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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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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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
CA6: Because def’s car would be towed and inventoried anyway, officer’s comments at time of seizure not determinative
Because defendant’s car would be towed and inventoried in any event after his stop, it didn’t matter what the officer said at the time. United States v. Snoddy, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 30512 (6th Cir. Sept. 24, 2020). “While Williams … Continue reading
MA: SW affidavit showed inference def’s house was base of operation for drug operation, and that’s nexus
The affidavit for search warrant here raised more than an inference that defendant’s home was used as a base of operations for his drug dealing enterprise, and that was nexus. Commonwealth v. Andre-Fields, 2020 Mass. App. LEXIS 145 (Sept. 23, … Continue reading
IA: All exculpatory evidence doesn’t have to be presented to issuing magistrate under Franks
“Case failed to make a preliminary showing to warrant a Franks hearing. See Baker, 925 N.W.2d at 615 (‘[A]n officer applying for a search warrant is not required to present all inculpatory and exculpatory evidence to the magistrate, only that … Continue reading
CA6: Officer executing a state arrest warrant doesn’t have to independently verify its validity
Defendant contended that the officer executing an invalid state arrest warrant had a duty to verify the validity of the warrant before executing it. He didn’t, and the officer acted in otherwise good faith. Therefore, the exclusionary rule would not … Continue reading
CA9: Gerstein applies to immigration arrests
Gerstein applies to immigration arrests in this class action. Plaintiff was a U.S. citizen detained by ICE. Gonzalez v. U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28827 (9th Cir. Sept. 11, 2020). There was probable cause for a … Continue reading
CA5: Mistaken identity arrest for half brother with same name gets QI
Plaintiff’s case for a mistaken identity arrest when his half-brother with the same name was the target fails on qualified immunity. Baker v. McCollan, 443 U.S. 137 (1979) is close enough to show qualified immunity. Nerio v. Derekevans, 2020 U.S. … Continue reading
CA7: Civil claim for false arrest or detention on fabricated evidence is 4A claim
“A claim for false arrest or pretrial detention based on fabricated evidence sounds in the Fourth Amendment right to be free from seizure without probable cause.” Patrick v. City of Chicago, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 28380 (7th Cir. Sept. 8, … Continue reading
CA2: Arguable PC to arrest makes it valid
“Because the defendants had at least arguable probable cause to arrest Barnes for an open container violation, the search was also lawful. A search incident to arrest is lawful where the officer reasonably believed he had probable cause, regardless of … Continue reading
IN: CI’s statement he bought from def ten times was a statement against penal interest
The CI was the target of a search, and he snitched off defendant as his source for about ten sales, the most recent the day before. That was a statement against penal interest. State v. Stone, 2020 Ind. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
OH2: Giving false name and DOB after SW executed supports obstruction charge
Defendant was removed from his house after a search warrant was served by the SWAT team. His false name and DOB to the officers supported his obstruction conviction. State v. Castleberry, 2020-Ohio-4233, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 3129 (2d Dist. Aug. … Continue reading
TX14: Arrest outside a house can justify a protective sweep inside
An arrest outside a house, depending on the circumstances, can justify a protective sweep as much as an arrest inside. Defendant also claimed that a secondary protective sweep was unreasonably intense. Even if it was, it doesn’t affect the search … Continue reading
CA11: Arrest warrant permits arrest of def in a hotel room when there’s a reasonable belief on totality he’s there
A reasonable belief the defendant is present in a hotel room authorizes the police to enter when they have an arrest warrant for him, even though the motel room is not his “home.” In addition, forcing him to crawl out … Continue reading
D.N.M.: POs with PV warrant authorized to enter hotel room def was visiting under Payton
Parole officers had a warrant for defendant’s arrest for absconding from supervision. His location at the motel room of another was given to the PO and an apprehension team went to get him. As they approached, the door was opened … Continue reading
OH6: Smell of raw marijuana from house was PC
The officers’ smell of raw marijuana at a house was probable cause. This is different than the case of burnt marijuana not justifying a search of the trunk of a car. In an IAC claim, defendant didn’t plead any evidence … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Ordering def to ground at gunpoint and a full search of his pockets was an arrest and not a frisk; it was still, however, justified
Police arrived at defendant’s house to search, and he came out the front door. At gunpoint, he laid on the ground and he was handcuffed and his pockets searched. It was not a patdown for weapons, but an emptying of … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: No REP against photographing tattoo on chest at time of arrest
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy not to have a tattoo on his chest under his shirt photographed on his arrest. Therefore, defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not raising it. Shumpert v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149584 … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: PC supports arrest even if officer cites wrong statute
It doesn’t matter that the officer didn’t cite the right offense as long as the facts of probable cause support any offense. United States v. Simmons, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 145562 (N.D. Ga. June 15, 2020):
CA6: Alleged false statement to get an arrest warrant overcame QI
Alleged false statement to get an arrest warrant overcame qualified immunity. Tlapanco v. Elges, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25595 (6th Cir. Aug. 12, 2020). The state failed to show exigent circumstances excused obtaining a search warrant for defendant’s BAC. Commonwealth … Continue reading
CA11: While unclear whether 4A applies to pretrial detainees, 14A does and standards the same
As pretrial detainee, it’s unclear whether the Fourth Amendment applies to his claims. The Fourteenth Amendment clearly does, and, in any event the standards would be applied the same. Patel v. Lanier County, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 25345 (11th Cir. … Continue reading
FL3: PC for arrest isn’t governed by substantive law of constructive possession
The standard for probable cause is not high, and it isn’t even a preponderance of the evidence. Thus, the substantive law of constructive possession on who is where in relation to the evidence seized doesn’t govern arrest. J.J. v. State, … Continue reading