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Recent Posts
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
- CA4: Tracking order using cell site simulator with PC was reasonable
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--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
PA: Anonymous tip man on specific bus was armed was insufficient for stop and frisk of def
An anonymous tip that a man on a specific bus was carrying a gun was insufficient to stop and frisk the defendant. When the officer drew a gun on him he was detained, and his subsequent actions could not be … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: “GPS Affidavit [does not need] to include the ‘use and aims’ of the location information” to be valid
A “GPS Affidavit [does not need] to include the ‘use and aims’ of the location information” to be valid. [No case even suggests that.] United States v. Shulaya, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209340 (S.D. N.Y. Dec. 20, 2017). Defendant consented … Continue reading
OH8: Dog sniff within the normal occurrence of the traffic stop was reasonable
The exclusionary rule applies to forfeiture actions (One 1958 Plymouth Sedan) despite the state’s argument. The dog sniff occurred during the normal processing part of the stop. “Police may conduct a canine sniff during the time that it takes to … Continue reading
OH5: RS for drugs means likely guns, so ability to frisk automatic
“The Ohio Supreme Court has stated that ‘the right to frisk is virtually automatic when individuals are suspected of committing a crime, like drug trafficking, for which they are likely to be armed.’ Evans at ¶ 9. Further, ‘[r]ecognizing the … Continue reading
The Guardian: ‘Tis the season for unfettered government access to your data
The Guardian: ‘Tis the season for unfettered government access to your data by Allie Bohm, Bennett Cyphers and Edward George” Giving a voice-activated device to someone for Christmas? Think again
Legal Intelligencer: DOJ Asked Pa. Judge to Scrub Opinion of References to Cop’s Racial Profiling
Legal Intelligencer: DOJ Asked Pa. Judge to Scrub Opinion of References to Cop’s Racial Profiling by P.J. Dannunzio:
WXYZ: Metro Detroit man fights four year battle to get bank account back after arrest
WXYZ: Metro Detroit man fights four year battle to get bank account back after arrest by Gino Vicci:
LA: Def’s phone records were obtained by valid court order so defense counsel couldn’t be ineffective for not challenging it
Defendant’s phone records were obtained by court order. Therefore, his counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging the state’s obtaining them. State v. Pram, 2017 La. LEXIS 2958 (Dec. 15, 2017). Defendant first lied about his name, but an officer there … Continue reading
FISA extended to Jan. 19th in the funding CR
NYTimes (Reuters): Congress Passes Stopgap Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown Against a Friday Deadline
Just Security: Warrantless Border Searches: The officer ‘searched through every email and intimate photos of my wife’
Just Security: Warrantless Border Searches: The officer ‘searched through every email and intimate photos of my wife’ by Carrie DeCell:
NC: Partial strip search at stationhouse was with PC and reasonably conducted
Defendant’s partial strip search at the stationhouse in a private room was reasonable for its factual basis and how it was done. After a dog alert on defendant’s car seat and no drugs in the car, it was reasonable to … Continue reading
IL: Calling for a drug dog after defendant refused to consent to a search did not extend the stop even “incrementally”
Calling for a drug dog after defendant refused to consent to a search did not extend the stop even “incrementally” [ignoring the fact that the radio call took time away from writing the ticket]. People v. Heritsch, 2017 IL App … Continue reading
MN: Roadside FST and PBT are not searches
Roadside field sobriety testing and then a PBT with probable cause is not a search under the Fourth Amendment. Vondrachek v. Comm’r of Pub. Safety, 2017 Minn. App. LEXIS 318 (Dec. 18, 2017). The officer’s observations of defendant was independent … Continue reading
MN: By living with a person on probation, one has a diminished REP in common areas
By choosing to live in the same house with a probationer, one has a diminished expectation of privacy in the common areas of one’s abode. In a probation search of the other occupant, defendant objected to the entry, but it … Continue reading
CA11: It’s reasonable to assume the person named in an arrest warrant is home at 11 pm
Officers had an arrest warrant for plaintiff and a reasonable belief he’d be at home at 11 pm in February when it would be presumed one would be home. He’d listed that place as his address during a prior arrest, … Continue reading
WY recognizes invasion of privacy cause of action from Restatement of Torts for rental company’s tracking software on rented computers
Aspen Way leases computers in Wyoming. “The complaints each generally alleged that Aspen Way installed software on Plaintiffs’ leased computers, without Plaintiffs’ knowledge, that enabled Aspen Way to track the leased computers’ locations, remotely activate the computers’ webcams, and capture … Continue reading
TX: Mere furtive gesture not enough for PC
Defendant went into a bar known for drug activity, stayed a few minutes, came out to his car, and drove off. There was a traffic offense and furtive gestures toward the console. The officer stopped him and searched the car. … Continue reading
Detroit Free Press: Many lack resources to fight property seizures in drug cases
Detroit Free Press: Many lack resources to fight property seizures in drug cases by Bill Laitner:
Reason: Congress Mulls Passing Most Intrusive Federal Surveillance Bill Available (Update: Bill Is Dead ‘For Now’)
Reason: Congress Mulls Passing Most Intrusive Federal Surveillance Bill Available (Update: Bill Is Dead ‘For Now’) by Scott Shackford This FISA renewal bill would essentially gut the Fourth Amendment.
RealClearPolitics: How to Balance Civil Liberties With Safety
RealClearPolitics: How to Balance Civil Liberties With Safety by Lisa Rosenberg & Jesse Blumenthal