May 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Archives
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Recent Posts
- NY Columbia Co.: Alleged excessive nervousness when multiple police cars arrive at a traffic stop doesn’t add to RS
- CA4: Backpack dumped in flight in grandmother’s yard was abandoned
- GA: Virtually all-inclusive list of items to be seized wasn’t overbroad
- CA4: Dist.Ct. erred in applying search incident to arrest to suppress bag when inventory was inevitable
- OR: Even if original served warrant wasn’t the one returned, it doesn’t warrant suppression
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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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General (many free):
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--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: Probation / Parole search
Bloomberg: Justices Reject Case Over Phone Search in Parole Breach Arrest
Bloomberg Law: Justices Reject Case Over Phone Search in Parole Breach Arrest by Andrea Vitorio (“The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider whether law enforcement officers can, without a warrant, search a cell phone belonging to a man who was … Continue reading
WY: Flight broke any causal connection between unlawful stop and later search of person
Evidence supporting defendant’s charges was admissible under the attenuation doctrine. His flight and the circumstances surrounding his flight broke the causal connection between the alleged unlawful police conduct and the evidence supporting his charges. Also, where the trial court denied … Continue reading
VA: Firefighters could call ME and police for dead body
When firefighters entered defendant’s property in response to a fire call, they found a body. It was within the scope of the fire entry to call the police and medical examiner. “Thus, all that the firefighters observed was no longer … Continue reading
CA6: There was PC for SW for real time pinging of def’s cell phone
There was probable cause for a search warrant for real time pinging of defendant’s cell phone to try and find out where he was. United States v. Ennis, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 8779 (6th Cir. Apr. 1, 2022). Defendant was … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Traffic stop led to PC by plain view
There was probable cause for a stop, and that quickly developed into probable cause to search from marijuana residue around the driver’s seat. United States v. Estes, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41951 (D.Minn. Mar. 8, 2022).* Possession of a large … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Execution of writ of execution a reasonable seizure
Execution of a facially valid writ of execution is a reasonable seizure. Coonts v. Potts, 316 F.3d 745, 750-51 (8th Cir. 2003). Knight v. City of Omaha, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41932 (D.Neb. Mar. 9, 2022). “In sum, Price’s status … Continue reading
FL4: Suspicionless probation search condition violates state law
The probation search condition permitting one without reasonable suspicion violates state law. Remanded to strike it from probation terms. Bowman v. State, 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 1611 (Fla. 4th DCA Mar. 9, 2022). Window tinting stop: “Moreover, because Trooper Otterson … Continue reading
IL: Drug sale in backyard nexus to SW for house
“Granted, the drug sale did not occur inside the residence. Rather, it occurred outside the residence, in the backyard. The question, then, is whether a controlled purchase that took place in the yard of a house in which the drug … Continue reading
SD: Call about a mere “argument” at 2:48 am didn’t support def’s stop leaving apartment parking lot
The community caretaking exception did not apply to defendant’s stop leaving an apartment parking lot at 2:48 am. A child called the police about an argument in the house, but nothing in the call or the report from dispatch indicated … Continue reading
D.Idaho: USMs at EPA execution of administrative SW not unreasonable
The presence of U.S. Marshals helping execute an EPA administrative warrant did not make the search unreasonable. Ace Black Ranches v. United States EPA, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22284 (D.Idaho Feb. 4, 2022). Decedent’s shooting during an apparent child kidnapping … Continue reading
CA11: Computer searches as condition of supervised release for gun crime not plain error
The district court did not plainly err in allowing supervised release searches of defendant’s computer for a gun crime. U.S.S.G. § 5D1.3(d)(7). Under precedent, a search condition does not have to be specifically related to the crime. United States v. … Continue reading
CA3: PC for fraud by computer permits search of def’s house for computers
Defendant was suspected of committing fraud with his computer, and that was probable cause for searching for and seizing the computer in his home. United States v. Nyamekye, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 2966 (3d Cir. Feb. 2, 2022). Assuming reasonable … Continue reading
TX: Exclusionary rule is statutory and harmless error analysis required
The Texas exclusionary rule is statutory and not a constitutional remedy since 1922. Thus, harmless error analysis is required, and the case remanded for that. Holder v. State, 2022 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 72 (Feb. 2, 2022). “Accordingly, under the … Continue reading
Cal.4: GPS monitoring with a search waiver were reasonable conditions of home confinement
GPS monitoring with a search waiver were reasonable conditions of defendant’s home confinement sentence. People v. Gerson, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS 72 (4th Dist. Jan. 28, 2022). “Although Defendant complied with Franks by (1) specifically identifying the portion of the … Continue reading
CA9: Supervised release condition of cell phone searches was reasonable
“Koyanagi next challenges the special condition of supervised release requiring him to submit to periodic suspicionless searches of his electronic data. [¶] Koyanagi’s constitutional challenges to this condition are unavailing. See United States v. Bare, 806 F.3d 1011, 1018 n.4 … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: RS parolee is into drugs justifies PO’s cell phone search
State parole officers with reasonable suspicion defendant was involved in drugs could seize and search his cell phone. United States v. Devaughn, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5406 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 11, 2022). There was no reasonable suspicion for a probation search … Continue reading
MT: Probation search was justified; its overall reasonableness didn’t warrant suppression here
There was reasonable suspicion for the probation search of defendant’s house based on his wife’s report that he was using meth again. The supervisory PO authorized a warrantless entry if necessary. The record is limited as to the reasonableness of … Continue reading
S.D.Cal. gives helpful explanation of application of Heck bar
A helpful explanation of the Heck bar to Fourth Amendment claims is Cordova v. Imperial Cnty. Narcotics Task Force, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3993 (S.D.Cal. Jan. 7, 2022).* Plaintiff lost her excessive force claim, and the defendants sought attorneys fees … Continue reading
CA6: Arguable PC defeats false arrest claim
Plaintiff is a police officer who was apparently drunk in the Detroit airport after returning to Michigan with his children for Thanksgiving weekend. He ended up being arrested and sued. He understood he was impaired and was going to have … Continue reading
TX8: Purely private search of cell phone not suppressed under art. 38.23(a)
The purely private search of defendant’s cell phone finding child pornography that was reported to police was not subject to exclusion under Texas’s art. 38.23(a). If a laptop search is not subject to exclusion, neither is a cell phone. Horne … Continue reading