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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com© 2003-19,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. 25k posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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)“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"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]“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock
2017 ABA Journal Web 100
Category Archives: Plain view, feel, smell
W.D.Tenn.: Seizure of clothing from hospital room floor was justified by plain view
Seizure of defendant’s clothing from a hospital room floor was justified by the plain view doctrine. United States v. Clancy, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8471 (W.D. Tenn. Jan. 17, 2019). City inspectors entering into public business areas did not violate … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Clothing as evidence in plain view can be seized whether from a suspect or victim
Defendant’s clothing was properly seized under the plain view doctrine whether he was a suspect or a victim. Defendant also didn’t have standing in the car involved because it wasn’t his. United States v. Hood, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5357 … Continue reading
NE: Smell of MJ from a car is PC to search it
Defendant’s driving alleged nearly caused an accident with a state trooper and another car, so he stopped it. The smell of marijuana was coming from the car, and that was probable cause for a search of the car. State v. … Continue reading
IA: Def answered door in underwear with apparent semen stains; police there with SW for sex abuse with minors
Defendant was under investigation for sexual abuse of minors. “[T]he police went to Heggebo’s house to execute a search warrant. Heggebo answered the door wearing only shorts. The police seized Heggebo’s shorts because the shorts had apparent semen stains on … Continue reading
IL: Fatal accident alone not PC for blood draw; no exigency argued either
Just because defendant was involved in a fatal accident where his passenger died, there wasn’t probable cause for a blood draw. The state did not argue exigent circumstances below or on appeal, but that would also require probable cause. People … Continue reading
IA: Stolen tractor tires were visible from the curtilage and entry permitted
Defendant was suspected of possession of stolen property. Police came to his rural property to talk to him where he was self-employed working on tractors in back. He had a circular driveway. From the driveway they could see the outbuildings … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Dropping gun just before arrest treated as abandonment [?]
A firearm that fell from defendant’s pants as he was being arrested and getting out of a car was treated as abandoned. United States v. Franklin, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 197783 (W.D. Mo. Nov. 20, 2018). I have to disagree … Continue reading
OH2: Plain view of drugs through screen door justified entry
Officers came to an apartment with an arrest warrant. When the door inside was opened, they could see drugs in plain view within five feet of the door. It was reasonable for them to open the screen door to preserve … Continue reading
KS: Pushing a button on a cell phone to light up screen was not a plain view; suppression affirmed
Defendant was involved in a fatal car accident, and the officer at the scene allegedly saw the screen of the cell phone in plain view showing texting at the time of the accident. While two U.S. District Court cases support … Continue reading
FL1: Collective knowledge applies to affidavit for SW in CP case
The affiant on a child pornography search warrant doesn’t have to personally view the material. He can relate what another officer said who did see it under the collective knowledge doctrine. Mardosas v. State, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 14012 (Fla. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Protective sweep led to plain view of firearm and cell phone
During a protective sweep, a firearm and cell phones were seen, and a search warrant was later issued for the firearm. His cell phone was in plain view and seized when defendant was arrested. The officers came back for the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: There was no overseizure of marijuana on the search; it was in plain view
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not objecting to the alleged overseizure of marijuana. Once police were on the property with a validly issued warrant, all the marijuana was seizable because it was in plain view. Green v. United States, 2018 … Continue reading
