Archives
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Recent Posts
- LA4: Merely having a concealed firearm isn’t RS for a frisk
- OR: Merely driving off the road wasn’t RS, but adding the driver’s demeanor at the time was
- OH6: Trial court’s failure to explain RS under Rodriguez required remand
- CA6: Asking def before a patdown during arrest what he had on him wasn’t barred by Miranda
- NY Queens: PC shown for SW blood drawn at hospital after car wreck
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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)
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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: December 2017
CA10: SW affidavit was detailed, and Franks challenge targeted def’s being in pen during conspiracy; not shown reckless under Franks and GFE applies
Officers obtained a search warrant for defendant’s house for evidence of drug dealing for his being involved with a gang for years. The affidavit was detailed except that it only suggested defendant’s and another’s incarceration for eight years in the … Continue reading
OR: The fact there is some officer discretion in conducting an inventory doesn’t make it violate 4A
The Salem inventory policy requires inventory of closed containers that might have something valuable in them. In defendant’s backpack was a nylon case which the officer believed might contain a computer harddrive or a computer gaming device. The inventory was … Continue reading
OR: When the state argues a stop was continued with RS, it has the burden of proof and here it failed
Defendant was stopped on a bicycle for a headlight violation of what was likely a mixed motive stop because he was carrying a pillow case and that suggested residential burglary. The stop was conceded to be valid, but the continuation … Continue reading
OH8: Dog sniff that didn’t extend traffic stop at all because it was done by another officer was reasonable
The exclusionary rule applies to forfeiture actions (One 1958 Plymouth Sedan) despite the state’s argument. The dog sniff during the normal processing was part of the stop. “Police may conduct a canine sniff during the time that it takes to … Continue reading
MD: Third person added to a jail call after the warning of recording didn’t violate state wiretap law
Adding a third person to a jail call after the initial recording was played saying that calls were recorded was not a wilful interception of that person’s call under the state wiretap act. The only other state to deal with … Continue reading
IN: Officers jumping over a locked gate to investigate a noise complaint was unreasonable under Indiana Constitution
Defendant was at a conservation club he was a member of, and, during a party at the club, members were shooting at a pizza box made into a target. Because it was a weeknight and late, a neighbor was disturbed … Continue reading
NYLJ: ‘Carpenter’ and ‘Weaver’: Strange Bedfellows?
NYLJ: ‘Carpenter’ and ‘Weaver’: Strange Bedfellows? Cyber Crime columnist Peter A. Crusco analyzes the issues raised in ‘Carpenter’ and compares them with those in ‘Weaver’ to shed new light on this evolving and often confusing area of privacy, third-party digital … Continue reading
CA9: RS here didn’t dissipate during the stop when def got out of car and all kinds of identity theft stuff fell out of his lap
Defendant’s claim that reasonable suspicion for his continued detention would have dissipated is rejected. Defendant was driving a car where the front plate didn’t match the rear plate, and that strongly suggests it was a stolen car, and stolen cars … Continue reading
PA: Nexus not shown for house, and no GFE under state law: def arrested blocks from home with firearm, and that doesn’t mean more at home
Defendant shot at a cop and committed other felonies. He was sentenced to 66-132 years. He was arrested as a prohibited person with a firearm blocks from his home. The state showed no nexus to the house for other evidence … Continue reading
The Intercept: Edward Snowden’s New App Uses Your Smartphone to Physically Guard Your Laptop
The Intercept: Edward Snowden’s New App Uses Your Smartphone to Physically Guard Your Laptop Haven uses the smartphone’s many sensors – microphone, motion detector, light detector, and cameras – to monitor the room for changes, and it logs everything it … Continue reading
NPR: In Practice, Police Accountability Is Not The Main Function Of Body Cameras
NPR: In Practice, Police Accountability Is Not The Main Function Of Body Cameras by Martin Kaste: Police departments across the country have adopted body cameras to counter claims of abuse. But as they become more routine, cameras are turning into … Continue reading
NYTimes: Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011
NYTimes: Privacy Complaints Mount Over Phone Searches at U.S. Border Since 2011 by Charlie Savage and Ron Nixon: Grievances over lost privacy run through a trove of roughly 250 complaints by people whose laptops and phones were searched without a … Continue reading
Army Ct.Crim.App.: Search authorization for cell phone text messages did not permit looking at pictures
The search authorization here was for text messages on a servicemember’s cell phone. The searchers, however, looked for pictures, too. The military good faith exception, Mil. R. Evid. 311(c)(3), specifically addresses the scenario when officers rely on a subsequently invalidated … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Def’s girlfriend’s standing testimony rejected because it sounded “scripted” and because she didn’t smell the 100 pds of MJ she was standing near regularly for days
Defendant claimed standing in his girlfriend’s house because he regularly spent the night there. Her testimony was rejected because it sounded “scripted” and inherently unreliable because she claimed she didn’t smell 100 pounds of marijuana in her basement even though … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: In not so few words: The bar for a competent drug dog under Florida v. Harris isn’t all that high; essentially: is the dog certified?
Defendant was stopped for driving without headlights during a Hurricane Harvey curfew, and he gave a false name and had no driver’s license. While detained, defendant was showing signs of diabetic distress. He was seated on the curb and he … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Warrantless CSLI valid no matter how Carpenter comes out
CSLI information was obtained without a court order. Despite Carpenter being argued November 29th, the current law is that this wasn’t unreasonable. If Carpenter wins, defendant can move to reconsider. [What an empty gesture that is.] United States v. Arnold, … Continue reading
CA9: Car matching BOLO of bank robbery with two men had only woman driving; stop and continuation was with RS because they could be in trunk (and were)
A person outside a bank robbery believed that two male robbers got into a grey Ford Taurus to flee the scene. He called the police and followed. A little later, he saw that car had a woman driver, and he … Continue reading
IL: After losing suppression motion, state asserted lack of standing in a motion to reconsider, and it’s too late
The state has the burden of alleging defendant didn’t have standing, and here it didn’t do so until a motion to reconsider claiming it was the trial court’s error of law. To succeed on a motion to reconsider, the state … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Def’s putting cell phone in daughter’s backpack so she could play with it was not a waiver of REP
Defendant regularly stayed with his grandmother until a few weeks before the search, and by the time of search it was more intermittent. Still, he had standing in her house because he had clothes there and still stayed there. He … Continue reading