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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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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Second Circuit
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Fourth Circuit
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
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LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
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General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog -
"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, 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] -
“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) -
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: Cell phones
MD: Blading to hide a heavy pocket apparently with a gun in high crime area contributed to RS
Attempting to conceal an apparent gun in a high crime area contributed to reasonable suspicion. “The State argues that the court did not err. According to the State, the detective testified about his specific observations that gave rise to a … Continue reading
IL: Reasonable to believe def had cell phone with him in car when shooting occurred
It was a reasonable conclusion that defendant’s cell phone would have information about this shooting incident. It was reasonable to believe that he had his phone when driving. The time period was also reasonably limited. People v. Terrell, 2025 IL … Continue reading
IN: Cell phone and social media SW in murder case had nexus
Defendant was involved in two connected murders, 13½ months apart, one likely retaliation for the other. The state showed probable cause for the warrant for his cell phone and social media accounts. While part was a close call, the requirement … Continue reading
TX8 sustains geofence warrant
TX8, El Paso without much discussion sustains a geofence warrant. Also the warrants for the phone and social media accounts were issued with probable cause and were particular. Alvarez v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 6106 (Tex. App. – El … Continue reading
TX6: Def abandoned cell phone; PC for SW didn’t matter
Defendant abandoned his cell phone, and then the police got a warrant for it. Still, it’s abandonment. Williams v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 5777 (Tex. App. – Texarkana Aug. 5, 2025).* The evidence supported the district court’s conclusion there … Continue reading
CA8: While the driver wasn’t the owner with the suspended license, RS separately developed to continue the stop
The officer had reasonable suspicion that the owner of the vehicle had a suspended DL, but that dissipated when he saw the driver wasn’t the same gender as the owner. But, reasonable suspicion was developing the driver was under the … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Def doesn’t get discovery of cell phone govt hasn’t decrypted
When the government seizes a cell phone under a warrant and the data is encrypted and it can’t see it, it is not in “possession” for Rule 16 discovery purposes. United States v. Mejia, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142962 (S.D. … Continue reading
D.N.H.: Extended border search of men on bicycles was valid
Defendant was stopped on a bicycle with backpack and bedroll with another in New Hampshire by a CBP officer who suspected they’d illegally crossed the border. They admitted they had. Suspecting they were involved with human smugglers, the officers searched … Continue reading
OH9: Parole search of house was valid even though def arrested outside
The parole search of defendant’s place was still valid even though he was arrested outside. State v. Robinson, 2025-Ohio-2216 (9th Dist. June 25, 2025). 2255 petitioner doesn’t show counsel was ineffective for not moving to suppress because a suppression motion … Continue reading
WaPo: Scanning technology is coming to detect child porn. Here’s what it means
WaPo: Scanning technology is coming to detect child porn. Here’s what it means by Shira Ovide:
D.P.R.: Nexus to CSLI would show who had the phone to connect it to crime
Defendant had standing to contest a search of this cell phone. While he didn’t attach an affidavit, the motion and other papers say it’s his, as does the consent form. Nothing suggests it’s not. The police got a warrant out … Continue reading
CA2: Def’s GF using passcode to open his phone in presence of police wasn’t a governmental search
In a child pornography case, defendant’s girlfriend was not acting as an agent of the police when she used his passcode to open his phone in the presence of an officer. United States v. Hines, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 14336 … Continue reading
TX5: No standing in a house where def under a no contact order to stay out
Defendant had no standing to contest the search of a house he was under a no contact order to stay away from. Yet, he was found there. Coggins v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 3587 (Tex. App. – Dallas May … Continue reading
GA: GPS data in a child porn image on def’s phone was PC to search his house
GPS data in a child porn image on defendant’s phone was probable cause to search his house. Bibbs v. State, 2025 Ga. App. LEXIS 186 (May 13, 2025). Briefly crossing the centerline is not an offense unless it appears unsafe. … Continue reading
OR: Cell phone SW was fatally overbroad for scope of search
This cell phone warrant was based on probable cause, and it was particular as to drug related information with a specific time period. However, it was overbroad because it, as the state argued, essentially let the state seize anything else … Continue reading
TX14: Nexus here established by logical inference
The record supported nexus for search warrants for cell phone apparently used to coordinate between two cars that were driving for an hour in a shopping mall parking lot looking for a robbery target. It was logically the only way … Continue reading
AK: No PC shown for cell phone search in a Medicaid fraud case
In a Medicaid fraud case, the state did not show probable cause to believe evidence would be found on the cell phone of the Medicaid provider. The search warrant was also not particular for the cell phone. The warrant authorized … Continue reading