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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)
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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
W.D.Mo.: General description of attacker here was a complete lack of PC for arrest
Defendant was searched incident to arrest for a rape. There, however, was a complete lack of probable cause for his arrest, and the search is suppressed. He was only the same general height and description of the attacker, and he … Continue reading
D.Nev.: SWAT team in your house is “custodial” for Miranda purposes
After the LVMPD SWAT team raided defendant’s house and held everybody at gunpoint in zipties, the situation was custodial. The government had no evidence defendant was Mirandized before he made an incriminating statement. [The fact the government argued it wasn’t … Continue reading
TN: Where arrest lacked PC, search incident is void
The evidence did not support defendant’s arrest for public intoxication, and the officer actually lacked probable cause. Accordingly, the search incident to the arrest was void. State v. Pippen, 2016 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 57 (Jan. 28, 2016) (dissent here). … Continue reading
CA2: Crossing threshold to arrest without warrant violates Fourth Amendment
Officers stepping across the threshold to arrest without a warrant violated the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Allen, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 1467 (2d Cir. Jan. 29, 2016): “[W]hen it comes to the Fourth Amendment, the home is first among … Continue reading
IN: State failed to show standard inventory procedures were followed
“Officer Greathouse’s testimony was insufficient to prove the inventory search he performed of Rhodes’ vehicle complied with official police policy. Because the State did not present evidence of police procedure, the search violated Rhodes’ Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search … Continue reading
CA7: In a § 1983 case, “Simply put, evidence of a prior arrest does not support a conclusion that the arrested person has in fact broken the law.”
Plaintiff sued the City of Chicago for a 2008 false arrest that the officers say never happened, and there was a defense verdict. Evidence of plaintiff’s prior arrests between 1983 and 1999 were irrelevant and prejudicial. An arrest doesn’t mean … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Virtual presumption of common authority between spouses
Defendant’s wife was alleged by the government to have consented to a search of two safes defendant had. There is a virtual presumption of common authority over marital property, and there is no evidence in the record after the hearing … Continue reading
MA: While statute didn’t authorize arrest for this misdemeanor, common law might still
“We conclude that there is no statutory authority to arrest an individual for operating a motor vehicle with a revoked registration but that, under circumstances not present here, an arrest may be made under the established common law rule pertaining … Continue reading
CA7: Not a Fourth Amendment violation to physically arrest for a fine only traffic infraction
It is not a Fourth Amendment violation to physically arrest for a fine only traffic infraction. Williams v. Brooks, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 68 (7th Cir. Jan. 5, 2016):
S.D.Fla.: Threshold arrest led to plain view and risk of destruction of evidence justifying entry
Officers had probable cause to arrest defendant at his house without a warrant, and they only crossed the threshold after seeing drug evidence in plain view when the door was opened, and defendant hesitated like he was going back in. … Continue reading
LA4: Protective sweep before def arrested in pajamas reentered to get dressed was reasonable
Defendant was arrested in his pajamas, and it was appropriate for the police to conduct a protective sweep for others before he was permitted to get dressed to leave. A shotgun was validly found propped against the wall in the … Continue reading
OH11: “minor misdemeanor” MJ charge under state law doesn’t support search incident
Defendant was stopped for a brake light violation and smelled marijuana on defendant. Since all the officer had was a “minor misdemeanor” under state law, a search incident of defendant that involved three searches of his person was unreasonable. It … Continue reading
CA10: Arrest of an entire police tactical unit for thefts during searches was protected by qualified immunity for the half found innocent
A group of officers alleged to have been stealing during search warrant execution was all arrested, but the arrest was over inclusive, nabbing some innocents. “These consolidated cases arise from a sting operation designed to determine if police officers in … Continue reading
OH2: Heroin gel caps found by plain feel
Defendant was fully cooperative and the officer was not overbearing, so the consent was voluntary. Heroin in gel caps was found by plain feel. State v. Mabry, 2015-Ohio-4513, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 4400 (2d Dist. Oct. 30, 2015). http://www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/rod/docs/pdf/2/2015/2015-Ohio-4513.pdf Officers … Continue reading
CA10: Unlawful provoked flight to make an arrest supported criminal civil rights violation against officer
Defendant was a sheriff indicted in Albuquerque for excessive force during an off-duty road rage incident. The victim’s unlawful arrest was based on provoked flight caused by the sheriff. There was also 404(b) evidence of similar occurrences. He was sentenced … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Even though the officer had the PC for weeks, he was not required to get an arrest warrant
A warrantless arrest on probable cause is reasonable. Even though the officer had the PC for weeks, he was not required to get an arrest warrant. United States v. Kellam, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146596 (M.D.Pa. Oct. 29, 2015):
MA: Def readily submitted to arrest and came out; entry for protective sweep not reasonably justified
Defendant readily submitted to the police and came outside to be arrested. While the arrest warrant was for a defaced firearm, a protective sweep on that basis alone was unreasonable. Commonwealth v. Colon, 2015 Mass. App. LEXIS 171 (Oct. 26, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: The common law “in the presence of” requirement for a warrantless misdemeanor arrest is not part of the Fourth Amendment
The common law “in the presence of” requirement for a warrantless misdemeanor arrest is not part of the Fourth Amendment. Here, the defendant was in the presence of the officer when the facts gave the officer probable cause that the … Continue reading
OH9: No standing in a package of drugs shipped to house in boyfriend’s name
A package containing cocaine was shipped to defendant’s house in the name of her boyfriend. She had no standing in the package because her name wasn’t on it. State v. Padilla, 2015-Ohio-4220, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 4112 (9th Dist. Oct. … Continue reading