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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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Monthly Archives: November 2014
E.D.Va.: IAC claim for illegal search denied because it lacked specifics
“‘Ellis submits that some of the evidence seized were [sic] so done in violation of his Fourth Amendment right[s] against unreasonable search and seizure.’ (Mem. Supp. § 2255 Mot. 6-7.) Ellis supplies no basis upon which counsel could have filed … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: 911 call about burglary in progress led to objectively reasonable warrantless entry
Officers responded to a possible burglary 911 call in an area known for recent burglaries. They talked to the 911 caller, and she told them that the car parked across from the defendant’s house didn’t belong in the neighborhood, and … Continue reading
The Hill: How to stop NSA from snooping on you
The Hill: How to stop NSA from snooping on you by Cory Bennett: The first thing to know about securing your phone is that you can’t secure your phone.
VA: Lack of particularity in motion to suppress was waiver under statute
Defendant’s failure to refer to a Miranda violation as a product of an illegal arrest in the motion to suppress was a waiver. It did come up at the hearing, but it’s still considered waived. [See Treatise § 60.31] Gregory … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Omission of items from return not prejudicial; using footnotes in SW affidavit isn’t “hiding” information
First, defendant’s Franks argument fails. The negative information that he complains about not being more prominently displayed was “hidden” in a footnote in the 42 page affidavit. There is nothing that says that there can’t be information in footnotes. Second, … Continue reading
MO: Entry to talk to defendant about stolen car was without exigency and suppressed
Officers got word that a man was trying to sell a stolen car, and they gave defendant’s address. One drove by defendant’s house five times before finding the car there, so he called for back up, doing a knock-and-talk over … Continue reading
Politico: The Great Police Violence Cover-Up
Politico: The Great Police Violence Cover-Up by Michael Hirsh It’s a federal law, but most departments refuse to divulge data on cop shootings.
CA8: If male owner of vehicle has suspended DL, officer isn’t required to ID driver’s gender before stop
The officer here ran an LPN check and determined that the owner of the vehicle, a man, had a suspended DL. A woman was driving, but the officer could see that from the rear. “Given the road and weather conditions, … Continue reading
Cal.1st: McNeely DUI warrant requirement is subject to the Davis good faith exception
The McNeely DUI warrant requirement is subject to the Davis good faith exception. People v. Jones, 2014 Cal. App. LEXIS 1083 (1st Dist. November 26, 2014): Prior to McNeely, all binding judicial precedent in this state, both at the Supreme … Continue reading
D.Me.: A private searcher’s fervent desire to help the police is still a private search
A computer tech working on a computer saw “pictures of pre-teen girls in gymnast uniforms,” so he searched the search history and found searches for non-nude preteens and “pre-teen porn.” He reported it to the local police who did not … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Police procedure expert on excessive force won’t get to testify to “nationally accepted police procedures”
In a federal criminal indictment for excessive force, the government’s use of an expert witness on “nationally accepted police procedures” on excessive force was not admissible because a violation of those undefined standards is not a violation of the constitution. … Continue reading
TX: BAC testing not categorically subject to warrant exception; SW required here
After a few dozen appellate decisions on McNeely and Texas’s implied consent law, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals takes one on the state’s petition for discretionary review and holds “the warrantless, nonconsensual testing of a DWI suspect’s blood does … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Police unions halt militarization reform
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Police unions halt militarization reform by Radley Balko
WaPo: Every move you make, every step you take, something’s tracking you
WaPo: Every move you make, every step you take, something’s tracking you by Craig Timberg: It’s that time again. We’re on the move — feasting, sharing, shopping, giving thanks. And we are being tracked every step of the way. So … Continue reading
NY Times: Now, Anyone Can Buy a Drone. Heaven Help Us
NY Times: Now, Anyone Can Buy a Drone. Heaven Help Us by Nick Wingfield: Pranksters’ antics are forcing public safety officials to look at the air above them, generally thought safe and secure, as a place for potential trouble.
WSJ: How It Felt to Be a ‘Suspicious’ Black Teen
WSJ: How It Felt to Be a ‘Suspicious’ Black Teen by Gary Fields: Essay: Ferguson reminds a Journal reporter of times in his youth when he was singled out by police.
D.N.M.: PD SOPs aren’t admissible in criminal excessive force cases
Police department SOPs aren’t admissible in a criminal excessive force case under settled Tenth Circuit case law and several cases in this court. United States v. Rodella, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164786 (D.N.M. November 20, 2014):
E.D.Va.: The “Interplay Between Burden of Proof and Credibility” in suppression hearings
The “Interplay Between Burden of Proof and Credibility” in suppression hearings. United States v. Mobley, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 164844 (E.D. Va. November 25, 2014). This is a warrantless search and the government has the burden: