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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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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: Pole cameras
LR Article: Back to the Future: Revisiting State Constitutions to Protect Against New Technological Intrusions
Matthew Radford, Back to the Future: Revisiting State Constitutions to Protect Against New Technological Intrusions, 81 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 1641 (2024). Abstract:
CA7: 13 months of pole camera surveillance was not unreasonable
Thirteen months of pole camera surveillance of the public areas outside defendant’s home were reasonable under United States v. Tuggle, 4 F.4th 505, 511 (7th Cir. 2021), and the court declines to reconsider that case. The officers saw no more … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Def counsel’s failure to object to GFE in R&R not IAC where it couldn’t win anyway
The R&R also decided the good faith exception applied to this search, but defense counsel didn’t object. It’s a meritless issue, so defense counsel can’t be ineffective for not objecting. United States v. Harp, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194730 (W.D. … Continue reading
GA: Car GPS reported to dealer, and officer got SW for the GPS data
Defendant’s car GPS snitched him off to the dealer where the officers got the ping information. “The Cobb detective also discovered that the Camry had a GPS system that pinged its location to the dealership, and she obtained a search … Continue reading
D.Conn.: Pole camera of house not 4A violation
The use of a pole camera watching the front of defendant’s home for nearly three months was not an unreasonable search. Carpenter does lend some weight to his argument, but all Fourth Amendment precedent is against him. United States v. … Continue reading
RI: REP in a police interrogation room when he was led to believe conversation with mother was private
Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in a police interrogation room while he was talking to his mother under both the Fourth Amendment and the state constitution when he was led to believe it was private. “Finally, the state … Continue reading
CA8: Police placed a hidden camera across from def’s apt door and used information from it in showing PC for SW; there was PC without it
“Darron Mayo appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a hidden camera police officers placed across from his apartment door. Officers used some of the evidence obtained from the camera in a probable cause affidavit supporting … Continue reading
CA10: 68 days of pole camera surveillance in disability fraud case was reasonable
Suspecting VA benefits fraud, the VA OIG surveilled defendant for months and then installed a remote controlled and motion activated pole camera on top of a school across the street. They had 15 hours of video for 68 days, and … Continue reading
Cal.4: No REP from images caught by streetlight camera
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy from images taken on a street light camera where he parked his vehicle. Carpenter just doesn’t apply. Moreover, a store surveillance camera had him there, too. People v. Cartwright, 2024 Cal. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
SDT-U: Could San Diego Police Department’s smart streetlights program infringe upon privacy rights? [as in 500 pole cameras]
The San Diego Times-Union: Could San Diego Police Department’s smart streetlights program infringe upon privacy rights? By Lyndsay Winkley (“Experts say it’s hard to identify when surveillance technology encroaches on a person’s Fourth Amendment rights, but pervasiveness definitely plays a … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Once police executing a warrant on a home discover it’s multi-family, the search must end and a new SW be obtained
After the police entered the building and conducted a security sweep, they discovered only then it was actually a multi-occupant dwelling. There was no outward appearance there were multiple non-family occupants. The first entry finding a gun was valid. The … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Def prevails on a Franks challenge on what he was carrying into his house seen on pole camera
Working from a hearing with a screen shot of a pole camera video, the court concludes that the officer stating defendant was holding a rifle was ultimately with reckless disregard of the truth. Defendant argued he was holding a bouquet … Continue reading
VA: No exigency on police arrival at a “disorderly” call; entry unreasonable
“When the police arrived in response to the ‘disorderly’ call, there was no ongoing disorderly conduct or any indication of any other ongoing crime. Dickens appeared unharmed when she first opened the door to Officer Thornton’s knock, and she said … Continue reading
USA Today: A camera mounted on a light pole took video of police beating Tyre Nichols. What to know about ‘SkyCop.’
USA Today: A camera mounted on a light pole took video of police beating Tyre Nichols. What to know about ‘SkyCop.’ by Claire Thornton:
WaPo: Lawsuit alleges D.C. Housing’s cameras could ‘capture intimate details’
[I don’t normally bother to mention lawsuits until resolved, but SCOTUS is considering a pole camera case for conference in the next month or so.] WaPo: Lawsuit alleges D.C. Housing’s cameras could ‘capture intimate details’ by Justin Wm. Moyer:
SCOTUS orders SG response to pole camera cert. petition
Moore v. United States, 22-481 from SCOTUSBlog.Issue: Whether long-term police use of a surveillance camera targeted at a person’s home and curtilage is a Fourth Amendment search. The Solicitor General waived response Dec. 9. On Dec. 15, the government was … Continue reading
D.Kan.: 10 weeks of pole camera surveillance in disability fraud investigation was reasonable
Defendant was on disability. The government placed a pole camera across the street from his house to see whether he was able or not, and he was indicted for theft of public funds. Ten weeks of pole camera surveillance was … Continue reading
SCOTUS denies cert in pole camera case
Bloomberg Law: Justices Decline to Hear Home Surveillance Privacy Case (Feb. 22, 2022), referring to United States v. Tuggle, 4 F.4th 505 (7th Cir. 2021)
N.D.Ill.: A “network of pole cameras” doesn’t violate 4A
Five pole cameras were trained on defendant’s house. A “network of pole cameras” isn’t a Fourth Amendment violation. See United States v. Tuggle, 4 F.4th 505 (7th Cir. 2021). Moreover, he does not rebut the presumption of good faith with … Continue reading
MA: State law requires PC for pole camera surveillance, and officers had it
Pole camera surveillance in Massachusetts requires probable cause to set it up. Officers had it in defendant’s case, and his front door and left side of his house were watched for 15 days. Commonwealth v. Comenzo, 2022 Mass. LEXIS 54 … Continue reading