside the vehicle. Also, a police officer following a car is not a seizure. United … Continue reading
CA4: Def’s admission she had cocaine in her hair permitted search incident of her car where arrested
“After finding a bag of white powder in Harrison’s hair — which she admitted to the arresting officer was cocaine — and observing a suspicious baggie and a large amount of cash in plain view, the officers had a ‘reasonable … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: A parked car is still subject to automobile exception
The automobile exception applied to an already parked car because it’s still “mobile” for exigency purposes. United States v. Mizell, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138171 (N.D. Ga. July 29, 2019), adopted, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137988 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 15, … Continue reading
TX3: Finding drugs on the driver is PC to search the car
Finding drugs on the person during a lawful stop and search of the person provides probable cause to search the car. State v. Pena, 2019 Tex. App. LEXIS 7015 (Tex. App. – Austin Aug. 13, 2019). The search warrant legitimately … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: When the automobile exception applies and def is in custody, a SW still isn’t required
There was probable cause by a plain view so the automobile exception applies. The fact defendant as in custody doesn’t require a search warrant. United States v. Lightsey, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121669 (M.D. Fla. July 3, 2019). There was … Continue reading
IN: When AE applies, the fact def walked away from the car doesn’t prevent search
Where there was probable cause and the automobile exception applied, the fact defendant walked away from the vehicle didn’t prohibit its search. Cleveland v. State, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 316 (July 15, 2019). Defendant was apparently asleep parked in an … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Speaking Spanish isn’t even a factor in RS or PC for a vehicle search
The fact the driver of a car spoke Spanish was not reasonable suspicion or probable cause because at least 10% of the U.S. population speaks Spanish. The search of the car was without probable cause, and the exclusionary would be … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Record supports def abandoned CD-Rom of CP
The record supports the conclusion that defendant abandoned a CD-Rom of child pornography, and defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not pursuing it. Rogers v. Sec’y, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107788 (M.D. Fla. June 27, 2019).* The trial court’s finding there … Continue reading
CA9: The smell of marijuana from a car in a recreational use state is still PC
The smell of marijuana from a car in Nevada where recreational use is permitted is still probable cause because state law doesn’t permit smoking in a car. United States v. Gray, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 19095 (9th Cir. June 26, … 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
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
NC: Going to back door after no answer in a knock-and-talk violates Jardines
Police went to do a knock-and-talk and nobody answered at the front door. Going to the back door, ostensibly as an extension of the knock-and-talk, violated curtilage under Jardines. What was seen went into a search warrant application, and it … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Protective sweep of nearby shed on def’s arrest in wooded area valid
Defendant was arrested in an open wooded area, and the protective sweep of a shed near him was valid. United States v. Flanagan, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100047 (N.D. Ala. May 29, 2019), adopted, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99228 (N.D. … Continue reading