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- CA7: Jail officials holding plaintiff under a valid court order aren’t liable for not releasing him sooner after a sentencing error
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the 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: Independent source
S.D.Ohio: Officers had good reason to know CP on flash drive before looking; SW was based on independent source
Defendant’s house was broken into by neighbors, and they stole things, including a flash drive which defendant had admitted to them in the past had child pornography on it. The police got the flash drive from the neighbor and looked … Continue reading
CADC: Bomb squad’s search hours later was not exigent and no QI
A top to bottom search of plaintiff’s home by the D.C. bomb squad hours into a “situation” at his home (actually based on a mistake) wasn’t remotely justified by exigent circumstances. Moreover, qualified immunity doesn’t apply (2-1 on this issue) … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Mere possibility of destruction of evidence in a house under surveillance isn’t exigency; more required
Officers surveilled defendant’s house for several hours, and finally they entered. The mere possibility of destruction of evidence isn’t exigency. Here, however, other officers and an AUSA were in the process of working on a search warrant, and that had … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Facebook SW had thin but sufficient showing of PC, and GFE applied
The police had information that armed robbers were communicating on Facebook about their plans. The affidavit of probable cause as to this defendant’s Facebook account was thin, but it was similar to that of the other defendants and it still … Continue reading
TN: Delivery of pseudo not exigency for warrantless entry but here they had independent source for warrant
Delivery of pseudoephedrine did not justify a warrantless entry into defendant’s house as an exigent circumstance. However, the officers had probable cause already, and there was an independent source for the information. Tennessee still follows Aguilar-Spinelli, and it requires “corroboration … Continue reading
MA: Def’s landlord’s statements were independent of any illegal entry, and they supported PC for SW
Statements from the owner of defendant’s house which made it into the search warrant application and were made after the alleged illegal entry by the police were an independent source. Thus, the motion judge properly denied the motion to suppress … Continue reading
CA2: Even if defendant’s stop violated the Fourth Amendment, his assault on the officer not suppressed
Even if defendant’s stop violated the Fourth Amendment, his assault on the officer would not be suppressed. United States v. Jenkins, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15539 (2d Cir. Aug. 24, 2016). Defendant’s 2255 claim seems to be that the government … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Independent source rule satisfied; illegal entry didn’t factor into SW
There was an illegal entry, but the police had probable cause already, and the search warrant affidavit didn’t include a word of it. Therefore, the first prong of the independent source doctrine was satisfied. As to the second, the investigation … Continue reading
NM: Opening car door that was too heavily tinted was reasonable for officer safety
It was reasonable for an officer in a DUI stop to open the defendant’s door for his own safety when the windows were tinted so darkly he couldn’t see inside. He also knocked on the window first. State v. Simpson, … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Def had no standing in a search of a UK CP bulletin board service that revealed his info
Defendant had no standing in a U.K. bulletin board where he was alleged to have obtained child pornography. U.S. officers got into the system and obtained defendant’s information. Even the fact it was password protected adds nothing to the standing … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Prior illegal entry didn’t void search were the independent source was two later controlled deliveries
Police conducted an illegal warrantless entry two weeks before seeking a search warrant, but then they made two more controlled buys from defendant before getting a search warrant. The warrant had an independent source and would not be suppressed. United … Continue reading
IN: Walking into a house during a drug raid justifies a frisk
Defendant drove up to a house in the process of a drug raid. Eight people were in custody. Defendant was stopped when he got to the door, and he was frisked and a gun was found. The search was valid … Continue reading
CA11: Nothing from warrantless cell phone search made it into SW for phones; independent source rule applies
The government did a cursory warrantless search of two defendants’ cell phones, concerned about a remote wipe, prior to obtaining a search warrant for those phones and others. The independent source rule was satisfied for the searches because there was … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Computer searches should occur away from the home of the target
Computer searches should occur away from the target’s premises. Sometimes they take a long time, and it is infeasible to do them at the scene of the search when it can take days. The comment to the Rule supports this. … Continue reading
D.Vt.: False name during traffic stop is RS for longer detention
Officer’s reasonable belief driver gave false name is reasonable suspicion to continue a stop. United States v. Marsh, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47995 (D.Vt. April 7, 2016). Defendant challenged the search warrant because it included information that was allegedly obtained … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: Alleged police induced private search in SW affidavit mooted by fact remainder still shows PC
Defendant’s landlord conducted a private search of his apartment and brought out 2 lbs of meth to the police saying there was more inside. He argues that this information in a search warrant application should be purged because the landlord … Continue reading