Archives
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Recent Posts
- CA11: Service of SW without attachments isn’t 4A violation
- KS: Running warrants on a passed out person is reasonable
- M.D.Fla.: Unidentified pills in driver’s lap may have been RS but it wasn’t PC for arrest
- D.C.Cir.: It was reasonable for officers to conclude that evidence or instrumentalities of the crime would be found in the car used in a robbery
- CA7: Officer’s warrantless view of CSAM flagged by hash value was not unreasonable
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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)
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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: January 2018
M.D.Fla.: There was RS for a dog sniff of a package in the mail, and the alert was PC for a SW; def’s motion to suppress suggested no standing
There was reasonable suspicion to detain a package in the mail for a dog sniff because of the way it was packaged and labeled suggested that it contained drugs. After the dog alert, there was a necessary delay in obtaining … Continue reading
CA6: “A king or a criminal may assert a violation of the Fourth Amendment.” But def loses on the merits
Defendant spent two weeks living in the apartment of another. “A king or a criminal may assert a violation of the Fourth Amendment.” He had a bedroom to himself. “The district court erred in finding that Allen did not have … Continue reading
NC: Officer’s reasonable but mistaken belief that def’s picture was in a database of wanted persons made the arrest valid
The officer’s reasonable but mistaken belief that defendant’s picture was in a database of wanted persons made the arrest valid. “Additionally, the seizure of a person based on a reasonable mistake as to that person’s identity is constitutional. State v. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def was a suspect in a stabbing, and police entered his property without a warrant claiming exigency; there was no exigency
Police came to defendant’s house because he was alleged to have stabbed somebody. They entered the curtilage without a warrant to look for evidence, and they found a bent bloody knife out in the rain. The warrantless entry was not … Continue reading
D.S.D.: 4A permits taking DNA on booking from misdemeanor defendants
Defendant, a sovereign citizen, indicted for willful failure to file tax returns, when booked by the U.S. Marshal refused to be fingerprinted, photographed, or have a DNA sample taken because they were “copyrighted.” He relented as to fingerprinting and photographing … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Shots fired call led to stop on RS but seeing empty shell casings in car was PC
A shots fired call led to the stop of defendant’s car. The officer’s seeing spent shell casings inside was probable cause, and the reasonable suspicion calculus of extending the stop doesn’t apply. United States v. Cooper, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says
Salt Lake Tribune: Trooper who thought man’s Mormon music was suspicious and searched his car violated Fourth Amendment, judge says by Aubrey Wieber:
NYTimes: Cellphone and Computer Searches at U.S. Border Rise Under Trump
NYTimes: Cellphone and Computer Searches at U.S. Border Rise Under Trump by Ron Nixon:
M.D.La.: Finding CP image hash values on a computer is PC for search
The finding of child pornography hash values on a computer is probable cause for further search of the computer. United States v. Sherlock, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1321 (M.D. La. Jan. 4, 2018).* Playpen warrant sustained, and there was no … Continue reading
WA: If the state wants to dismiss after a motion to suppress is granted, it may; court can’t force a trial
After a suppression motion suppressed most of the evidence against defendant, the state elected to dismiss. The trial court wouldn’t let them and made the case proceed to trial, convicting the defendant on what was left, which wasn’t much. “Addressing … Continue reading
CA11: Takedown of otherwise compliant arrestee was reasonable
Plaintiff’s takedown by the officer was reasonable under the circumstances and not excessive, even if she was otherwise compliant. “Even assuming that Horn was totally compliant with Officer Barron, he was allowed to use some force in effecting her arrest. … Continue reading
When a website goes down …
This website goes down every once and a while when there is server maintenance, wherever the server is. It’s frustrating to have it down for a half day, or worse a day or longer. A programming update had it down … Continue reading
OH2: Not clearly erroneous for court to rely on dashcam over officer’s testimony re stop
The trial court could rely on the dashcam video over the officer’s testimony where there was an apparent contradiction. State v. Wilson, 2017-Ohio-9317, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 5816 (2d Dist. Dec. 29, 2017). Defendant’s stop was based on reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: High costs for refusing breathalyzer test among new Pennsylvania laws for 2018
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: High costs for refusing breathalyzer test among new Pennsylvania laws for 2018 by Matthew Santoni:
W.D.N.C.: Counsel admonished for false dilemma that not finding pretext means condoning racism
United States v. Green, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 212999 n.1 (W.D. N.C. Dec. 29, 2017):
AZ: Passenger in a vehicle has standing to contest GPS surveillance of vehicle, but here GFE applies because pre-Jones
The passenger in a vehicle subjected to GPS monitoring even for a few days and on public roads has standing to contest the monitoring. Here, however, the GPS device was placed in February 2010, more than two years prior to … Continue reading
Cal.1: School search rationale applies to street cop called in to back up school resource officer
A school principal received a report from a CI student that the juvenile had a gun in school. He sent for the student who came to the office where a school resource officer and a street officer were waiting. “For … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Motion to reconsider denial of motion to suppress only raised a trial issue, not a suppression issue, so denied
Defendant’s motion to reconsider the prior denial of a motion to suppress is denied because he raises essentially only an issue for trial as to where a gun was found, not to suppress evidence. United States v. Keeling, 2018 U.S. … Continue reading
CA10: Franks doesn’t apply to private actors providing false information to LEOs
Even assuming private volunteer animal cruelty investigators provided false information that was used to get search warrants issued for plaintiffs’ property for evidence of cockfighting, qualified immunity applies because no case holds that the Franks doctrine applies to a private … Continue reading