May 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- NY Columbia Co.: Alleged excessive nervousness when multiple police cars arrive at a traffic stop doesn’t add to RS
- CA4: Backpack dumped in flight in grandmother’s yard was abandoned
- GA: Virtually all-inclusive list of items to be seized wasn’t overbroad
- CA4: Dist.Ct. erred in applying search incident to arrest to suppress bag when inventory was inevitable
- OR: Even if original served warrant wasn’t the one returned, it doesn’t warrant suppression
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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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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)
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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: Nexus
S.D.Ill.: Merely living in a house and being alleged to be a criminal doesn’t create nexus; more is required, and the govt had it here
It is settled in this circuit that merely because a person lives in a house doesn’t create a nexus to the house for crime; more is required. Here, the government gets over that hurdle. Defendant was overheard talking about having … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Cell phone pings before controlled buys provided nexus to search house
Defendant’s going directly home after several controlled buys as shown by cell phone pings was sufficient to show nexus to his home for a search warrant for drugs. “Probable cause exists in this case because of the continual and ongoing … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def used two houses, and his drug operation was from one; the SW for the second was still valid under GFE despite lack of nexus
Defendant conducted a drug operation from what the court called the 1st Premises, and he lived in the 2nd Premises, apparently avoiding keeping any drugs there. When he went out to do a drug deal, he’d stop at the 1st … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Officer’s experience shown in SW affidavit that large scale drug dealers keep it at home can be nexus
Nexus is shown to defendant’s home; the high level of his alleged drug dealing coupled with the officer’s experience that it is reasonably likely that he’d have drugs in the home. United States v. Rivera-Figueroa, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8805 … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Affidavit for SW of home garage also showed nexus to house in car theft operation
This investigation into a stolen car ring operated from a home garage showed nexus to the house, too. “The affidavit by Officer Chappell is clear and thorough and reflects months of information gathering. The affidavit explains the nexus between the … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The use of electronic devices in a fraud case essentially establishes nexus to def’s home
Nexus to the home in a fraud case was shown. “The affidavit averred that: the unauthorized accesses at the Postal Service were linked to a Dell computer bought on eBay by a user whose recovery email and phone number matched … Continue reading
CA6: GFE applies to evidence of nexus, too
While this court has struggled with what is sufficient nexus, the evidence of nexus here is more than minimal and clearly satisfies the good faith exception, too. United States v. Ardd, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 35389 (6th Cir. Dec. 18, … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Nexus to def’s apt shown by physical description not necessarily apt no.
There was sufficient connection to defendant’s alleged drug deals and his residence to support the search warrant. “While law enforcement officials could not determine at that time which of the residential units Jones entered, they were subsequently able to make … Continue reading
CA6: Affidavit for SW failed both PC and nexus, but GFE applied: affidavit was detailed and 62 pages
The affidavit for the search warrant here failed to show both probable cause and nexus, and the court details why. However, the 62 page detailed affidavit detailing the whole investigation was not bare bones by any means, and the good … Continue reading
CA6: Def’s returning home right after heroin sale provides nexus to house
There was probable cause for the search warrant and the good faith exception applies. After a heroin sale, defendant returned right to his home. It was reasonable to infer there would be evidence of the crime originating or brought back … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Controlled buys corroborate CI
The CI wasn’t supported by past history, but was by controlled buys. United States v. Williams, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180895 (W.D. N.Y. Oct. 23, 2018). “Finally, the affidavit articulated a reasonable nexus between the place to be searched (the … Continue reading
OH6: Leaving house to do a drug deal and going back home right after is inference drugs at home
The affiant’s allegation that defendant left his house to conduct drug deals then returned there right afterward creates a reasonable inference that drugs are kept in the house. Thus, there was probable cause for the search warrant. State v. Pettaway, … Continue reading
CA6: Leaving house, doing drug deal, going back home is nexus
Leaving your house, conducting a drug sale, then returning to your house is nexus that there are drugs in the house. United States v. Houser, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 27671 (6th Cir. Sep. 28, 2018). “The magistrate judge presumed that … Continue reading
CA6: Dist.Ct. erroneously suppressed over two kgs of heroin; the affidavit for SW showed a reasonable inference drugs would be found at home and GFE applied
The district court suppressed over two kilos of heroin finding that the affidavit for search warrant didn’t show probable cause and nexus to the defendant’s house. The Sixth Circuit reversed on both the probable cause and nexus issue and it … Continue reading
PA: Nexus to house shown by def leaving home for a controlled buy
Nexus was shown for defendant’s house by his leaving the house to go a controlled buy. A frisk of defendant when he was home for the execution of the search warrant is valid. Commonwealth v. Kemp, 2018 PA Super 237, … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Sexually explicit Facebook chats from home IP address is PC for the home
Defense counsel couldn’t be ineffective for not challenging the search of defendant’s apartment because there was probable cause. Sexually explicit Facebook chats with a minor from one’s home IP address is probable cause for the home. United States v. Ram, … Continue reading
MN: Apt building common hallway not curtilage under Jardines for dog sniff
Dog sniff in the common hallway of an apartment building wasn’t unreasonable because it’s not curtilage under Jardines. State v. Edstrom, 2018 Minn. LEXIS 446 (Aug. 15, 2018). There was nexus: “Here, the investigating officer had significant experience. The officer … Continue reading
CA6: Nexus not shown by old and speculative information
The showing of nexus to defendant’s house for drug dealing was wholly insufficient: (1) a suspected drug dealer once parked there, (2) the owner had a 17 year old conviction for drugs, and (3) a four month old uncorroborated tip. … Continue reading
OH5: GFE applies although affidavit for SW showed no nexus to house
The affidavit for the search warrant identified the suspects and what was to be searched for, but it said nothing about nexus to defendant’s house. Yet, the court finds that the search warrant was not bare bones based on supposition, … Continue reading