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- W.D.Ark.: Parole search waiver moots lack of PC argument
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- NY: Failure to show independent source for officer’s observation of def required reversal
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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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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)
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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: June 2015
CA5: Decision to use SRT to execute search warrant was not shown to be unreasonable on the totality
“Based on the totality of the circumstances, Officer Vinson’s decision to deploy the SRT to execute the search warrant for Ms. Bullock’s residence did not constitute force excessive to the need, nor was it objectively unreasonable.” Bailey v. Lawson, 2015 … Continue reading
AR: Wildlife officers’ detention of defendant was without reasonable suspicion
A Game and Fish Commission wildlife officer’s investigation into whether defendant was complying with the hunting laws, even if authorized [the court of appeals said it wasn’t: Pickle v. State, 2014 Ark. App. 726, 453 S.W.3d 157], continued on too … Continue reading
The Daily Show skewers Scalia hypocrisy
The Daily Show: The Human Dissentipede (segment 2, June 29, 2015): After the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, Justice Antonin Scalia issues a colorful dissenting option.
ars technica: Warrantless phone tapping, e-mail spying inching to Supreme Court review
ars technica: Warrantless phone tapping, e-mail spying inching to Supreme Court review by David Kravets The FISA Amendments Act allows US spies to vacuum up e-mails and phone calls.
PINAC: Massachusetts Police Respond to Wrong Address; Charge 88-Year-Old Woman With Assaulting Officer
PINAC: Massachusetts Police Respond to Wrong Address; Charge 88-Year-Old Woman With Assaulting Officer by Cassandra Fairbanks: After police in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, responded to the wrong address, they said they were greeted by an 88-year-old woman answering the door armed with … Continue reading
TX1: A subpoena may be used to obtain blood test results obtained for medical purposes even though used in a DWI case
The state may obtain defendant’s blood draw for medical purposes by subpoena. Ferguson v. City of Charleston does not create a reasonable expectation of privacy from a subpoena, a form of legal process, for obtaining the results. Rodriguez v. State, … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: In a doctor patient records search, details of ten overprescriptions supported warrant for 343 more patient records
Officers had a search warrant for 353 patient files of a doctor accused of overprescribing. The affidavit detailed 10 but included a list of 343 that it alleged followed the same pattern. The search warrant was not overbroad as to … Continue reading
DE: Def does not waive suppression motion by FTA; hear it without him
Failure to appear for a suppression hearing is not a waiver of the motion. The court should have conducted the hearing in his absence. Smolka v. State, 2015 Del. LEXIS 308 (June 23, 2015). Defendant called 911 about the pregnant … Continue reading
“If you want to make crime pay — ‘Go to Law School.’”
“If you want to make crime pay — ‘Go to Law School.’” –Whitey Bulger Boston Globe: Bulger’s advice to local teens: Don’t waste your life (June 28, 2015)
OH9: Collective knowledge doctrine applies to reasonable suspicion
The collective knowledge doctrine applies to reasonable suspicion, too. State v. Freeman, 2015-Ohio-2501, 2015 Ohio App. LEXIS 2400 (9th Dist. June 24, 2015). Defendant called 911 about the pregnant deceased falling down stairs. He showed the officer text messages from … Continue reading
NYTimes: Judges Replacing Conjecture With Formula for Bail
NYTimes: Judges Replacing Conjecture With Formula for Bail by Shaila Dewan: Setting bail is a difficult task for judges. They must try to foretell whether the defendant is likely to commit another crime, hurt someone or skip out on the … Continue reading
NYTimes: Long Taught to Use Force, Police Warily Learn to De-escalate
NYTimes: Long Taught to Use Force, Police Warily Learn to De-escalate by Timothy Williams: Across the country, police departments from Seattle to New York and Dallas to Salt Lake City are rethinking notions of policing that have held sway for … Continue reading
Politico: Supreme Court justices stop playing nice
Politico: Supreme Court justices stop playing nice by Josh Gerstein: As the Roberts court leans left, growing acrimony from Scalia and Alito. As the Supreme Court winds down a term marked by momentous decisions, two things stand out from the … Continue reading
NYTimes: After Arrests, Quandary for Police on Posting Booking Photos
NYTimes: After Arrests, Quandary for Police on Posting Booking Photos by Jess Bidgood: SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. — Sheena Foley was stunned and chagrined last month when a traffic violation — she had rolled through a stop sign while driving without … Continue reading
OH10: One can run away from the police to terminate an encounter without RS
Defendant was talking to officers and ran away. They chased and captured him, all without reasonable suspicion. The law does not require that one merely walk away to terminate an encounter with the police. State v. Newland, 2015-Ohio-2358, 2015 Ohio … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Going onto the front porch to try a key in the lock didn’t violate Jardines; entering the already cracked open door did
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the house searched. It was owned by others and where the electric bill was in another’s name. There was probable cause for a search of a second location. Police going on to … Continue reading
IA: Def’s nervousness about his school issued equipment bag going to a certain person, its search was reasonable under T.L.O.
Defendant was a high school football player injured during a game. When he was going to the hospital, he was so overly concerned with his equipment bag that it only go to a certain person that the school administration saw … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Def didn’t lose REP in car by loaning it out
Defendant retained his expectation of privacy in his car even though he loaned it to somebody else. On the totality of circumstances, there was probable cause for a search of the car under the automobile exception. United States v. Williams, … Continue reading
OR: Seizure of cell phone was seizure of the person, but with RS
Seizure of defendant’s cell phone converted the consensual encounter into a stop, but it was with reasonable suspicion. State v. Hayes, 272 Ore. App. 1 (June 24, 2015). The defendant here tried to extrapolate the use of GPS on somebody … Continue reading