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- CA8: Def’s 20 prior arrests helped show voluntariness of consent
- TX1: No standing to challenge seizure of ketamine off co-def, but PC was lacking for his own arrest
- KS: 13 days pole camera surveillance violated no REP
- E.D.Va.: WaPo reporter’s SW was overbroad and 1A protected
- CAAF: GFE applies to cell phone’s geolocation data because of substantial basis for the search authorization
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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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)
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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)
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“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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Seizure
E.D.Va.: Def could be seized under the SW for the business searched when he was found near the door heading in
The narcs timed execution of a search warrant for when defendant’s heroin dealer would arrive. He was near the front door when the police arrived, and he could be detained under Summers and Bailey. United States v. Jones, 2018 U.S. … Continue reading
CA3: Controlled buy moots Franks challenge to CI
The CI’s story was confirmed by two controlled buys. The Franks challenge to the CI fails as to whether it was corroborated or completely immaterial because of the controlled buys. United States v. Carney, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 8116 (3d … Continue reading
WaPo: After his family died, he threatened to kill himself. So the police took his guns.
WaPo: After his family died, he threatened to kill himself. So the police took his guns. By Eli Saslow:
Politico: The Legal Way to Seize Guns From Dangerous People
Politico: The Legal Way to Seize Guns From Dangerous People by Alex Yablon It’s not the way President Trump suggested.
D.Nev.: Def was handcuffed and in police car, so search incident didn’t apply; it was inevitable, however, inventory would happen
Defendant’s arrest led to a search incident of luggage, but he was handcuffed and in a police car. So, the search incident doctrine can’t apply, but an inventory would have inevitably occurred, so that provides an independent basis for the … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Asking the same question three times within five minutes during a traffic stop prolonged the stop, but with RS
Asking the same question three times within five minutes during a traffic stop prolonged the stop, but it was all with reasonable suspicion. United States v. Brooks, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1691 (D. Mont. Jan. 4, 2018). Defendant’s stop wasn’t … Continue reading
CA10: Officer’s firing gun at car fleeing after traffic stop wasn’t seizure; driver’s “momentary pause is not submission”
“Oriana Lee Farrell and her five children claim that Defendant Elias Montoya, while on duty as a New Mexico state police officer, violated their Fourth Amendment rights when he fired three shots at their minivan as it drove away from … Continue reading
TX10: Walking away from a traffic stop is the crime of evading detention
For the purposes of the evading arrest or detention statute, defendant fled when he got out of the car and walked away from a lawful detention and did not stop when commanded by officers until he was about 40 feet … Continue reading
PA: Flashing overhead lights on a police car means stop and stay until released; stopping to check GPS isn’t RS
According to the vehicle code and the driver’s license manual, when a police car has its lights on, a driver is to stop until let go. Here, the officer pulled up next to defendant’s car on the side of I-79 … Continue reading
D.Minn.: DHS could stop airplane on ground for pilot certificate inspection; after PC found, airplane subject to automobile exception because of mobility
Federal officers can seek a pilot certificate inspection (PCI) of any airplane. 14 C.F.R. 61.51(i). “Although it seems obvious that the agents were interested in Defendants’ plane for drugs—and therefore that the PCI was merely a pretext to dig around—officers … Continue reading
CA5: Witness to police shooting handcuffed and detained for 2 hours stated 4A claim for relief
Plaintiff’s father was acting erratic and was armed, and the police were called. Plaintiff was trying to defuse the situation. The SWAT team showed up, and, after a brief stand-off plaintiff’s father was shot while she was standing next to … Continue reading
CA7 en banc: Conviction affirmed for gun seen while allegedly “parking while black”
Stopping a car 7′-8′ from crosswalk for illegal stopping was reasonable under the all the facts. It necessitated a brief stop to issue a ticket, and officers saw a gun. Whren doesn’t apply just to moving offenses and not fine-only … Continue reading
FL: Passengers are also detained for a reasonable time; def’s getting out of car reasonably delayed the stop while backup came
Officers could, as a matter of course, detain the passengers of a vehicle for the reasonable duration of a traffic stop without violating the Fourth Amendment. Although the traffic stop might have lasted longer than a routine, uneventful stop, it … Continue reading
CA8: Shooting ptf’s dog was objectively reasonable; it was running on a busy freeway and refused to be captured and caused safety hazard
Plaintiff’s dog escaped and ran down I-29 and cars were swerving dodging the dog. The defendant officer attempted to capture the dog but the dog eluded capture. With the patrol car in the road keeping cars back, traffic quickly backed … Continue reading
A.F.Ct.Crim.App.: Retest of inconclusive UA was reasonable
The military judge erred in suppressing the results of a second “reinspection” UA administered as a base protocol after a first UA after an AWOL come up positive, diluted, or inconclusive. It was a reasonable command imposed requirement. United States … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Def was arrested in a prostitution sting and his car was on a parking lot; govt fails to show impoundment proper
Defendant was arrested in a prostitution sting, and his car was impounded and searched. The court suppresses the search under the community caretaking function for not following the rules of the department. The government has the burden on a warrantless … Continue reading
PA & CA2: Approaching def to talk to him about what’s in his bag was not a seizure
“Consistent with this precedent, we find the officers did not subject Appellant to a seizure when they approached him in a public place and asked him what was inside his bag. The interaction remained a mere encounter as the officers … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Def’s companion’s frisk showed def he was next, so he was seized, but it was with RS
The frisk of defendant’s companion indicated to him that he was seized, too, and that he’d be frisked before he fled and discarded the gun. Still, there was reasonable suspicion for the seizure, and the motion to suppress the gun … Continue reading