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- VI: Wife had apparent authority to consent to search for firearm in bedroom, even if they didn’t share it
- GA: SW for air bag module and vehicle black box issued with PC and was particular
- W.D.N.Y.: Just saying the Stone bar is “misplaced” isn’t an answer
- OH2: Motion to suppress not proper to challenge authentication of a record for trial
- IN: Greyhound bus subject to automobile exception because dog alerted on luggage compartment
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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)
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Category Archives: Scope of search
CA9: State officers can consider federal crimes in assessing PC
The district court erred three ways in this case: The potential of a federal crime could be considered by the officer in determining probable cause. There was reasonable suspicion to prolong the stop. The automobile exception applied. United States v. … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Fact def was armed when SW for firearms was executed didn’t preclude further search for firearms
The affidavit for search warrant was particular for firearms based on threatening social media posts. When the search occurred, defendant was armed, but there was probable cause there could be other firearms on the premises. United States v. Rui Jiang, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Photographs could be taken during execution of SW
Photographs could be taken during execution of a search warrant. United States v. Schultz, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 236848 (D. Minn. Dec. 2, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4918 (D. Minn. Jan. 10, 2025). In a case involving whether … Continue reading
NY Monroe Co.: The constitution doesn’t apply to citizen’s arrest
In a citizen’s arrest, if the citizen, not a law enforcement officer, violates the constitution or statute, the arrest will not be suppressed for that reason alone. His statement to an officer captured on video will not be suppressed because … Continue reading
OH3: Going right into pockets was an invalid frisk
The state failed to prove the necessity for a stop and frisk because the video shows the officer going right into defendant’s pockets and not frisking. State v. Barnes, 2024-Ohio-5865, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 4519 (3d Dist. Dec. 16, 2024). … Continue reading
SD: PC for drugs as to driver extends to passenger’s purse
Once there was probable cause to search a vehicle because of what was on the driver, there was also probable cause to search the purse of his passenger. State v. Edwards, 2024 S.D. 62, 2024 S.D. LEXIS 136 (Oct. 16, … Continue reading
NC: Defendant abandoned this real property
Defendant abandoned this real property. State v. Moore, 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS 806 (Oct. 15, 2024). Failure to renew a motion to suppress when the evidence is offered is waiver in this state. State v. Rowdy, 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: SW for def’s address produced documents related to another address of his which were lawfully seized
“[T]he Court agrees with Moore that papers listing the 3151 Gobel address that were taken from the 3100 Vienna Woods address fall outside the scope of the search warrant’s plain language. … But that does not end the inquiry as … Continue reading
CA1: Church rectory was objectively a single family dwelling; it had common living areas
It was reasonable for officers seeking a search warrant for a church rectory for child pornography to consider it a single-family dwelling. All the objective information was that it was single family residence. It turned out to be a residence … Continue reading
FL4: REP in Facebook private messages
(1) Florida’s 4th DCA finds a reasonable expectation of privacy in Facebook private messages as analogous to cell phone text messages. (2) When the records were seized under a warrant for a theft, they couldn’t be searched for evidence of … Continue reading
D.Neb.: SW for property not overbroad and sought in GF; it objectively was a single-family home
The officers did their due diligence before the search warrant and saw only that defendant’s property was a single-family dwelling. That’s how it appeared, that’s what public records said. Therefore, they searched in good faith. United States v. Rice, 2024 … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Electronic devices seized in California could be searched in Pennsylvania
Electronic devices seized in California could be searched in Pennsylvania. United States v. Carter, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168014 (W.D. Pa. Sep. 18, 2024). Under established precedent, the smell of marijuana alone coming from defendant’s car permits a search of … Continue reading
D.Minn.: “Cars on the property” was particular enough for SW
“Cars on the property” was particular enough for the search warrant for defendant’s property. United States v. Stucky, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166040 (D. Minn. Sep. 16, 2024). Plaintiff inmate stated enough to proceed that he was subjected to harassing … Continue reading
Cal.6: Cell phone SW was limited to a specific date and time for certain materials, but the search far exceeded it; suppressed, no GFE
The search warrant here was issued for evidence of a sexual assault of an adult. There were pretext text messages sent by the police pretending to be the victim to get an admission. When the search warrant was executed, child … Continue reading
CA1 suggests SCOTUS review categorical rule for search incident of containers
On denial of rehearing, the First Circuit suggests that SCOTUS take review of a case to decide the scope of containers subject to search incident, comparing Robinson (crumpled cigarette pack) and Riley (cell phones). United States v. Perez, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
CA11: No standing in geofence warrant for girlfriend’s cell phone location
Defendant lacks standing to challenge a geofence warrant directed at his girlfriend’s cell phone. “Davis lacks Fourth Amendment standing to challenge the geofence warrant because the search did not disclose any information about the data on his own electronic device, … Continue reading
MS applies exclusionary rule to code enforcers
A code enforcement officer violated the Fourth Amendment and the exclusionary rule is applied. JDB Rentals, LLC v. City of Verona, 2024 Miss. App. LEXIS 290 (July 16, 2024). Defendant waived (or abandoned) any reasonable expectation of privacy in his … Continue reading