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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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© 2003-21,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. about 35,000 posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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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
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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)
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Category Archives: Probation / Parole search
IL: Mere visitor present at time of SW execution could not be searched without reason
Defendant was merely on the premises raided, and he was clearly not the person sought. There were no furtive gestures or other justification. The search of his person was unreasonable. People v. Duffie, 2021 IL App (1st) 171620, 2021 Ill. … Continue reading
D.Conn.: No REP in parolee’s GPS monitor that placed him at scene of murder
The search warrant for defendant’s phone to attempt to link him to a murder of a witness was based on probable cause that he was seen in a car likely involved and his parole GPS monitor that put him there. … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: Harassment of a parolee as reason for exclusion has to come from something other than the alleged const’l violation
Defendant was on supervised release, and he was stopped for a traffic offense. The officer was admittedly courteous, but defendant still claims harassment as a reason to invoke the exclusionary rule. “[T[he Court concludes that if the exclusionary ‘may’ apply … Continue reading
CA9: Supervised release electronic search condition not shown to have nexus to purposes of SR
“We nevertheless vacate the suspicionless search condition because the district court ordered suspicionless searches of Leonard’s ‘electronic devices and their data, including cell phones, computers, and electronic storage media’ without making ‘a properly supported factual finding’ that ‘establish[es] some nexus … Continue reading
ID: Def has burden of proving standing and can’t rely on state seeking to prove he didn’t have standing
Defendant had the burden of showing standing, and he couldn’t rely on the state not proving he didn’t have standing. Wilson v. State, 2021 Ind. App. LEXIS 264 (Aug. 24, 2021). Finding that defendant was on federal supervised release was … Continue reading
DC: PO’s turning over supervisee’s GPS tracking to police not unreasonable
Defendant on probation in D.C. was supervised by the Court Supervision and Offender Services Agency. After he violated terms of probation, he was placed on GPS monitoring. It was not unreasonable for CSOSA to share that information with D.C. Metro … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: SW issuing judge has judicial immunity
You can’t sue a judge for issuing a warrant where there’s no allegation that the judge abandoned the judicial role [harkening to good faith exception too]. Kolle v. Kyle, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 148629 (S.D.Ohio Aug. 9, 2021). The smell … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Officers could accompany POs where there was fear def engaged in criminal conduct
It was not unreasonable for law enforcement officers to accompany defendant’s parole officer on a parole search because of concerns defendant was involved in criminal conduct. United States v. Davis, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 147629 (E.D.Mich. Aug. 6, 2021). “Brewster’s … Continue reading
CA7: SW affidavit would have been useful at sentencing on drug quantity but defense didn’t offer it
The search warrant affidavit here could have been relevant to the drug quantity calculation, and defendant should have put it into evidence at sentencing. United States v. Rollerson, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 22622 (7th Cir. July 30, 2021). Defendant was … Continue reading
CT: Using a library parking lot and picnic table after hours doesn’t justify stop-and-frisk
Defendant’s mere use of the library’s parking lot and picnic table at 9 p.m. on a Sunday evening was not reasonable suspicion of some other criminal activity and did not support a stop and frisk. State v. Haughwout, 2021 Conn. … Continue reading
CA2: Parole search valid under “special needs” even without RS
The parole search here lacked reasonable suspicion, but it was justified by the special needs exception to the warrant requirement. “Because a search undertaken by a parole officer of a parolee to detect parole violations is ‘reasonably related to the … Continue reading
DC: Probationer’s GPS records don’t need a SW
A search warrant isn’t required for police to obtain a probationer’s GPS records from the PO. United States v. Jackson, 214 A.3d 464 (D.C. 2019). Crocker v. United States, 2021 D.C. App. LEXIS 167 (July 1, 2021). The officers did … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Abandonment after unreasonable seizure not voluntary
There was no reasonable suspicion for defendant’s detention before he fled the officer. The alleged abandonment occurred after the unreasonable seizure, so it was involuntary. United States v. Dudley, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117108 (D. Nev. June 23, 2021). Florida’s … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: Parole-probation searches are governed by 4A reasonableness but shaped by state law limiting them
The probation or parole search law and reasonableness is a Fourth Amendment question but it’s shaped by state law on how those searches are permitted as a condition of release. This one was reasonable. United States v. Beechler, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
CA10: Nexus for CP can logically move when def does
Police had probable cause defendant uploaded child pornography from home. Then he moved. It was reasonable to assume his computers went with him to the new address, so nexus was sufficiently shown for probable cause there. United States v. Kilgore, … Continue reading
CA11: Electronic search condition was discretionary for “chronic lawbreaker”
An electronic search condition for supervised release was not an abuse of discretion where defendant was an admitted “chronic lawbreaker” and not even a sex offender. United States v. Taylor, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 15125 (11th Cir. May 21, 2021):
W.D.Mo.: ER’s security staff conducts private searches of GSW victims
Defendant showed at a hospital ER with a gunshot wound. Hospital policy was for its security staff to search GSW patients’ clothing for staff safety. This was a private search, and it produced ammunition from a convicted felon. United States … Continue reading
