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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
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© 2003-20,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. about 30,000 posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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General (many free):
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Lexis.com $
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F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: Particularity
CA6: Officer executing a state arrest warrant doesn’t have to independently verify its validity
Defendant contended that the officer executing an invalid state arrest warrant had a duty to verify the validity of the warrant before executing it. He didn’t, and the officer acted in otherwise good faith. Therefore, the exclusionary rule would not … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Scrivener’s error as to property to be seized was cured in context
A scrivener’s error as to alleged vagueness in the property to be searched and seized was cured in context of the documents. United States v. Carter, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168543 (M.D. Fla. Sept. 15, 2020). Defendant’s blocking the street … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Mask ordinance doesn’t violate 4A right of privacy
The City of Springfield mask ordinance does not violate, inter alia, the Fourth Amendment right to privacy. Shelton v. City of Springfield, 6:20-cv-03258 (W.D. Mo. Sept. 2, 2020). “In specifically detailing the criminal conduct under investigation, the search warrants provide … Continue reading
OH2: The fact a SW had a laundry list of 182 things to search for and seize isn’t fatal where def doesn’t show what was overseized
The search warrant here was for illegal fireworks and listed 182 items to be seized, including fireworks. “Johnson also contends the warrant is invalid because it authorized the seizure of a boilerplate list of 182 items, all or most of … Continue reading
FL3: Some discretion in the seizing officers as to what should be seized was not unreasonable or a lack of particularity
Some discretion in the seizing officers as to what should be seized was not unreasonable or a lack of particularity. An unfilled-in blank on the warrant didn’t make it vague, either. Also, defendant waived his probable cause argument on appeal … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Broad email warrants are not per se unreasonable
Broad email search warrants were not unreasonable just because they were broad. The breadth of the financial crime under investigation justifies it. In addition, the good faith exception applies and it’s too early to tell if any has to be … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Using cell site simulator with SW was reasonable and particular
A warrant supported by ample probable cause was used for a cell site simulator to find defendant’s cell phones. No conversations were captured. The USMJ compared it to a tracking warrant, which wasn’t unreasonable. The warrant was also constitutionally particular. … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Illustrative list in SW satisfies particularity
Use of an illustrative list helps show particularity of the search warrant. United States v. Messalas, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 123735 (E.D. N.Y. July 10, 2020). The video of the stop supports justification for the stop. State v. Rivera, 2020 … Continue reading
NE: SW’s cut and paste error on what to be searched could be overlooked here
A cut and paste error in a search warrant that referred to other property could be overlooked when the true particularity could be seen. State v. Said, 306 Neb. 314 (July 2, 2020):
AK: Misspelling of target name in a warrant to record a conversation didn’t void the warrant when right person was recorded
Officers obtained a warrant under state law to record a future conversation with defendant about his alleged sexual assault of a passed out woman, but they didn’t have the spelling right (Darren, not Darin) and a wrong middle initial. There … Continue reading
CA2: Second Tasing of nonresisting detainee was unreasonable
On this record, the second Tasing of plaintiff could be found unreasonable for lack of resistance, which the jury did. Jones v. Treubig, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 19883 (2d Cir. June 26, 2020). The search under defendant’s consent for “firearms/evidence” … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def’s efforts to cast innocent explanation to the facts articulated by the officer don’t undermine PC
While it is certainly possible the officer likely had a subjective intent to search, “‘[s]ubjective intentions play no role in ordinary, probable-cause Fourth Amendment analysis.’ Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 813 (1996). A showing that a police officer … Continue reading
NE: Indicia linking def to premises searched could be subject of SW; affidavit didn’t need a detailed explanation of CODIS for magistrate
Obtaining defendant’s CSLI in February 2017, 16 months before Carpenter, was in good faith and reasonable. That information could thus be used in an affidavit for search warrant for his house because probable cause was otherwise shown for it. Also, … Continue reading
OH4: Folded piece of paper wasn’t plain feel during stop and frisk
A folded piece of paper couldn’t be searched in a stop and frisk and plain feel because the contents weren’t felt. State v. McClure, 2020-Ohio-1574, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1524 (4th Dist. Apr. 16, 2020). “The search warrant was sufficiently … Continue reading
KY: Detaining bystanders to facilitate the arrest of one was reasonable
State case law already permits officers to detain bystanders for a reasonable period for officer safety in execution of search warrants. The court adopts the Sixth Circuit rule and extends it to arrest warrants, too. “We hold that detaining Constant … Continue reading
CO: SW for everything on cell phone was general warrant in violation of 4A
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone had a particular list of files sought, but it still was effectively a general warrant in violation of the Fourth Amendment because it sought virtually everything on the cell phone without regard to … Continue reading
