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
CA6: PC for a cell phone SW shown because it was used in a fraud case; computer search standards applied and satisfied
In a fraud case, probable cause was shown to search a cell phone for both evidence of the fraud and text messages where the co-conspirators were communicating with each other. Nexus was shown because defendant was using his cell phone … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Reasonable to infer that robbers usually keep weapons and proceeds at home
It was a reasonable inference that a suspected robber would keep the weapons used and the proceeds of the robbery in his house. In any event, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Morgan, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48758 … Continue reading
W.D.Fla. & D.Md.: Nexus is established by a reasonable inference the object sought will be found
Nexus was shown for a search of defendant’s house for counterfeit money. The police had reports from CIs having bought counterfeit money from him at 10¢ on the dollar, and his house was surveilled, resulting in seeing him carrying a … Continue reading
Nexus can exist for fraud in business records and defendant’s home to look for records
Nexus can exist for fraud in business records and defendant’s home to look for records: United States v. Gardner, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44647 (D.Minn. March 19, 2015). “The Hunt Affidavit describes a ‘builder buyout” scheme where a builder can … Continue reading
CA6: Good faith exception overcomes a nexus argument, which is a form of PC
The good faith applies to the nexus argument here [which is also a probable cause question], so the question of probable cause for issuance of the warrant doesn’t even have to be decided [and how lazy is that?]. Here, there … Continue reading
CA1: Nexus is whether evidence will be found in the place searched, not whether a crime occurred there
“First, Joubert argues that a nexus is lacking because the affidavit contains no allegations that he committed any offenses at the location being searched. But Joubert misidentifies the relevant inquiry. The question is whether evidence of the crime is likely … Continue reading
IN: The facts of a neighborhood feud that ended in murder suggested nexus to def’s house for the murder weapon
In a neighborhood feud murder case, the known, albeit limited, facts strongly suggested that defendant was the shooter and thus the murder weapon would be found at his house. This was sufficient nexus. Also, citizen informants don’t have to be … Continue reading
PA: Occupant of house lacked authority to consent to search intended guest’s luggage
Defendant left luggage and a shaving kit at his girlfriend’s apartment because he was coming back there to spend the night. They get stopped and defendant gets arrested. Defendant is a suspect in a robbery. The police get consent from … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The scene of a shooting is nexus for a SW
The scene of a shooting is a logical place to find evidence of the shooting. Therefore, that’s nexus, and probable cause exists. United States v. Strong, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170882 (D. Minn. November 21, 2014). Defense counsel was not … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Cell phone found in automobile exception search could be seized for SW
Defendant’s cell phone found in a car searched under the automobile exception could be seized pending getting a search warrant for it. There was probable cause to believe evidence of the crime would be found there. United States v. Palermo, … Continue reading
Nexus: Drug dealer’s homes usually have the stash
Nexus to defendant’s house for a drug search warrant was established by his leaving his house to do drug deals then coming right home. It’s common for drug dealers to keep their stash at home. State v. Hogan, 2014 Tenn. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Nexus shown to search cell phone in a child abuse investigation
In a child abuse investigation on an Indian reservation, the government showed probable cause to believe that information relevant to the investigation would be found on defendant’s cell phone. A search warrant for Verizon for text messages and telephone calls … Continue reading
S.D.Ala.: SW for drugs doesn’t need to mention firearms to seize them when found
A search warrant for drugs doesn’t have to mention firearms to seize them. Firearms and drugs are usually linked, and there is a reasonable inference that the presence of firearms around drugs means they are related to each other. United … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Four months not too stale for SW when $71k is still missing
There was probable cause and nexus for a search involving $71k in unaccounted for money, even though the theft was four months earlier. United States v. Little, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100795 (E.D. Pa. July 23, 2014). Officers entered defendant’s … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Considering suppression being tried, not attacking just one officer’s credibility wasn’t IAC
Defense counsel was reasonable in not impeaching officer at suppression hearing with his disciplinary history considering the issue being tried. The issue for the suppression hearing was whether it was reasonable for the officers to believe defendant was where he … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: “Cell phones and firearms are generally considered the ‘tools of the trade’ of drug traffickers”
“Cell phones and firearms are generally considered the ‘tools of the trade’ of drug traffickers, which the involved detectives fully understood and conveyed to the magistrate judge. … United States v. Jones, Cr. 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54575 (E.D. Pa. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: On the totality, nexus was reasonably inferred by the issuing USMJ
Nexus to defendant’s property for a search warrant was shown by GPS data and physical surveillance putting co-conspirators at his house before and after drug deals and wiretaps referring to “the office” which officers finally, and reasonably, interpreted to be … Continue reading