Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA2: No 4A requirement for SWs being issued with notice to target
- CA6: Denying ptf access to his own bathroom during a search of his house stated 4A claim
- W.D.Mo.: Not exactly following the inventory policy doesn’t make it unreasonable under 4A
- GA: No IAC for not challenging complete cell phone download before search
- DNYUZ: CBP Workers Allegedly Used Government Databases to Spy on Exes, Crushes, and Colleagues
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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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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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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Section 1983 Blog -
"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
NY4: Exclusionary rule wouldn’t be applied to probation search during a time of uncertainty in the law where law now settled; no deterrence possible
The exclusionary rule would not be applied to what turned out to be an illegal probation search at a time when the law was unclear. There is no deterrent effect to be gained by applying the exclusionary rule when other … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Under probation interstate compact, probationer subject to rules of both states
Defendant was placed on probation in Arizona, and he was subject to suspicionless searches there. He transferred probation to Nevada under the Interstate Compact for probationers, but Nevada required reasonable suspicion. He knew he was subject to the probation conditions … Continue reading
CA4: Arrest for obstruction wasn’t objectively justified and QI denied
The actions of the plaintiff didn’t reasonably rise to the level of obstruction of an officer, and her arrest and throwing her to the ground was unjustified. Qualified immunity is denied. Hupp v. Cook, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 22208 (4th … Continue reading
CA9: Def’s two probation searches, back to back, were reasonable
Defendant was properly subjected to a probation search. The first search led to a second search. United States v. Hardesty, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 20724 (9th Cir. July 12, 2019).* Defendant doesn’t get discovery of the entire breadth of this … Continue reading
KS: Random suspicionless drug testing of any probationer is reasonable under special needs
Random suspicionless drug testing of any probationer (even those from nondrug cases), satisfied the Fourth Amendment and state constitution under special needs. State v. Hinnenkamp, 2019 Kan. App. LEXIS 44 (July 5, 2019):
Cal.3: Broad electronic parole search condition was reasonable and related to the crime
Defendant was convicted of identity theft and he had an electronic search condition for his release. The computer search release condition was reasonable and not overbroad, and it was related to the underlying crime and how it was committed. People … Continue reading
CA10: SW not needed to obtain GPS location information from parolee’s GPS monitor
Defendant was on community supervision with GPS monitoring. He does not contest that, just the fact the location information was obtained without a search warrant. The probation-parole search exception doesn’t require a search warrant to obtain that information. United States … Continue reading
LA2: State law at time required PO be present at search, and he wasn’t; suppressed
Defendant’s probation officer wasn’t present for his probation search, and that was required at the time by state law (since changed but prospectively). Still, that voided his probation search. State v. Carter, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 1152 (La. App. 2 … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Locked gun safe in house subject to parole search condition
A locked gun safe was subject to a parole search condition. United States v. Crawford, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104527 (D. Mont. June 21, 2019). The facts and circumstances of this case show probable cause for obtaining DNA from defendant … Continue reading
CA8: Lack of knock-and-announce for parole search gets QI despite fact no case says it’s lawful; no “robust consensus of cases of persuasive authority”
Plaintiff absconded parolee was subjected to an unannounced entry into his hotel room about 6 am for a parole search. He was in bed with his girlfriend and a gun. The Arkansas Supreme Court held the entry violated the Fourth … Continue reading
CA3: Doing drug deals from the car parked behind the house was nexus
“Walker argues there was no evidence supporting the third Burton premise. We disagree, as several of the ‘factors that help establish the required nexus between a defendant’s drug-dealing activities and his home’ are present in this case. … Walker conducted … Continue reading
OK: State blood draw statute was suspect, but GFE applies
The state blood draw is constitutionally suspect, but the court doesn’t have to go there. The officer’s actions in relying on it was still good faith. Stewart v. State, 2019 OK CR 6, 2019 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 8 (May … Continue reading
NY3: Officer’s subjective intent to search doesn’t matter where there was PC under automobile exception
The officer’s alleged subjective intent to search didn’t matter because there was justification under the automobile exception anyway. People v. HinesPeople v. HinesPeople v. Hines, 2019 NY Slip Op 03853, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 3884 (3d Dept. May 16, … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Probation search def wins motion in limine to keep probation records out of jury trial
Defendant was arrested as a result of a probation search. The government succeeds in a motion in limine that the probation records aren’t admissible in the hearing in the prosecution. United States v. Flores, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74506 (C.D. … Continue reading
Cal.4 dissent: Riley and Sansom require RS for cell phone probation search
Defendant was subjected to a probation search of a cell phone where the underlying crime had nothing to do with cell phones or the internet. The dissent believes that Riley and Sansom together require reasonable suspicion for a cell phone … Continue reading
MT: An improperly certified police officer was still competent as a witness at a suppression hearing under Rule of Evid. 601, 602
An improperly certified police officer was still competent as a witness at a suppression hearing because all witnesses are generally competent to testify to what they saw. Rule of Evid. 601, 602. Under the totality of circumstances, there was probable … Continue reading
TN: One reference to address as “Drive” not “Street” hardly makes the SW without PC or otherwise invalidate it
“The address is shown as ‘106 Melwood Street’ nine times in the affidavit and one time as ‘106 Melwood Drive.’ Based on the totality of the information contained in the affidavit, we determine that the use of the word ‘drive’ … Continue reading
Cal.5: Probation search condition applies to BAC blood draw
Defendant was on probation for DWI. His warrantless probation search condition applied to determining his BAC level. People v. Cruz, 2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 384 (5th Dist. Apr. 25, 2019). This condition was imposed for another DWI. Why wouldn’t a … Continue reading
D.Conn.: SW for hotel room permitted seizure of room key when it was seen before the search
The search warrant for a hotel room authorized seizure of the key to the hotel room to gain access when the officers came upon it. Plain view applied. Even if plain view didn’t apply, the only suppression would be the … Continue reading
ND: 14 hour old information for a probation search was not stale
14 hour old information for a probation search was not stale. State v. Stenhoff, 2019 ND 106 (Apr. 11, 2019). Defendant didn’t preserve his search issues for appeal under state law. “In attempting to reserve the question of whether Defendant … Continue reading