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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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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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: Foreign searches
S.D.N.Y.: Overseas seizure of Russian oligarch’s megayacht not governed by 4A
This megayacht was seized overseas for Russia sanctions. (Eduard Yurievich Khudainatov is the owner, and he’s a Russian oligarch who is a Putin proxy (per Forbes)) The claim that the initial seizure may have violated the Fourth Amendment fails because … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Drug dog sticking his nose in the open window of car was a search, and here without PC
The drug dog’s sticking his nose in the open window of defendant’s car was a search, and here without probable cause. United States v. Handley, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 64531 (N.D. Iowa Apr. 9, 2024). This search warrant is particular … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Seizure of def’s cell phone in South Africa by their police does not “shock the conscience” or show virtual agency
“The court must first begin with a discussion of the initial seizure of Chang’s cellphone by South African authorities on December 29, 2018. Under the ‘international silver platter doctrine,’ the U.S. can generally receive evidence obtained by foreign authorities with … Continue reading
MO: Collective knowledge for RS doesn’t require that every witness be called at the suppression hearing
Collective knowledge for reasonable suspicion doesn’t require that every witness be called at the suppression hearing. “While Appellant seemingly takes issue with the fact that the officer who took Victim’s report did not also testify, the Hensley test only requires … Continue reading
NJ: State could get SW for bullet removed during surgery even four years after shooting
Defendant had elective surgery four years after a shooting to remove the bullet. The police were entitled to a search warrant for the bullet from the hospital because it was evidence of a crime. Trial court’s denial of the warrant … Continue reading
OH7: Taking backpack of arrestee to handcuff doesn’t make it not subject to search incident
“Appellant had the bag on her back at the time the officer arrested her for obstructing official business. The officer’s removal of the bag from the arrestee in order to handcuff her did not eliminate his ability to search the … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Def doesn’t show Colombia wiretap was U.S. instigated
Defendants produced nothing to show that U.S. officers enlisted Colombian officers to wiretap their phones there. United States v. Ruiz, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 186612 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 16, 2023).* Just because there were discrepancies between the testimony at the suppression … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Two anonymous tips about a car built upon one another and provided RS
Two anonymous tips about a car built upon one another and finding the car on the interstate was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Gonzalez, No. 422-CR-40119-KES, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 167068 (D.S.D. Sep. 15, 2023). Defendant was indicted for conspiring … Continue reading
OH8: Dog alert on a car permits search of containers in it
A dog alert on a car was probable cause for a search of it and containers, here a backpack. State v. Kumuhone, 2023-Ohio-2586, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS 2554 (8th Dist. July 27, 2023). “The contemporaneous tip, the visual details that … Continue reading
CA9: Joint Cambodian-U.S. search unlawful under Cambodian law not unlawful here; exclusionary rule not applied
Defendant was the subject of a joint raid in Cambodia by local and U.S. officers. The search of defendant’s room was held unlawful under Cambodian law because there was no written consent of the owner, something with no counterpart in … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: SW for premises is for evidence and requires no crime on the premises
“An affidavit seeking a search warrant for a residence need not contain ‘an allegation that the illegal activity occurred at the location,’ … but it ‘should establish a connection between the defendant and the residence to be searched and a … Continue reading
CA4: Govt is not responsible when a subpoenaed party turns over more than was sought
The government is not responsible when a subpoenaed party turns over more than was sought. United States v. Taylor, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 33418 (4th Cir. Dec. 5, 2022). Officers executing a search warrant at defendant’s house repeatedly made it … Continue reading
CA7: The question is only whether the officer reasonably believed def violated the law, not whether def did
“‘[T]he question … is whether [the officer] reasonably believed that he saw a traffic violation, not whether [the defendant] actually violated the [law].’ Cole, 21 F.4th at 428.” United States v. Yang, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 19125 (7th Cir. July … Continue reading
CA7: The question is not whether def committed a traffic violation, it’s whether the officer reasonably believed he did
“‘[T]he question … is whether [the officer] reasonably believed that he saw a traffic violation, not whether [the defendant] actually violated the [law].’ Cole, 21 F.4th at 428.” United States v. Yang, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 19125 (7th Cir. July … Continue reading
CA2: Video surveillance in Thailand legal under Thai law admissible here
The DEA with Thai officers installed a camera and listening device in a dwelling in Phuket, Thailand. Defendant was a short-time guest there and he was recorded. Apparently the installation and monitoring was legal under Thai law. The capture of … Continue reading
D.D.C.: SW not needed to search seized oligarch’s yacht in foreign port
A warrant for search of a Russian oligarch’s seized yacht under sanctions for the Ukraine invasion is denied as probably unnecessary. “The Fourth Amendment does not apply to the search and seizure of property owned by a nonresident alien located … Continue reading