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- CA9: Supervised release condition of financial disclosure permitted under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and didn’t violate 4A
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- thedrive.com: Police Are Tagging Fleeing Cars With GPS Darts to Avoid Dangerous Pursuits
- CO: School search of serial offender under firearms “safety plan” was reasonable
- NYU L. Rev.: If Wheels Could Talk: Fourth Amendment Protections Against Police Access to Automobile Data
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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) -
“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!”
---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: Motion to suppress
CA5: Failure to plead facts in motion to suppress that would justify relief doesn’t require a hearing
The district court didn’t abuse its discretion in denying the motion to suppress without a hearing for failure to plead “facts that would justify relief.” United States v. Smith, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 32024 (5th Cir. Oct. 8, 2020):
D.Idaho: Even if smell of MJ only justifies search of passenger compartment, finding nothing extends it to trunk
Defendant argues that the smell of marijuana during a traffic stop only permitted a search of the passenger compartment of his vehicle. When the officer didn’t find any marijuana there, it was justified to search the trunk. United States v. … Continue reading
D.Utah: Ex ante motion to suppress before SW executed denied without prejudice; must follow search
Movant has notice of a search warrant not yet executed. Her ex ante motion to quash the search warrant is denied without prejudice. Under Rule 41(h), the motion should be filed after the search occurs. United States v. Richards, 2020 … Continue reading
TN: No right to reconsideration of denial of motion to suppress on transfer to a different trial judge after denial
After the case was transferred to a different judge after denial of a motion to suppress, defendant sought reconsideration of denial of his suppression motion. He didn’t show that there was justification for reconsideration because of new evidence or other … Continue reading
CA11: Officers executing a SW at a house can approach an occupied car parked out front
“The district court did not err by denying Turner’s motion to suppress. Delgado was entitled, ‘without any level of suspicion,’ to approach a car in a dangerous locale with an unknown number of occupants parked near a residence where he … Continue reading
Cal.: Defense has to put state on notice of issues in motion to suppress
When the defense makes a motion to suppress, it is obligated to put the state on notice as to all the issues. This suppression hearing took nine days, and still the defense claims the state didn’t fully get the issues. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Motion to suppress denied for lack of specificity
Defendant’s motion to suppress is denied for lack of specificity. United States v. Zuniga-Garcia, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122220 (D. Minn. June 24, 2020). There was probable cause for the search warrant, despite the claimed Franks violation which was not … Continue reading
CA2: IAC claim not proper on motion for new trial
The district court acted within its discretion to deny a motion for new trial on an ineffective assistance of counsel claim for not moving to suppress before the trial. Defendant can raise it in post-conviction. United States v. Atuana, 2020 … Continue reading
CA7: Even though the 4A was complied with, if the question is relevance or prejudice, a motion in limine is proper, not a motion to suppress
Just because the Fourth Amendment was complied with doesn’t mean that the evidence seized is relevant (Rule 401) or the evidence could be more prejudicial than relevant (Rule 403). Then, suppression isn’t the remedy – a motion in limine is. … Continue reading
NE: Def’s purse could be searched under automobile exception even though it had already been removed from car
Defendant’s purse was validly searched under the automobile exception after the backup officer smelled marijuana coming from the car. It didn’t matter that it wasn’t in the car at the time of the search. State v. Lang, 305 Neb. 726 … Continue reading
Two on waiver for untimeliness
Pro se defendant making a motion to suppress during trial was waiver. He talked about it with his former attorney and waited until the government offered it into evidence. United States v. Young, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 10820 (7th Cir. … Continue reading
CA11: Failure to join in the codef’s motion to suppress is waiver
Failure to join in the codefendant’s motion to suppress is waiver. United States v. Russa, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 9288 (11th Cir. Mar. 25, 2020). In a 2254 COA: “Assuming that counsel was deficient in failing to raise the plain-view … Continue reading
D.Alaska: No Franks duty to tell issuing magistrate of failed challenges to same CP search software elsewhere
The FBI agent applying for the search warrant had no Franks duty to tell the issuing magistrate that Torrential Downpour, the software they were using, had been challenged elsewhere where the challenges had failed. United States v. Schwier, 2020 U.S. … Continue reading
D.Nev.: No motions through six continuances and past motions deadline all untimely
After six continuances in 18 months or so, the defendants’ motion to suppress and other motions filed on the eve of trial are denied as untimely. United States v. Phillips, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42782 (D. Nev. Mar. 11, 2020). … Continue reading
OH: Lack of RS for stop or knowledge of an arrest warrant denies state reliance on Strieff for outstanding warrant
Defendant was sitting in a car near a drug house doing nothing wrong. Police accosted him under the pretext there might be a warrant for him. It turned out there was. Even applying Strieff, the court concludes that Strieff was … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: No ex ante opportunity for email account holder to challenge SW
Targets of an email search warrant lack standing to challenge the search warrant ex ante, before execution. They must do so after. In the Matter of the Search of Records, Information, and Data Associated with 14 Email Addresses Controlled by … Continue reading
Cal.: Mid-trial objection to question based on lack of PC for search was untimely objection to the search
A mid-trial objection to evidence on the ground there was no probable cause for the police action in the search was untimely. It can only be brought during trial if the facts weren’t known until then, and that’s not what … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def’s motion to join codef’s motion to suppress requires showing of REP in joinder motion
Defendant’s motion to join a codefendant’s motion to suppress requires a showing of his reasonable expectation of privacy in the joinder motion. United States v. Palafox, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3698 (D. Nev. Jan. 7, 2020). “[T]he affidavit includes facts … Continue reading
GA: Lack of a particularized motion to suppress didn’t preserve 4A claim for appeal
Defendant did not file a particularized motion to suppress, so he couldn’t raise the issue on appeal. State v. Walker, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 266 (May 17, 2019). Defendant’s statement during the course of the search of his house was … Continue reading
CA2: Failure to make an offer of proof in motion to suppress means denial of the motion
“For starters, Ferrer was not entitled to a hearing on his motion to suppress. The motion, filed by counsel, was unaccompanied by any affidavit to support the charge that Ferrer was subjected to ‘an unlawful police-initiated interrogation.’ Gov’t App’x 2. … Continue reading