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- Reason: Will ICE Use the Alien Enemies Act To Enter Homes Without Warrants?
- Reason: The FBI Seized This Woman’s Life Savings—Without Telling Her Why
- MI: Nighttime entry onto curtilage was reasonable because officers were responding to a dangerous situation
- D.Neb.: Officer asking same question three different ways didn’t unreasonably prolong the stop
- PA: Entry of curtilage to inquire of a chop shop in operation was reasonable
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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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)
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Category Archives: Arrest or entry on arrest
PA: PO search of parolee’s visitor required RS which was lacking
Under a parole search of one Scott in his home, the PO had authority to frisk the visitor defendant if he had safety concerns or reasonable suspicion, and here they did not. Commonwealth v. Gibson, 2025 PA Super 65, 2025 … Continue reading
CA10: Siccing police dog on sleeping man wasn’t subject to QI
Siccing a police dog on a sleeping man not subject to qualified immunity. Luethje v. Kyle, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 6385 (10th Cir. Mar. 19, 2025). The CI’s information on a video showed his basis of knowledge and provided probable … Continue reading
CA9: No QI for nearly destroying a house in a search for a person to arrest
Summary judgment and qualified immunity were properly denied where officers searching for someone other than the plaintiff in plaintiff’s house [apparently] gratuitously nearly destroyed it, breaking all windows, toilets, leaving water running in the house, appliances, furniture, and a car … Continue reading
CA7: No QI for 2015 detention of 16 year old without justification
Officers are denied qualified immunity winning at trial for his false detention four days before Christmas nearly a decade ago. The law was clearly established plaintiff couldn’t be detained like this for no apparent reason. Taylor v. Schwarzhuber, 2025 U.S. … Continue reading
OH6: Background information didn’t make SW affidavit stale
Information in the affidavit for warrant about a 2021 overdose was valid background and not stale information. State v. Martin, 2025 Ohio App. LEXIS 727 (6th Dist. Mar. 7, 2025). Officers getting a search warrant to enter to arrest was … Continue reading
CA5: False arrest based on suppressed and manipulated information stated claim
Plaintiff sufficiently pled a false arrest claim to survive dismissal. He claimed the officer arrested without probable cause, directed a witness who to pick out of a photo lineup, and ignored and suppressed exculpatory evidence that undermined probable cause. In … Continue reading
SCOTUS denies review of “the presence rule” for misdemeanor arrests
SCOTUS denied review of a case from the Eleventh Circuit on the in the presence rule for misdemeanor arrests from United States v. Gonzalez, 107 F.4th 1304 (11th Cir. 2024) because, noted by the statement of Sotomayor and Gorsuch, the … Continue reading
NY3: Inventory doesn’t have to be everything, just meaningful things
The inventory papers and the body cam video show that the officer inventoried all the meaningful things in the vehicle, so it complied with policy and was reasonable. People v. Craddock, 2025 NY Slip Op 01016, 2025 N.Y. App. Div. … Continue reading
CA8: Exigent circumstances justified warrantless entry into Airbnb in sex trafficking investigation
Officers had exigent circumstances for an entry into an Airbnb that was being used for sex trafficking a minor when the targets were constantly on the move from place to place. The FBI was on defendant’s tail with the minor, … Continue reading
CA7: Four-day delay in getting released wasn’t a 4A, 8A, or 14A violation
Plaintiff pled to state charges and was to be released by the Illinois DOC. But it was a holiday weekend, and he spent four days in jail. This was neither a Fourth, Eighth, nor Fourteenth Amendment violation. Peoples v. Cook … Continue reading
OK: Officer outside territorial jurisdiction isn’t a 4A issue
An officer outside his territorial jurisdiction making an arrest does not implicate the Fourth Amendment. Virginia v. Moore. “As previously stated, Appellant does not challenge that Morgan had probable cause to stop him, or that the search of his vehicle … Continue reading
TN: That officer can’t tell difference between hemp and marijuana doesn’t mean there wasn’t PC from plain smell
The fact the officer can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana doesn’t mean there wasn’t probable cause by plain smell. The stop was justified by the community caretaking function because he was asleep at an intersection. State v. Jones, … Continue reading
AK: Overbroad part of cell phone SW was severable from the valid part, and that properly came in at trial
This cell phone search warrant was not particular and without probable cause as to “app data,” but it was as to text messages. “If this unlawful provision was the only provision of the warrant that authorized a search for Facebook … Continue reading
CA4: Ptf’s arrest was with PC even though he was later exonerated in 65 days by same officers
Plaintiff was arrested for a double murder on probable cause. The officers continued investigating [as they should] and exculpated him, and he was released after 65 days in jail with charges dropped. He sued the officers for the arrest, but … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Stone bar applies regardless of the merits of the 4A claim
The Stone bar applies regardless of the merits of the Fourth Amendment claim. Wood v. Warden, Noble Corr. Inst., 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24460 (S.D. Ohio Feb. 11, 2025).* Notice pleading in Fourth Amendment § 1983 claims: “Plaintiff alleges that … Continue reading
CA3: “Rodriguez moment” here was 13 minutes into the stop and with RS
“We agree with the District Court that everything that occurred before the Rodriguez moment was within the scope of a normal traffic stop, and after that point, was supported by reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Cpl. Conrad’s initial questioning of … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Protective sweep of def’s house on arriving at a DV call involving a potential shooting was justified here in part because they turned the lights out
The protective sweep of defendant’s place wasn’t unreasonable. There was a history of domestic violence there, and there was a potential shooting on the premises. When officers knocked, the lights went out. While people don’t have to answer the door, … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Tribal officers governed by 4A and Indian Civil Rights Act
“The Fourth Amendment, not ICRA, applies here. For one thing, BIA officers are federal officers empowered by federal statute to act. For another, even if Dillon and Flute subjectively believed they were enforcing tribal law—which the Court is convinced of—they … Continue reading
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
E.D.Tenn.: The alleged illegality of the later arrest doesn’t undo def’s abandonment in flight
Defendant fled, he said, in fear of his life, not knowing that it was the police. He abandoned property in flight. The fact the later arrest might turn out to be invalid doesn’t undo the abandonment. United States v. Ross, … Continue reading