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Recent Posts
- E.D.Ky.: When court can’t tell the dog alerted, motion to suppress granted
- OH1: A malnourished child isn’t exigency for an infant
- E.D.Pa.: Mandamus doesn’t lie to unseal SW papers
- D.Me.: Looking around house when allegedly “freezing” it was an illegal search
- OR: Police listening to attorney-client jail calls because attorney calls not properly segregated leads to dismissal of some counts and setting aside guilty plea
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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)
--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) -
“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: February 2018
CA10: “affidavit established a minimally sufficient nexus between the criminal activity and the place to be searched.”
“Deputy Tucker’s affidavit established a minimally sufficient nexus between the criminal activity and the place to be searched.” Therefore, the affidavit shows probable cause. “The warrant was not based on an affidavit that ‘merely states suspicions, beliefs, or conclusions.’ Roach, … Continue reading
WSJ: When Illegally Obtained Evidence Can Be Used Against You
WSJ: When Illegally Obtained Evidence Can Be Used Against You by Joe Palazzolo: The digital age has accelerated carve-outs to a concept that most Americans take for granted: that evidence obtained in violation of the Constitution can’t be used against … Continue reading
CA10: Consent was attenuated from alleged unlawful stop despite def’s real urgency to go pee
The government proved that defendant’s consent was attentuated from the alleged unlawful detention because the paperwork during the stop was given back. The district court considered the fact defendant complained she had to pee really bad. United States v. Ramos, … Continue reading
CA8: Def has burden of showing illegal detention was “but for” cause of finding evidence
Defendant was a known drug dealer, and he was parked with his hood open. He said he was checking the belt on the engine. The officer was not prohibited from approaching the car and looking under the hood, too. Defendant … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: SW’s particularity had a reference back to “property connected with the above listed crime(s)” and that’s particular
Despite renting a hotel room in a false name, defendant had standing to challenge the search of the room because he rented it and he was sleeping there and had his stuff there. The search warrant was based on an … Continue reading
SCOTUSBlog: Argument analysis: Justices divided over disclosure of overseas emails
SCOTUSBlog: Argument analysis: Justices divided over disclosure of overseas emails by Amy Howe:
Forbes: The Feds Can Now (Probably) Unlock Every iPhone Model In Existence
Forbes: The Feds Can Now (Probably) Unlock Every iPhone Model In Existence by Thomas Fox-Brewster: In what appears to be a major breakthrough for law enforcement, and a possible privacy problem for Apple customers, a major U.S. government contractor claims … Continue reading
Daily Beast: Fitbit Could Prove a Man’s Innocence. Google Could Send Another to Prison for Murder
Daily Beast: Fitbit Could Prove a Man’s Innocence. Google Could Send Another to Prison for Murder by Kate Briquelet: A troubled boyfriend. A hard-drinking felon. And a young mom bludgeoned to death steps from her own home. Now smart technologies … Continue reading
CA7: Circumstances justified inference def’s car was getaway car in a robbery, and that was PC
There was probable cause that a getaway car was involved in a robbery. “Here, in contrast, the Mercedes’s conduct cannot be confused with innocent behavior. While it is true that police did not know the occupants of the Mercedes were … Continue reading
CA9: Ptf refused entry to house on a domestic call, and police broke in and tasered him; grant of QI reversed
Plaintiff refused entry to the police on a domestic call. They broke in and tasered him on the floor. The district court erred in granting qualified immunity to the officers. He refused entry, which was his right, and this case … Continue reading
D.D.C.: There’s a right of public access to old pen register and SCA orders where no ongoing investigation would be compromised
In a 102 page opinion, with the agreement of the USAO, the D.D.C. finds a limited right of access in old sealed pen register orders and SCA orders and unseals those that will not compromise ongoing investigations. There is an … Continue reading
HuffPo: Trump’s Anti-Immigration Machine Is Chipping Away At The Fourth Amendment
HuffPo: Trump’s Anti-Immigration Machine Is Chipping Away At The Fourth Amendment by Cesar Vargas: Now as president with the power to direct actions by the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees our nation’s border and immigration policies, he is exploiting … Continue reading
NY3: Building didn’t appear to be two units; SW for def’s dwelling, he answered door, and then they saw
The search warrant’s describing the dwelling as a single family dwelling when it was really two and defendant lived on the second floor didn’t make it overbroad. It did not appear to be a multi-unit dwelling and defendant answered the … Continue reading
M.D.Ga.: Defs had standing in borrowed car; no RS because defs’ answers were objectively reasonable
Defendants borrowed a car and had standing in the car because it contained personal records being transported. The stop was unreasonably extended by questions about the trip. The officer found them suspicious, but the court does not. The defendants’ answers … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: SW materials can be considered in determining whether to detain
“When considering same together with the Bond Report, the indictment, and police reports and search warrant documents, the Court alternatively finds that the Government established by clear and convincing evidence that Defendant is a danger to the community. See Perry, … Continue reading
WaPo: Supreme Court to hear Microsoft case: A question of law and borders
WaPo: Supreme Court to hear Microsoft case: A question of law and borders by Ellen Nakashima:
D.Mass.: Overseizure by retention of unresponsive emails seized under SW doesn’t require suppression of all
Defendant contends that the overseizure and retention of emails obtained by warrant that aren’t relevant to the crime under investigation requires suppression of even that which was validly obtained. No court has gone that far. His creative attempt to extend … Continue reading
OR: Def disavowed consent issue in trial court, so he couldn’t argue it on appeal
Defendant disavowed the argument made on appeal in the trial court, and you just can’t do that. “Defendant failed to preserve his argument because he failed to provide the trial court with an objection, let alone ‘an explanation of his … Continue reading
InCyberDefense: IMSI Catchers Revive a Heated Debate on Privacy versus Security
InCyberDefense: IMSI Catchers Revive a Heated Debate on Privacy versus Security by Wes O’Donnell. States where used:
The Intercept: Confidential ICE Handbook Lays Out Paths for Investigators to Avoid Constitutional Challenges
The Intercept: Confidential ICE Handbook Lays Out Paths for Investigators to Avoid Constitutional Challenges by Eoin Higgins: