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- MA: Cell phone call logs don’t require a search warrant
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- C.D.Cal.: SW materials in case with weighty public interest ordered unsealed
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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: Inevitable discovery
GA: Search of a backpack six days after seizure required a SW
Defendant was granted a new murder trial on ineffective assistance of counsel grounds, one of which was failure to file a motion to suppress. On remand to the trial court, he pursued the motion to suppress claiming that a search … Continue reading
OR: On a domestic call, “The officers heard a man say ‘shut the fuck up,’ a woman crying and whimpering, a loud thump, and then silence.” This was exigency
Police get a domestic call, and when they get there “The officers heard a man say ‘shut the fuck up,’ a woman crying and whimpering, a loud thump, and then silence.” This was enough for exigency for an entry. State … Continue reading
CA9: Search of backpack was inevitable either as SITA or booking
Defendant was booked on two misdemeanors, and his backpack was searched. If his backpack wasn’t subject to a search incident, it was subject to inevitable discovery for a search at booking. Also, for what it’s worth, defendant twice attempted to … Continue reading
FL1: Inevitable discovery requires actual effort to get SW or exception swallows rule
There was no attempt by the officers to secure a search warrant. Probable cause alone isn’t enough: there has to be an effort to get a warrant for inevitable discovery to apply. “Any other result would allow the exception to … Continue reading
OR: There was no PC for an administrative seizure of def’s car
The seizure of defendant’s car was without probable cause for an administrative seizure. While her insurance card did not fully comply with the statute, it was fair on its face that it was her and for her cars. State v. … Continue reading
CA9: On remand for a hearing on inevitable discovery, the district court found it applied three ways
On remand from United States v. Harris, 642 Fed. Appx. 713 (9th Cir. 2016), the district court had a hearing on application of inevitable discovery. “At the supplemental hearing, the district court made three findings in determining that the inevitable … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Govt bore burden of proof on inevitable discovery and failed; weak hearsay not credited
The issue of inevitable discovery was treated as an aside by the government, although it bore the burden of proof on it. It seeks the use of hearsay on inevitable discovery that was hard to credit considering the posture of … Continue reading
CA3: Hiding computer evidence when def learns SW coming is “contemporaneously with arrest” for U.S.S.G. 3C1.1
Defendant panicked when he heard the police were coming to his house to search, and he moved files to his computer recycling bin. The court finds this was “contemporaneously with arrest” for U.S.S.G. 3C1.1, but, because they were easily recovered, … Continue reading
TX: Even if suppression motion is made in trial, state bears burden on a warrantless search
Whether a motion to suppress is filed pretrial or during trial, if the search is shown to be warrantless, the burden shifts to the state to prove the legality of the warrantless search. White v. State, 2018 Tex. Crim. App. … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Def’s search incident of his backpack for fraudulent use of a Metrocard was valid at least on GFE and inevitable discovery
Defendant was stopped for using a school student’s Metrocard to get on the NYC subway because he looked and was a so older. His backpacked was removed, and he was handcuffed. His backpack was searched incident to his arrest. The … Continue reading
CAAF: Inevitable discovery and lack of bad faith saved AFOSI’s exceeding scope of search authorization
AFOSI officers exceed the military search authorization which omitted defendant’s bags. They’d sought a search of the bags and it was within the confines of the affidavit. There was no bad faith, and they were actively investigating pursuing leads on … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Suit over opening medical records envelope as non-legal mail was frivolous
Suit over opening of non-legal mail, here medical records, was frivolous. Villafana v. Clarke, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54893 (E.D. Va. Mar. 30, 2018). The first officer at the scene conducted a search without probable cause. A supervising officer appeared … Continue reading
AF: Inevitable discovery validated finding CP while looking for text messages with minor
The search authorization was valid for text messages between defendant and a supposed 14-year-old girl. The AFOSI investigator found child pornography in what was thus found to be plain view. Even if, arguendo, the officer was looking for child pornography, … Continue reading
ME: Entry on curtilage for “security check” just before SW issued was inevitable discovery
Officers arrested defendant’s housemate at a motel for attempting to buy oxycontin. Somehow, not described, this led to probable cause to search her house. While other officers were obtaining a search warrant, two officers went to the house for a … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: No IAC for not raising search issue that would lose on merits by inevitable discovery
“Nevertheless, Petitioner’s arguments for suppression do not succeed. [¶] This is because police ultimately found the firearm and ammunition from an independent source, thus defeating the need for suppression. Under the independent source doctrine, evidence that was ‘initially discovered during … Continue reading
ID: Search of driver while waiting for confirmation of outstanding warrant suppressed; second search after finding it was valid; no inevitable discovery
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and it came back that there might be a warrant for him. Under state practice, the police then seek confirmation of the warrant before acting on it. Here, however, defendant was frisked incident … Continue reading
CA8: Def has burden of showing illegal detention was “but for” cause of finding evidence
Defendant was a known drug dealer, and he was parked with his hood open. He said he was checking the belt on the engine. The officer was not prohibited from approaching the car and looking under the hood, too. Defendant … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Inevitable discovery cures a Rodriguez violation
While extending the stop violated Rodriguez, inevitable discovery applies and the evidence is not suppressed. United States v. Conteh, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25542 (D. S.D. Feb. 16, 2018):
E.D.Cal.: A civil detainee has no REP in his cell, despite not being a convict
A civil commitment detainee has more rights than a convict in a jail, but still practically none in his living area from a search for alleged contraband. Warrior v. Santiago, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22742 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 12, 2018). … Continue reading
NE: Even if OnStar produced information the same day before the SW actually issued, inevitable discovery applies
Defendant claimed that the police obtained his OnStar information just before the search warrant for it issued. While that’s not conceded, it doesn’t matter because the search warrant was issued and the information retrieved the same day. Inevitable discovery applies, … Continue reading