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- Cleveland.com: Did Cleveland police cut corners when they used AI to recover a suspected murder weapon? Appeals court to decide
- DC: Flight even in a high crime area isn’t RS
- CA7: Lifting mattress during protective sweep here wasn’t justified
- TX7: SW sworn to before wrong officer still in GF
- The sixth edition of this book is at the publisher
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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 / 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 -
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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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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
CA7: Lifting mattress during protective sweep here wasn’t justified
The protective sweep under a mattress here was unjustified. Protective sweeps have to be based on known facts, not theories. Here, without deciding whether it was justified, on this record, lifting a mattress was unreasonable. There was no reason to … Continue reading
CA11: Ptf’s four arrests didn’t lack PC
Plaintiff was arrested four times in nine months, but he doesn’t plausibly allege that the arrests lacked probable cause. Hernandez v. Sheriff of Manatee Cty., 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 17342 (11th Cir. July 14, 2025)*:
N.D.Ind.: 4A IAC shown by 2255 petitioner; arrest lacked all probable cause
2255 petitioner prevails on a Fourth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim. There clearly was no probable cause for defendant’s arrest and car search. United States v. Henry, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133252 (N.D. Ind. July 10, 2025).* The government … Continue reading
Reason: Do Arrest Warrants Have a Diligence Requirement?
Reason: Do Arrest Warrants Have a Diligence Requirement? by Orin Kerr:
CO: Incorporation of SW affidavit saves warrant from lack of particularity
“[T]he warrant in this case authorized collection of location data and certain message content surrounding the crimes. While the warrant could have been more particular by limiting each category using the language ‘related to the crimes,’ the warrant’s incorporation of … Continue reading
CNS: Washington allows state, local police to execute tribal arrests
CNS: Washington allows state, local police to execute tribal arrests by Edvard Pettersson (“A change in state law will allow tribes certified by the attorney general’s office to avoid extradition proceedings to have wanted individuals returned to tribal lands.”)
TX4: State can’t rely on community caretaking function where it didn’t make a record below
The state couldn’t rely on the community caretaking function exception on appeal where it didn’t develop the record for it below. State v. Young, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 4196 (Tex. App. – San Antonio June 18, 2025). Defendant can’t make … Continue reading
D.Md.: Delaying three years to indict after seizure compromised defense enough that speedy trial was violated
Defendant’s backpack was searched in 2017, but he wasn’t indicted until 2020, and his case lingered. The officer’s testimony about the search is hazy and inconclusive enough that the court finds cause to dismiss for a speedy trial violation. The … Continue reading
MA: Extraterritorial citizen’s arrest power doesn’t permit seizures of cell phone and removal back home
Officers went to New Hampshire on a criminal investigation for a Massachusetts crime, and they ended up seizing defendant’s cell phone to preserve evidence, bringing it back to Massachusetts where it was searched. The common law power of citizen’s arrest … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Warrantless criminal investigative cell search was reasonable
Defendant was in pretrial detention arrested three days earlier in a murder-for-hire scheme. Jailors searched his cell, apparently as a part of the original criminal investigation, looking for cell phone which he attempted to destroy. He moved to suppress. “The … Continue reading
CA11: When there are multiple grounds supporting a search, appellant has to respond to all
An appellate court can affirm denial of suppression on any ground supported by the record. And, when the district court finds multiple independent grounds to deny suppression, the appellant has to rebut all of them. Here, the district court found … Continue reading
CA6: State officers can enforce federal law
The search of defendant’s car was based on the alleged federal crime of possession of a small amount of marijuana, and a gun was found, and he was a felon in possession. State officers can arrest for violations of federal … Continue reading
CA8: No evidence supported plaintiff’s arrest for DUI; no QI, no SJ
Plaintiff’s arrest without probable cause for driving under the influence survived summary judgment and the qualified immunity defense. Looking at the video, there is nothing that supports probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest. The defendant officers and city used a “divide … Continue reading
CA2: In getting arrest warrant, defenses don’t have to be considered
In a false arrest claim, the officer procuring the warrant doesn’t have to negate plaintiff’s defenses beforehand. Glover v. Onondaga Cty., 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 8436 (2d Cir. Apr. 10, 2025)*:
OH5: CIs’ reliability shown by other facts
The CIs’ statements weren’t individually supported by a showing of why they were reliable. Instead, corroboration came from the rest of the detail in the affidavit. State v. Shannon, 2025-Ohio-1224, 2025 Ohio App. LEXIS 1188 (5th Dist. Apr. 7, 2025). … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Boxing in def’s car was a seizure
“Law enforcement’s conduct here—boxing in Deas’ Kia, ordering both Defendants out of the car, and placing them in handcuffs—falls within the scope of a seizure.” It was with reasonable suspicion. Then a dog alerted, then they got a warrant. United … Continue reading
OH4: Arrest on recalled warrant still valid under GFE
The warrants database showed a warrant for defendant, but it actually had been recalled. The officer checked dispatch who told him of the warrant, although defendant denied there was one, but he had a motive to lie to avoid arrest. … Continue reading
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