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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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Congressional Research Service:
--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
PA: There was no PC for entry on a two-month-old capias
Defendant was arrested as a result of an entry on a capias for a domestic relations “violation.” The warrant was two months getting served, and there was no inquiry into whether defendant was residing at the home of a friend … Continue reading
OH2: Misd arrest warrant permits reasonable entry under Steagald
The officer here found an outstanding misdemeanor arrest warrant for defendant, and a probable address where she may be living with her boyfriend. The address was an apartment building with 5-6 apartments, and the officer asked around and went to … Continue reading
CO: Unauthorized taking of juvenile’s DNA requires suppression
Unauthorized collection of DNA from a juvenile offender is subject to suppression and it should be purged from CODIS. Casillas v. People, 2018 CO 78M, 2018 Colo. LEXIS 832 (Oct. 15, 2018). A routine traffic stop outside of a municipal … Continue reading
DE: Officer’s training and experience in intoxicated drivers was relevant and significant to the PC showing
The officer’s training and experience in intoxicated drivers was relevant and significant to the probable cause showing in the affidavit for defendant’s BAC. He was not a mere layperson making an observation as defendant says. State v. Law, 2018 Del. … Continue reading
The Marshall Project: Forget The Ticket–Could You Get Arrested For A Parking Violation?
The Marshall Project: Forget The Ticket–Could You Get Arrested For A Parking Violation? by Katy Naples-Mitchell:
DE animal control officers can get arrest warrants for animal offenses
Animal control officers in Delaware have the authority to obtain arrest warrants for animal control laws. Smith v. First State Animal Center, 2018 Del. Super. LEXIS 423 (Oct. 4, 2018).* Excessive window tinting justified the stop, and the officer didn’t … Continue reading
Cal.3: When detained on an arrest warrant, prolonging it isn’t much of an issue
Defendant was lawfully detained on an arrest warrant, and prolonging it wasn’t a real issue. People v. Delgado, 2018 Cal. App. LEXIS 896 (3d Dist. Oct. 1, 2018).* Defendant was lawfully arrested for resisting during a lawful traffic stop. He … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Arrest inside the door permitted protective sweep
The arrest of the codefendant inside house permitted a protective sweep. United States v. Jones, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166347 (N.D. Okla. Sep. 27, 2018). “These nine ineffective assistance of counsel claims are properly evaluated under the Strickland standard, meaning … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Vehicle occupant’s “dipping motion” during stop was hiding something and RS
A vehicle occupant making a “dipping motion” when a stop occurs like they’re putting something on the floor or under the seat, either contraband or a weapon, is reasonable suspicion. United States v. Roberts, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161968 (E.D. … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Targetted burner phone ringing during stop on RS was PC for def’s arrest
CIs gave information that they bought drugs from a guy with a burner phone, and the phone was ultimately linked to defendant. Based on collective knowledge, the police had sufficient information for reasonable suspicion to stop and detain defendant. Defendant … Continue reading
FL: Use of Stringray to find def to arrest him was valid or valid under GFE
The use of a Stingray cell site simulator to find defendant to find him to arrest him didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. Even if it did, the good faith exception makes it valid here. Andres v. State, 2018 Fla. LEXIS … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Once the police see PC, they don’t have to investigate alternative theories to dispel it
Defendant’s theoretical possibilities that more could have been done to investigate doesn’t undermine the probable cause that already existed. The police didn’t have to investigate all the alternatives to what could have been when they had probable cause as to … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Having a 15-year-old runaway in a motel room falsely implying a marital relationship is exigency for entry
Defendant was accused of staying in a motel with a 15-year-old runaway apparently listed with the hotel as his likely wife, and the facts presented to the officers, as in other courts in similar cases, provided exigent circumstances. Probable cause … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Def’s alleged torture during arrest in Mexico with DEA there and allegedly watching didn’t justify dismissal under CA7 precedent
Defendant claimed that he was arrested in Mexico by their military with the DEA on the scene, and that he was allegedly tortured by the Mexican military. His outrageous conduct for dismissal claim is foreclosed by Seventh Circuit case law. … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Reasonable to block and stop a car that an officer thought had the subject of an arrest warrant in it
It was reasonable for the officer to block a car because he reasonably suspected that the person he wanted on an arrest warrant was in it and the honking of the car horn might have been a warning to others … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Entry was justified to arrest a wanted dangerous person
Defendant had standing as a guest in Commonwealth subsidized housing. The record wasn’t clear on how long he stayed there in total, but clearly at the time of the search. The occupant’s lease prohibited extended stay guests, but it also … Continue reading
CA9: School resource officer’s arrest of alleged bullying middle school girls ‘to prove a point’ and ‘make [them] mature a lot faster’ was unreasonable under T.L.O.
Arresting middle school girls for alleged bullying and fighting at school violated the Fourth Amendment and was unreasonable: “After concluding that the girls were unresponsive and disrespectful, the deputy arrested the girls ‘to prove a point’ and ‘make [them] mature … Continue reading
CA9: Search of backpack was inevitable either as SITA or booking
Defendant was booked on two misdemeanors, and his backpack was searched. If his backpack wasn’t subject to a search incident, it was subject to inevitable discovery for a search at booking. Also, for what it’s worth, defendant twice attempted to … Continue reading
CA11: Hot pursuit of a misdemeanant into a dwelling is permitted by the 4A
Hot pursuit of a misdemeanant into a dwelling is permitted by the Fourth Amendment, and observation of drugs was valid. United States v. Concepcion, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 25001 (11th Cir. Sep. 4, 2018). Defendant’s claim that his confession was … Continue reading