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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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--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: Plain view, feel, smell
FL2: Def counsel not ineffective where search evidence not objected to had no apparent prejudice to case
Defense counsel was ineffective in not moving to suppress one piece of evidence, but defendant can’t show he was prejudiced by it on the case as a whole. Szewczyk v. State, 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 7180 (Fla. 2d DCA Oct. … Continue reading
D.S.C.: No exigency 6 hours after 911 call
Police showed up at defendant’s house six hours after a 911 call. Whatever exigency there might have been had dissipated. Everyone in the house was asleep. United States v. Miller, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189981 (D.S.C. Oct. 17, 2022). The … Continue reading
IL: Police car computer report stopped car had no insurance was presumptively reliable basis for stop
Defendant’s car was licensed in another state, so the state’s window tint law didn’t apply, and that couldn’t be a basis for the stop. However, the car was uninsured per the police computer system. “We further note that Campbell’s reliance … Continue reading
CA11: Questions about travel plans were not an unreasonable extension of a traffic stop
The officer’s questions about travel plans were not an unreasonable extension of a traffic stop. United States v. Turner, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27280 (11th Cir. Sep. 29, 2022). Officers approaching defendant’s car where he was asleep was not a … Continue reading
ID: Def’s claim he needed an ambulance during a stop extended it, not the officer
Defendant was lawfully stopped for a traffic offense. He claimed he needed an ambulance and one was called for him. While the EMTs were attending to him the officer started on his report of the stop. He asked defendant for … Continue reading
IL: Smell of burnt MJ in a car in a recreational use state not PC
“We hold that the smell of the burnt cannabis, without any corroborating factors, is not enough to establish probable cause to search the vehicle, and the court did not err in granting the motion to suppress. This finding comports with … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Drug paraphernalia was in plain view before flashlight put through window
Drug paraphernalia seen from outside the vehicle before sticking a flashlight in the window was a valid plain view. United States v. Johnson, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 149401 (E.D. Va. Aug. 19, 2022).* There was probable cause for plaintiff’s prosecution, … Continue reading
TX1: Consent to handling cell phone led to plain view of CP
Defendant consented to the officer handling his secondary cell phone that wasn’t able to make calls. The officer accidentally saw child pornography on the phone in plain view, and it was all reasonable. Thomson v. State, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Prolonging traffic stop to inquire of probation or parole status unreasonable
Prolonging the traffic stop for further information on defendant’s parole and probation status was unreasonable. It diverted from the traffic stop. United States v. Gould, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142915 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 10, 2022). The protective sweep of defendant’s … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: No QI for violation of knock-and-announce; fact question for trial
Defendant officers’ motion for summary judgment on qualified immunity for violating the knock-and-announce rule is denied. The law is well settled for 25 years and there are no blanket exceptions. The rest is fact bound. Murphy v. Grochowski, 2022 U.S. … Continue reading
CA4: It was “immediately apparent” glass pipe was drug paraphernalia
A glass pipe almost certainly for ingesting drugs was “immediately apparent” for plain view, citing United States v. Van Zee, 380 F.3d 342 (8th Cir. 2004). United States v. Runner, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 21854 (4th Cir. Aug. 8, 2022). … Continue reading
D.V.I.: Boat without lights at night is subject to stop
A boat operating at night without lights in U.S. Customs waters violates federal law and it is subject to stop. United States v. Romero-Amaro, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140477 (D.V.I. Aug. 8, 2022). In the tire chalking case, nominal damages … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: 4A does not require medical personnel participate in a prison strip search
The Fourth Amendment does not require medical personnel participate in a prison strip search. Graham v. Wright, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136026 (E.D. Cal. Aug. 1, 2022). Defendant’s stop for late night knocking on the door of a house where … Continue reading
W.D.Pa. shows you can win a MJ smell as PC argument
“Based on the record developed at the suppression hearing, the Court finds that Detective McGee did not have reasonable suspicion to seize Defendant for the following reasons: (1) the Court does not credit Detective McGee’s testimony regarding the odor of … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: Probation officer conducting home visit can smell around the door for drug use
A probation officer at defendant’s house for a home visit could smell around the door, and, here, the smell of marijuana being used inside was evident. That was not unreasonable. United States v. Toney, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120895 (E.D. … Continue reading
CA6 & FL1: Fact hemp is legal doesn’t make smell of MJ lack PC
The fact that hemp was legal doesn’t make the smell like marijuana a lack of probable cause. United States v. McCallister, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 18642 (6th Cir. July 7, 2022) (people in a park); Hatcher v. State, 2022 Fla. … Continue reading
OH: Plastic baggie caught in bookbag zipper wasn’t “immediately apparent” for plain view
“While executing an arrest warrant, police discovered a closed bookbag with a plastic baggie stuck in its zipper. Without obtaining a search warrant, they opened the bookbag and discovered illegal drugs. The question for us is whether the warrantless search … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: PC so lacking, “this is a no-brainer”
“The Court finds that the search warrant affidavit comes nowhere near to establishing probable cause for the search of the cell phone. Simply put, this is a no-brainer. In fact, the government’s conclusory argument noted above demonstrates the futility of … Continue reading
CA8: Shoplifting arrest supported search incident of backpack; inevitable anyway
The search of defendant’s backpack incident to a shoplifting arrest produced a firearm. Even if the search incident wasn’t proper, it was inevitable the backpack would be inventoried at the jail.United States v. Trogdon, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 15860 (8th … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Officer can be cross-examined at trial on his SW affidavit
The government’s motion in limine against crossing the IRS agent on his search warrant affidavit is denied. The search has already been litigated, and defendant can’t use this as a “mini-Franks hearing.” The government can object if it goes far … Continue reading