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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© 2003-20,
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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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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General (many free):
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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)
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Category Archives: Probation / Parole search
D.Del.: Mere denials of the facts doesn’t make a Franks claim
Just saying in a motion to suppress the defendant “‘denies telling law enforcement that additional drugs could be found within his apartment’ and ‘disputes the accuracy’ of the statement that officers detected the odor of burnt marijuana in the apartment” … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Search before knowing of probation search condition unreasonable
Standing outside the door to a recently parked vehicle with expired tags and holding the keys was reasonable suspicion the holder is the driver. Asking about probation or parole status and a search waiver is outside the mission of the … Continue reading
AZ: Cell phones “property” subject to probation searches
“Cell phones provide access to an immense array of private information, much of which is stored in the Cloud or on sites controlled by third parties. As such, the United States Supreme Court concluded in Riley v. California that people … Continue reading
ND: Parole search of cell phone after def incarcerated reasonable
The parole search of defendant’s cell phone after he was incarcerated was valid. Here, the officers had reasonable suspicion. (The court saves for another day whether such a search without reasonable suspicion would be valid.) State v. Powley, 2020 ND … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: FIPF is continuing offense and reasonable inference is firearm would be kept at home
Felon in possession of a firearm is a continuing offense, and it’s reasonable to infer defendant would keep the firearm he was suspected of having in his home. That’s sufficient for nexus. United States v. Golden, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
AL: SW to “any law enforcement officer ” in the state can be directed to one from a different county than the place of the search
A search warrant to “any law enforcement officer ” in the state can be directed to one from a different county than the place of the search. When defendant admitted that he had child pornography on the computer at his … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: It was reasonable for officers to open a car door when the driver was parked and unresponsive
Defendant’s car was parked on a Waffle House parking lot from 2-5 am with the headlights on, and it was reasonable for officers to check on the car. Inside was defendant who didn’t respond to them, and it was reasonable … Continue reading
AZ: Cell phones are “property” subject to probation searches
“Cell phones provide access to an immense array of private information, much of which is stored in the Cloud or on sites controlled by third parties. As such, the United States Supreme Court concluded in Riley v. California that people … Continue reading
OH5: Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown
Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown. State v. Hall, 2020-Ohio-2937, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1913 (5th Dist. May 15, 2020).* Replica of Glover: State v. Anglin, 2020-Ohio-2907, 2020 Ohio … Continue reading
TX: State statutory requirement of legible magistrate’s signature subject to GFE
Code of Criminal Procedure Article 18.04(5) requires, in part, that a search warrant contain a legible magistrate’s signature. So what effect does an illegible magistrate’s signature have upon the applicability of the statutory good-faith exception? See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. … Continue reading
ID: Def’s probationary status was admissible at trial to show context for probation search, not as propensity evidence
The fact defendant was on probation was admissible at trial, not as propensity evidence, but to show context for the probation search and why defendant’s underwear was searched. State v. Jones, 2020 Ida. LEXIS 95 (May 4, 2020). Automatic license … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Def doesn’t show that his guilty plea was unknowing as a result of IAC on a 4A claim
“The movant’s unsubstantiated claim that counsel’s mistakes on a Fourth Amendment issue somehow rendered his guilty plea unknowing are insufficient to overcome a record that reflects that the plea was knowing and voluntary.” Hernandez-Rodriguez v. United States, 2020 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
CA6: While federal law requires RS for a supervised release search, it wasn’t error for district court here to permit suspicionless searches
District court did not plainly err in imposing a suspicionless search condition separate from federal law that normally requires reasonable suspicion. United States v. Sulik, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10450 (6th Cir. Mar. 31, 2020). “Nothing in the record suggests … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Possession of an unauthorized smartphone was RS and justified its search
Possession of an unauthorized smartphone was a violation of defendant’s probation and provided reasonable suspicion for a search of the phone. Aside from the legitimate reasons for having a smartphone, “[c]onsidering that a smartphone is often used as an instrumentality … Continue reading
CA6: Trash pulls not unreasonable despite local ordinance that only trash collectors permitted in trash
Trash pulls by police are not unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment, notwithstanding a local ordinance that limits trash collectors to rummaging in trash. United States v. Mathis, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10275 (6th Cir. Mar. 30, 2020). Defendant’s probation search … Continue reading
