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- D.Utah: Police slow walked traffic stop without RS
- IA: Court ordered privilege review of search was at its expense
- D.Kan.: Preservation request under SCA isn’t a search or seizure
- UT: RS on a prior day was not RS for stop on day in question
- CA2: Ptf alleged invasion of privacy for 4A violation, and that’s enough
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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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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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) -
“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
NV: Illegally recorded conversation by recorder in child’s backpack can be used by expert in child custody proceeding
In this child custody case, the father put a recording device in the child’s backpack to record the child’s interactions with the mother. While the recording violated state law, the trial court did not abuse its discretion in permitting an … Continue reading
LA: Automatic denial of pro se motion to suppress filed by represented defendant was error; counsel needs to review
Trial court erred in denying defendant’s pro se motion to suppress solely because he was represented by counsel. At least as a matter of state law, it’s up to defense counsel to assess the motion and decide what to do … Continue reading
DE: Conclusory motion to suppress summarily denied
Defendant’s conclusory motion to suppress that states no law or fact is denied without a hearing. State v. Dunson, 2017 Del. Super. LEXIS 616 (July 7, 2017):
DE: two on motions to suppress out of time
Motion to file a motion to suppress out of time is denied for not showing a sufficient excuse. Even so, defendant doesn’t allege standing, so he couldn’t win if it was allowed to be filed. State v. Boyd, 2017 Del. … Continue reading
CA7: Def’s false suppression hearing testimony gets him 2 level obstruction sentencing enhancement
Defendant’s false testimony at suppression hearing results in 2 level enhancement under the Sentencing Guidelines. United States v. Jones, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 18204 (7th Cir. Sept. 20, 2017):
CA2: Waiting until trial to move to suppress computer was waiver
The FBI thought they had defendant’s wife’s consent to search his computer, but they realized she didn’t know the password, so they applied for a search warrant. Defendant waited until the start of the trial to move to suppress, and … Continue reading
NY4: Not granting a continuance of suppression hearing for unavailable witnesses was an abuse of discretion
The trial court erred in granting the motion to suppress for the nonattendance of its police witnesses after they were subpoenaed but didn’t show. The state sought an adjournment which the trial court denied. It was the first request for … Continue reading
D.Haw.: Possible new evidence on search issue for motion for new trial doesn’t change outcome
Defendant’s motion for new trial based on possible new evidence for litigating the search and seizure claim under F.R.Crim.P. 33 is denied because it doesn’t change the outcome. United States v. Kapahu, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88922 (D. Haw. June … Continue reading
Two on waiver of motions to suppress
Where the motion to suppress was filed the Friday before a Monday bench trial, it was within the discretion of the district court to defer the suppression motion ruling until after all the evidence was in. United States v. Hardison, … Continue reading
PA: Deciding a motion to suppress on grounds not raised by the defense was an abuse of discretion; state didn’t get to respond
Deciding a motion to suppress on grounds not raised by the defense was an abuse of discretion because the state did not get to raise a defense to it. Commonwealth v. Banks, 2017 PA Super 182, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Potential fraud conspiracy provided inference for PC to search cell phones
There was probable cause for the search of defendant’s cell phones in his car. He fled from an attempt to make a purchase at a store with a stolen prepaid credit card. When his car was stopped, he consented to … Continue reading
OH10: Hearsay of one officer about another not inadmissible in suppression hearing about RS
The trial court did not err in relying in part on hearsay testimony by one officer about another to find that there was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s detention. State v. Box, 2017-Ohio-1138, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 1165 (10th Dist. March … Continue reading
DC: Failing to file a motion to suppress is waiver of the issue
Defendant never filed a motion to suppress prior to trial, so the search and seizure claim is waived. Proctor v. United States, 2017 D.C. App. LEXIS 55 (March 16, 2017), amended 2017 D.C. App. LEXIS 331 (Oct. 26, 2017). The … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: USMJ declines adversary briefing by Google for a SW for email; take it to the USDJ
Google objected to a search warrant for two email accounts, whether located in the U.S. or not. Its motion for a briefing schedule is denied. Despite case law elsewhere, the District Judge is the one to take up adversarial litigation … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Untimely motion to suppress summarily denied
Defendant’s untimely motion to suppress is denied. United States v. Drexler, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13833 (D.Nev. Feb. 1, 2017). Defendant was arrested for bank robbery, and a search incident to arrest of his person was valid and based on … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Motion to suppress denied without prejudice for failure to plead any facts or law or brief the issue with cases
Motion to suppress denied without prejudice for failing to cite facts or authority or provide a cogent argument. United States v. Guerrier, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14405 (M.D. Pa. Feb. 2, 2017):
M.D.Pa.: General motion to suppress denied for not pleading any facts or law
“In light of the fact that Defendant fails to specify which statements he is seeking to suppress and the insufficiency of Defendant’s explanation for why the arrest warrant lacks probable cause, I am unable to properly consider these motions. Fourth … Continue reading
IA: Two finding defective inventory due to police investigative motive
“In any event, it is clear that Officer Carter failed to remove the license plates and registration receipt before impounding the car. Because the officer overlooked the legislatively imposed requirements for the impoundment, it appears he was motivated solely by … Continue reading
OH8: Failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress is a waiver of a 4A claim
Failure to file a pretrial motion to suppress is a waiver of a Fourth Amendment claim. State v. Gibson, 2017-Ohio-102, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 107 (8th Dist. Jan 12, 2017). Defendant was stopped for swerving on the highway. When he … Continue reading