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- S.D.Ohio: Defense of denial of possession in drug case meant no assertion of standing to challenge the search, so no IAC
- N.D.Okla.: Anticipatory tracking warrant for money counter is without authority and nexus is speculative even if not
- CA9: Supervised release condition of financial disclosure permitted under 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) and didn’t violate 4A
- N.D.Ohio: Refusing discovery on 4A grounds in forfeiture case results in no standing
- thedrive.com: Police Are Tagging Fleeing Cars With GPS Darts to Avoid Dangerous Pursuits
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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: March 2015
The automobile exception turned 90 this month. Thank you, Prohibition
We missed it: The automobile exception turned 90 years old on March 2. Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132 (1925) (7-2). The justification for the search was the Volstead Act (Prohibition) and the statutory authority given to Prohies to … Continue reading
CA4: Failure to raise search issue on first appeal waived it for appeal after remand
Defendant’s conviction was previously reversed and remanded. On this second appeal, defendant raises a search issue that wasn’t in the first appeal. That issue is barred by the “mandate rule” that it had to be appealed the first time or … Continue reading
D.Nev.: No reasonable mistake of law where only case on point says no RS for stop
A Nevada statute proscribes things “upon” the windshield. Air fresheners hanging from the mirror don’t violate the statute. The only Ninth Circuit case involves an almost identical city code provision, and that court held that something hanging from the mirror … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Not knowing your address while walking “home” in a high crime area and pulling up pants because of likely weight of gun was RS
Walking alone at night in a high crime area [the ‘hood?] and pulling up pants strongly suggested defendant had a gun there in his pants. He was nervously looking at the police car. He said he was going home but … Continue reading
S.D.Miss.: Mississippi AG’s office’s subpoena to Google was retaliatory under the First Amendment and overbroad under the Fourth Amendment
The Mississippi AG’s office’s subpoena to Google was retaliatory under the First Amendment and overbroad under the Fourth Amendment. Google, Inc. v. Hood, 3:14cv981-HTW-LRA (S.D. Miss. March 27, 2015):
ACLU Press Release: ACLU, Portland Police Reach Settlement in Filming Case
ACLU, Portland Police Reach Settlement in Filming Case: PORTLAND – The ACLU of Maine and counsel for Portland Police Officer Benjamin Noyes have reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought on behalf of a Bar Harbor couple who were arrested … Continue reading
SCOTUS per curiam: Grady v. North Carolina: Satellite based monitoring of sex offenders implicates the Fourth Amendment; reversed for reconsideration under Jones
North Carolina’s satellite based monitoring (SBM) of sex offenders is designed to effect a government search of the location of sex offenders under Jones. It matters not that it is in the context of a civil case. The state court … Continue reading
KS: Davis GFE applied to a blood draw process valid at time but later held unconstitutional
Defendant was involved in a head-on accident and was unconscious at the hospital when his blood was drawn. The good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies because, at the time of the blood draw, it was lawful under state … Continue reading
GA: Implied consent rejected in Georgia under McNeely; actual consent is required.
Implied consent rejected in Georgia under McNeely. Actual consent is required. “Nevertheless, sister states have considered statutory implied consent as an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement in the wake of McNeely, and have reached varying conclusions as to … Continue reading
upworthy: Rarely does the president invite someone to the White House to criticize a 44-year-old policy.
upworthy: Rarely does the president invite someone to the White House to criticize a 44-year-old policy by Parker Molloy: “The way we treat nonviolent drug crimes is problematic, and from a fiscal perspective, it’s breaking the bank.” “It’s draconian, and … Continue reading
AP Exclusive: Before leak, NSA mulled ending phone program
AP Exclusive: Before leak, NSA mulled ending phone program by Ken Dilanian: WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency considered abandoning its secret program to collect and store American calling records in the months before leaker Edward Snowden revealed the practice, … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: Having def roll up sleeves to photograph his tattoos at time of arrest was reasonable
Officers investigating child pornography found an outstanding arrest warrant for defendant, so they went and executed it first and did a search incident of the person. They also got a search warrant. They seized a cell phone and got a … Continue reading
CA7: Parole search permitted of gym bag left in cousin’s car when defendant wasn’t present
Defendant was on parole and suspected of being involved in a shooting. He left a gym bag in his cousin’s car. The parole search condition permitted the search of his gym bag even though he wasn’t present at the time. … Continue reading
CA7: Inmate forced to wear a see-through jumpsuit for prison transfer stated 8th Amd. claim but not 4th
Plaintiff inmate was forced to wear a see-through jumpsuit, and he stated an Eighth Amendment claim, but not one under the Fourth Amendment. He couldn’t comply with PLRA. “We reverse and remand for further proceedings. King’s transfer to the state … Continue reading
CAAF: AFB gate security officer wasn’t AFOSI, so his involvement was private search on day off
Defendant’s wife enlisted aid from a family friend at an Air Force base who was in the gate security forces, and he wasn’t a criminal investigator. At the time all this arose, she was there for social purposes. The court … Continue reading
The Hill: How the TSA spots terrorists
The Hill: How the TSA spots terrorists A confidential checklist reveals a point system employed by the agency.
M.D.Fla.: Marijuana flakes on passenger’s pants not PC as to everybody in car
Officers conduct admittedly pretextual stops in the downtown Orlando area to show police presence to deter crime. The car was stopped and the occupants told to put their hands up. Here, a seatbelt stop led to noticing marijuana flakes on … Continue reading
OR: No exigency for entry into home to arrest a DUI suspect; at minimum a telephonic warrant could have been obtained
Police had no exigency to enter defendant’s house and arrest him for suspicion of DUII. He was seen on the street last at 11:01 am, and they had his address from his LPN. They went to his house and saw … Continue reading