November 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- D.Ariz.: Smell of alcohol in the car on Navajo Nation was PC
- NY3: No REP in parole GPS monitoring as to police
- TX: An entry into a person’s homestead for civil discovery has limits
- S.D.W.Va.: Subpoenas for records on advocacy positions violated 1A
- CA10: Investigative detention that went on for hours did not become an arrest
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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 -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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 -
"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: Staleness
D.Md.: Even with MJ decrim, smell of MJ from a vehicle is still PC by statute and state case law
According to the state courts and statute, the smell of marijuana from a van was still probable cause in Maryland despite decriminalization. The search of the vehicle and a backpack within was thus lawful. United States v. Palacio, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: On a video that’s integral to the PC, the reliability of the time stamp isn’t to be inquired into or it becomes a “hypertechnical” review
Defendant was on a surveillance video 33 days before a search warrant was sought for the weapon since he was a felon. The warrant was not stale because people almost always keep firearms for a long time. Defendant’s challenge to … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Broad SW for cell phone photos was reasonable because of how they’re stored
A broad search warrant for photographs on a cell phone was reasonable because that’s the only way the photos can be searched. In addition, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Hawkins, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 214030 (E.D. Mich. … Continue reading
D.V.I.: GFE applies to searches before the court held U.S. to V.I. packages weren’t border searches
Applying its prior Baxter case, the District of the Virgin Islands holds that the border search exception doesn’t apply to mail and packages shipped from the Continental U.S. The searches here, however, predated Baxter, so the good faith exception applies. … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Length of def’s participation in DTO undermines his staleness argument
There was probable cause defendant was a major player in a DTO, and that his participation went on for months. This, he concedes, undermines his staleness argument. United States v. Williams, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211403 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 6, … Continue reading
CA9: Three-month-old information about where probationer lived wasn’t stale for probation search
Probation officers could rely on a three-month-old list that showed defendant’s brother lived there and he was on probation. The list was not stale because there was no suggestion the brother’s tenancy was transitory. Defendant’s claim the probation search as … Continue reading
OR: Ten-year-old information in a SW for evidence of child sexual abuse wasn’t stale
Defendant was convicted of 11 counts of child sexual abuse from acts that occurred at a gymnastic business that had sleepovers of young female gymnasts. In making its case, the state used ten-year-old information in a search warrant application for … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def’s giving false name justifies extending stop
Defendant’s giving a false name extended the stop and added to the reasonable suspicion to detain him after his true identity was discovered. United States v. Jackson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188225 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 30, 2019). The affidavit for … Continue reading
IN: SW obtained off of lost drone video wasn’t stale when it was only about four days
A lady found a drone in her yard, and she was already concerned about people flying drones over her house. A computer memory card was in the drone. She looked at it, and called the police and turned it over. … Continue reading
CA7: PC to arrest doesn’t usually go stale
Probable cause to arrest doesn’t go stale like probable cause to search does. “Haldorson’s primary contention is that the information from the controlled buy was too stale three weeks later to support probable cause for an arrest. The mere passage … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Arrest warrants don’t grow stale like SWs
The officer had probable cause to arrest defendant and conduct a search incident to arrest. Thus, the question of probation search is moot. The passage of time (here a little over two months) between knowledge of the arrest warrant and … Continue reading
OH5: Staleness argument fails as to ongoing MJ grow operation
Information about a marijuana grow operation was ongoing by its nature, so staleness is more flexible as to it and information can be older. Also, the good faith exception would apply. State v. Laubacher, 2019-Ohio-4271, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 4343 … Continue reading
TN: Possession of meth in truck many months earlier wasn’t PC to believe it’s there now
Defendant’s alleged possession of methamphetamine in his truck many months earlier was not probable cause to believe it could still be there at the time of the search. Defendant’s possession of a meth pipe, however, gave cause to search the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Alleged quantity of drugs can help overcome a staleness argument
“In conjunction with these [in the totality of] circumstances, Houser and Williams’ statements against their penal interest were sufficient to reasonably assure the magistrate that the information they provided was reliable.” While the fact defendant was dealing drugs from a … Continue reading
CA5: USMJ didn’t need to be told in SW application that the computer was small and portable; that’s usually obvious
Six months was not too stale in a child pornography case where the court has approved much longer delays. “The magistrate judge did not need to be told that electronic devices are often small and portable or that they might … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Older information in SW application substantiated by CI information from day before; not stale
Parts of the information were old, but the search warrant was not stale because a critical part of the affidavit showed that there was credible reason to believe drugs would be found there because of the CI’s observation the day … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Omitted facts for Franks purposes are intentional in one sense, but not presumably intentionally misleading
Omitted facts for Franks purposes are intentional in one sense, but not presumably intentionally misleading. Not every thing the affiant knows makes it in there. Also, citizen informant’s statement defendant was seen with a gun five weeks before the search … Continue reading
D.N.M.: SW wasn’t stale; def was doing enough to show his conduct was ongoing, and the officers didn’t even know he’d moved just before the raid
The search warrant was not stale. While there was reference to activities three months before the warrant was issued, defendant was seen coming and going from the location on the way to do drug transactions with a known drug dealer … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Recusal motion can’t be used as subterfuge just to get rehearing of denied motion to suppress
This second recusal motion looks like defendant is just trying to get rehearing of the denial of his motion to suppress in front of a different judge, and it’s denied. United States v. Williamson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133111 (D. … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Information from a Sept. ’17 SW made it into Oct. ’18 SW affidavit and it wasn’t stale becuase of ongoing nature
Defendant’s property had been searched in September 2017. Information from that made it to a search warrant issued in October 2018, and it wasn’t stale because of the ongoing nature of the facts. United States v. Harmon, 2019 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading