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- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
- D.N.M.: Shared driveway outside of fence and gate was not curtilage
- CA6: Knowing passcode to cell phone shows common authority over it to consent
- VI: Smell of MJ no longer PC in VI since legalization
- Reason: 3 Charlotte Cops Resign After Group Chat Reveals Competition To Arrest the Most Black People
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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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)
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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: Arrest or entry on arrest
SD: Def’s assault on police officer can’t be suppressed because the arrest was illegal
Defendant’s assault on a police officer attempting to arrest her can’t be suppressed because the arrest might be unreasonable. State v. Schumacher, 2021 SD 16, 2021 S.D. LEXIS 28 (Mar. 3, 2021). The stop was valid based on a registration … Continue reading
CA2: A mere hunch there was an arrest warrant made stop unreasonable
It was clearly established law in January 2015 that an officer’s unconfirmed hunch that an arrest warrant might possibly exist, coupled with nothing more than the officer’s recognition of a suspect from prior arrests, did not constitute reasonable suspicion justifying … Continue reading
CA11: Arrest at the threshold that continued inside where def tried to enter was reasonable
Officers on patrol saw defendant in an apartment building’s parking lot. They saw the bulge they reasonably believed was a gun, and they knew he was a convicted felon. They sought an encounter with him, but defendant refused to stop … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: 4A arrest claim also subject to Stone bar
Defendant’s 2254 claim that his arrest was without probable cause on mistaken identity is foreclosed by Stone v. Powell the same as Fourth Amendment search claims. “The opportunity, regardless of whether it is acted upon at the state level, is … Continue reading
D.N.M.: A vehicle could be stopped just because there was a warrant on the passenger
A vehicle could be stopped just because there was a warrant on the passenger. Here, ICE made the stop, and it was reasonably related to its justification. United States v. Murillo-Gonzalez, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38494 (D. N.M. Mar. 1, … Continue reading
SD: Local officers called tribal officers and respected tribal authority before arresting def
Defendant was wanted for assault and found at an Indian casino hotel on a reservation. They took him into custody and towed his vehicle. The search of his hotel room and vehicle by search warrants was reasonable and respected tribal … Continue reading
WY: No hot pursuit into home for traffic violation that wasn’t “hot”
Hot pursuit for a traffic violation did not permit an entry into the home. Here, the pursuit just wasn’t “hot” or exigent because the officer called for backup. Fuller v. State, 2021 WY 36, 2021 Wyo. LEXIS 41 (Feb. 24, … Continue reading
LA1: Automobile exception search is just as broad as permitted by SW
“Police officers who have legitimately stopped an automobile and who have probable cause to believe that contraband is concealed somewhere within it, may conduct a warrantless search of the vehicle as thoroughly as a magistrate could authorize. The scope of … Continue reading
CA4: Suit by convict over arrest without PC doesn’t mention conviction and isn’t barred by Heck
Plaintiff’s complaint that his arrest was without probable cause doesn’t necessarily implicate his guilt or innocence, and it isn’t barred by Heck. He doesn’t even mention the conviction. Dizzley v. Garrett, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 4314 (4th Cir. Feb. 16, … Continue reading
CA3: Warrant for roving wiretap didn’t have to call device a “cell site simulator” when it fully described it
The government obtained a roving wiretap for defendant’s cell phone with a cell site simulator. In the warrant application, they described in detail what a cell site simulator was, but it never said the words “cell site simulator.” It doesn’t … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Misdemeanor arrest in the home reasonable under 4A and common law
Defendant’s misdemeanor vandalism arrest while officers were inside his house was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. Common law on misdemeanor arrests applies, too. United States v. Barajas, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21651 (N.D. Cal. Feb. 4, 2021). Defendant was convicted … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: While a mistaken identity arrest can still be reasonable, this was based on hunch, or race, and was unreasonable
A mistaken identity arrest can still be reasonable. This one, however, clearly isn’t. It “was, at best, a hunch and, at worst, a hunch based on the race of the identified man.” United States v. Taylor, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Ptf stated claim for trespass for wrongful protective sweep in material witness arrest
Plaintiff stated a FTCA claim for trespass and intentional infliction of emotional distress for an alleged unjustified protective sweep entering his house to arrest him as a material witness in a military commission case. Gill v. United States, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Arrest warrant doesn’t permit a search on entry
Defendant’s arrest warrant permitted entry to arrest him but not to search. A protective sweep was still permitted, if justified. Here no. But the search warrant for the cell phone was not tainted by the initial illegality, and the exclusionary … Continue reading
The Appeal: They Took Umbrellas To A Black Lives Matter Protest. The D.A. Hit Them With Gang Charges
The Appeal: They Took Umbrellas To A Black Lives Matter Protest. The D.A. Hit Them With Gang Charges, by Med O’Connor (“Police and prosecutors routinely treat white domestic terrorists with kid gloves, but use the full force of the law … Continue reading
GA: When there is PC for an arrest, the validity of an arrest warrant is moot
There was probable cause for defendant’s arrest, so the validity of the arrest warrant doesn’t matter. Harper v. State, 2021 Ga. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 11, 2021). Defendant’s claim of lack of probable cause is really just an effort to construe … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def’s car that others were known to drive being outside house of another wasn’t reasonable belief he was there
Officers did not have a reasonable belief defendant was on the premises of another just because he was seen there a month earlier and what was somewhat believed to be his car was parked out outside just before the entry. … Continue reading
NC: Mere visitor on the premises shouldn’t have been searched without articulatable RS
Defendant was a visitor on the premises when a search warrant was executed. A full search of his person was unreasonable because there were no facts shown justifying a belief he was armed or dangerous. The dissents view would hollow … Continue reading