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- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- 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
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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
KY: Cell phone was “pinged” because of missing kids but they were found; def’s location to arrest not suppressed
Defendant’s children were missing and his wife was murdered, and he was a suspect. Police got an exigent circumstances “ping” authority for 48 hours on his phone under the SCA. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b-c). The phone was off and the … Continue reading
OH12: Putting somebody in the back of a police car and Mirandizing them isn’t automatically an arrest
Putting somebody in the back of a police car and Mirandizing them isn’t automatically an arrest. State v. Babineau, 2014-Ohio-3999, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 3902 (12th Dist. September 15, 2014) A jury’s verdict of $250 for a stop for touching … Continue reading
OH8: Entry into def’s home for DWI arrest wasn’t with sufficient justification
Police officers’ warrantless forced home entry to arrest defendant suspected of OVI violated the Fourth Amendment and the Ohio Constitution because, under the totality of the circumstances. Evidence that defendant turned into his driveway and parked the car before the … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: A pretextual traffic stop can’t be used to remove a tracking device
The government doesn’t have the authority to have its officers simply stop a motorist under the guise of a traffic stop to remove a tracking device. Because tracking devices are always removed surreptitiously, there is no law on this anywhere. … Continue reading
TN: Arrival of a police squad with arrest warrants was a “seizure” despite defendant’s flight
Several police cars from Knoxville PD pulled up at a house with arrest warrants for people known to hang out there. Defendant saw them and fled and was pursued. The arrival of that many police was a “seizure” under the … Continue reading
NE: SW not needed for cell phone call records
Defendant’s cell phone call records were obtained by subpoena. This is governed by Smith v. Maryland, and not by any of the cases involving search warrants for the contents of cell phones. [Riley not cited because case arose pre-Riley.] Big … Continue reading
TX13: Fleeing from the police and crashing is not a “stop”
Defendant challenged his stop as unlawful, but he slowed for a second and then fled at high speed until he crashed and then he was arrested. There was no stop–he fled. Gonzalez v. State, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 8934 (Tex. … Continue reading
AK: Officer sticking foot in the door to keep it from closing crosses the threshold and is a Fourth Amendment entry
Officers went to a house looking for a probation absconder who had apparently disconnected his GPS. When they knocked, defendant opened the door, and the officer stuck his foot in the door. Perceiving defendant to be fidgety and nervous, they … Continue reading
OK: Under collective knowledge, arresting officer doesn’t need all the details
Under the collective knowledge doctrine, all the details don’t have to be passed on to the arresting officer to make the arrest legal. State v. Iven, 2014 OK CR 8; 2014 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 7 (July 25, 2014). Plaintiff … Continue reading
DC: No bright line rule on how long a detention for a show up can go before it becomes unreasonable; here, an hour was unreasonable
There is no bright line rule on how long a detention for a show up can go before it becomes unreasonable. SCOTUS has said that the least intrusive means should be followed. Here, it was over an hour and it … Continue reading
OH5: Traffic warrant did not authorize entry into home of third person to arrest
A traffic arrest warrant did not support entry into the premises of a third person where the police had less than a suspicion that the target was there. The entry led to finding evidence against the homeowner which is suppressed. … Continue reading
WaPo: Daniel Chong is the entirely predictable result of dehumanizing drug offenders
WaPo: Daniel Chong is the entirely predictable result of dehumanizing drug offenders by Radley Balko: “Drug people are the very vermin of humanity.” – Myles Ambrose, director of the Office of Drug Abuse Law Enforcement during the Nixon Administration. The … Continue reading
CA7: Entry to arrest for at best disorderly conduct was unreasonable
Officers called to a clearly non-violent domestic shouting match had no exigency or other reason to enter plaintiff’s home and arrest him. All the facts and circumstances showed that he was unarmed and he wasn’t a threat. Hawkins v. Bowersock, … Continue reading
GA: Where backdoor is the one always used, it doesn’t violate curtilage for officers to go to backdoor
Defendant’s backdoor was the common method of coming and going from his house, so the police did not violate curtilage by going to the back door. In defendant’s car in the driveway, however, was evidence from a burglary in plain … Continue reading
CA5: Arrest warrant authorized entry to arrest in defendant’s home
Defendant’s Franks challenge fails because the information omitted isn’t material at all to the outcome. Officers used an arrest warrant to gain entry and they reasonably believed she was there. After all, she answered the door. A protective sweep doesn’t … Continue reading
AL: Entry into third party’s home without SW to arrest was invalid as to third party
The U.S. Marshals had an arrest warrant for Nolan, and they put out word on the street. A CI reported that Nolan was at defendant’s house playing video games, so they went there and entered to arrest him. The entry … Continue reading
D.C.Cir. finds good faith exception applies to warrant, and probable cause was not even considered
The reliability of the informant’s tale does not need to be decided here because the good faith exception applies [without a word of why]. United States v. Matthews, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 10522 (D.C. Cir. June 6, 2014). Defendant in … Continue reading
RI: Arrest outside territorial jurisdiction not Fourth Amendment violation
Defendant was wanted for a robbery, and Pawtucket officers were looking for him, not in hot pursuit. They arrested him in Providence outside their jurisdiction, but the arrest is not suppressed under the Fourth Amendment. State v. Morris, 2014 R.I. … Continue reading