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Recent Posts
- D.N.M.: DEA’s failure to make a detailed inventory in violation of policy doesn’t require exclusion of evidence
- WaPo: These cities bar facial recognition tech. Police still found ways to access it.
- C.D.Cal.: SW materials in case with weighty public interest ordered unsealed
- DC: Accepting a law license is consent to trust account subpoenas
- AR: RS def rented a hotel room was sufficient for search waiver; PC not required
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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,
citations, and links -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Monthly Archives: July 2017
IL sustains arrest for firearm where statute authorizing arrest was later declared unconstitutional
Defendant was stopped under a statute later declared unconstitutional. Distinguishing prior authorities applying state law, the court holds that the “void ab initio” doctrine does not apply here, and the arrest, valid at the time, did not require suppression of … Continue reading
CA6: Limited personnel records request in mine safety investigation was reasonable
The Mine Safety division of the Department of Labor acted reasonably under the Fourth Amendment in requesting personnel records in an investigation into a discrimination claim. The mine was part of a pervasively regulated industry, the company had time to … Continue reading
NC: Firing gun at officer during alleged illegal traffic stop removed the taint
Even if the defendant was subjected to an illegal stop, his firing his gun at the officer was a new crime that removed the taint. State v. Hester, 2017 N.C. App. LEXIS 558 (July 18, 2017). Compelled testimony in the … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Parole searches aren’t at all limited to only def’s parole officer doing it
It is not even a reasonable argument that only defendant’s PO can search him under a warrantless search condition. United States v. Smith, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105049 (E.D. N.C. July 7, 2017). Defendant was seized when the officer’s blue … Continue reading
CA10 assumes Playpen warrant violated Rule 41 and upholds it solely on GFE
Assuming that Playpen search warrant for child pornography in this case issued in the Eastern District of Virginia was unlawful, the good faith exception would still apply to them. There was no reason the officers would not rely on them … Continue reading
WaPo: Court: Warrantless requests to track cellphones, Internet use grew sevenfold in D.C. in three years
WaPo: Court: Warrantless requests to track cellphones, Internet use grew sevenfold in D.C. in three years by Spencer S. Hsu:
W.D.Tex.: Two citizen informants corroborated each other
Two identified citizen informants fully corroborated each other for reasonable suspicion. United States v. O’Brien, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104936 (W.D. Tex. July 7, 2017).* “The officers’ interference with Lawrence’s liberty was not arbitrary. The officers approached West, Lawrence, and … Continue reading
D.Utah: Repeated flushing of toilet in a hotel room added to PC
“All of these facts, taken in their totality, support a finding of probable cause. There was a fair probability that the Defendant was present in room #209 based upon the informant’s tip indicating he was there, Defendant’s motorcycle found in … Continue reading
Gothamist: City Council To Force NYPD To Account For The Millions They Seize From Innocent NYers
Gothamist: City Council To Force NYPD To Account For The Millions They Seize From Innocent NYers by Christopher Robbins:
NPR (via KUAR): Baltimore Police Caught Planting Drugs In Body-Cam Footage, Public Defender Says
NPR (via KUAR): Baltimore Police Caught Planting Drugs In Body-Cam Footage, Public Defender Says by Bill Chappell:
PA has two on DUI blood tests; TN applies GFE to pre-McNeely blood draw
Hospital blood draw from an unconscious defendant at the hospital was inadmissible without a warrant or exigent circumstance. Commonwealth v. Myers, 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1689 (July 19, 2017). “Based on the reasoning set forth in Neville and Graham, we find … Continue reading
PA: Unreasonable stop voids subsequent search even for a passenger otherwise without standing
The initial illegality of an unreasonable stop taints the following search whether the defendant has standing in the car or not. Commonwealth v. Shabezz, 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1691 (July 19, 2017):
CT: Def didn’t satisfy guest standing, and co-conspirator standing rejected
Defendant lacked standing to challenge the search of a grow operation because it wasn’t his place. The fact there were a couple of pieces of mail and one piece of personal property at the place, without more, didn’t show how … Continue reading
Business Insider: Conservatives are trashing Jeff Sessions’ controversial asset-seizure program
Business Insider: Conservatives are trashing Jeff Sessions’ controversial asset-seizure program by David Choi:
CA10: Collective knowledge applies between state officers in different states
Kansas officers asked Nebraska officers to stop defendant, and the probable cause of the Kansas officers is imputed to Nebraska officers under the collective knowledge doctrine. United States v. Pickel, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 12858 (10th Cir. July 18, 2017). … Continue reading
Legal Insurrection: DOJ Expands Asset Forfeiture Program…Even in States That Have Banned It
Legal Insurrection: DOJ Expands Asset Forfeiture Program…Even in States That Have Banned It by Mary Chastain Local authorities can bypass asset forfeiture laws through the DOJ’s “adoption” policy.
Lexology: Administrative Law Judge Winnows OFCCP’s Data Request [to Google]
Lexology: Administrative Law Judge Winnows OFCCP’s Data Request by William Hays Weissman:
PA: No REP in a gun hidden in ceiling tile at work that fell out
Officers came to the barber shop where defendant worked because of a call about a threat with a weapon. Defendant was in the bathroom, and one officer went to the door. Another went into the adjoining bathroom. Defendant put a … Continue reading
MN: Apt mgr’s ability to enter for maintenance purposes is not apparent authority to consent to a police search
An apartment manager’s ability to enter by law and by the lease for maintenance purposes does not give the manager or staff the ability to consent to a police entry. Here, a water leak brought maintenance who saw drug use … Continue reading
OH5: Citizen’s suspicious person call alone doesn’t support a stop
Other than a citizen’s telephone call, the officer admitted there was nothing about defendant that made him look suspicious or that he was up to no good. The stop and frisk was suppressed. State v. Hall, 2017-Ohio-5805; 2017 Ohio App. … Continue reading