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Recent Posts
- CAAF: Information on computer stored in evidence room wasn’t stale
- CAAF: SW’s incorporated affidavit satisfied particularity, reliance on CA10 case not CAAF case was error
- CA10: Def’s BO suggesting heroin abuse added to RS
- WaPo: They confided in ChatGPT. Their secrets ended up in court.
- CA6: No interlocutory appeal of denial of motion to suppress
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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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)
--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)
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“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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Monthly Archives: May 2016
CA7: PC existed because officer recognized HGH on sight and an anonymous tip corroborated his belief
“Agent Cagnoni’s affidavit gave the magistrate judge a robust factual foundation to authorize a search of Dessart’s Reedsville residence.” While the HGH would take a while to test, the officer pretty much knew it when he saw it because that … Continue reading
CA11: Ptf consented to the broader OSHA inspection
The plaintiff was found to have consented to the broad OSHA inspection, and there obviously was no requirement of a Miranda warning before the inspection. There is no small business exception to the OSHA inspection requirements. Peacock Timber Co. v. … Continue reading
CA10: “not every domestic call justifies a warrantless entry,” but this one objectively did
“Although not every domestic call justifies a warrantless entry, see id. at 1244 (rejecting ‘a special rule for domestic calls because they are inherently violent’), the officers had information in addition to the call that indicated McCoy’s girlfriend’s safety could … Continue reading
D.Minn.: If there are enough “thorny issues” on validity of warrant, just turn to GFE [should have said: “close enough for government work”]
“But in this case, it is unclear whether other documents [the attachments]—in addition to the one page List of Items to Be Seized—accompanied the search warrant. In other words, it is impossible to tell, in this four-corners review, whether Subsection … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Fleeing police, crashing car, and running away from it is abandonment
Defendant abandoned the car he was in: “after being pursued by officers at high speeds for several city blocks, Crenshaw drove the green Cadillac across a vacant lot, crashed it against the side of a private residence, exited the vehicle, … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Def had no standing in a search of a UK CP bulletin board service that revealed his info
Defendant had no standing in a U.K. bulletin board where he was alleged to have obtained child pornography. U.S. officers got into the system and obtained defendant’s information. Even the fact it was password protected adds nothing to the standing … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Missing attachment can’t be considered on PC, but it can on GFE
While a missing attachment can’t be considered as to the “four corners” analysis of the validity of the probable cause for issuance of the search warrant, it’s still quite relative to applying the good faith exception. United States v. Alston, … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Prior illegal entry didn’t void search were the independent source was two later controlled deliveries
Police conducted an illegal warrantless entry two weeks before seeking a search warrant, but then they made two more controlled buys from defendant before getting a search warrant. The warrant had an independent source and would not be suppressed. United … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Nexus shown for SW for doctor’s home 15 miles from office in alleged “pill mill” case
“Based on the information contained in Agent Marbet’s affidavit, there was a fair probability that evidence of the alleged conspiracy and money laundering scheme occurring at Apex Health would be found in Ruble’s residence. Common sense dictates that it would … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Domestic violence call wasn’t immediately before police arrival, but there was no objective evidence danger had dissipated either
The officer here had a reasonable belief that there had recently been a domestic battery on the premises, the door was open, and no one was visible. “Thus, there was no objective evidence to suggest that any imminent threat posed … Continue reading
Just Security: The 702 Reform Debate Is Just Heating Up
Just Security: The 702 Reform Debate Is Just Heating Up by Faiza Patel:
WaPo: Proposal to Congress would require police to get de-escalation training, create national use of force standard
WaPo: Proposal to Congress would require police to get de-escalation training, create national use of force standard by Wesley Lowrey: Legislation set to be introduced to Congress on Thursday would create a new national standard for when police officers can … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: State judge’s issuance of CSLI warrant across state lines was likely without jurisdiction, but still saved by good faith exception in federal court
The state CSLI warrant here (and noting the conflict in authorities) was deficient in its factual showing, but not so bad that the SW couldn’t be relied upon in good faith. The fact the cell phone company’s records were out … Continue reading
IN discusses three different state rationales for community caretaking function stops
Police received a call that a woman was stuck underneath a car at a gas station. When the officer arrived, the car had left. The officer found the car and stopped it. Defendant explained that the car was left without … Continue reading
CA1 seems to shift burden of proof to defendant to show that his detention was unreasonable because of a show of authority
The First Circuit seems to shift burden of proof to defendant to show that his detention was unreasonable because of a show of authority, rather than it being on the government that it was reasonable. United States v. Fields, 2016 … Continue reading
MA: SW for def’s house authorized seizure and a search of his person on his front sidewalk
A search warrant for defendant’s house authorized police to detain and search him on the sidewalk out front of his house and seize his cell phone from him under Michigan v. Summers and state cases applying it. Commonwealth v. Mattier, … Continue reading
CA11: Ditching a backpack and then fleeing the police was abandonment
Defendant was a member of the Coast Guard stationed at Key West. He was a suspected peeping tom and the police had a description of a man with a backpack. When defendant was found he didn’t have the backpack. He … Continue reading
CA3: USM had PC to believe decedent at home to enter to arrest despite his mother’s denials
Despite decedent’s mother’s apparent denial decedent was in the house, U.S. Marshals entered with an arrest warrant for him and probable cause to believe he was there. He died from a gunshot to the head, but the only evidence available … Continue reading
TX2: Reasonable mistake of fact, corroborated by trial court, doesn’t warrant suppression
The officer’s mistake of fact here was that one of defendant’s headlights was not working properly, and the trial court looked at the video of the stop several times. It may have been that it was working partially, but the … Continue reading
TN: Where cell phone contents was minimal evidence in case, it can’t be IAC to not challenge it, even if it would otherwise prevail
Even if defense counsel was ineffective for not filing a motion to suppress the search of his cell phone, which was admittedly potentially by consent, the quality of the state’s proof at the trial was such that it had no … Continue reading