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- Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas sets higher bar for police seizure after accusations of for-profit policing
- E.D.Wis.: SW for cell phones allowed seizure of others found on premises
- CA6: No QI for shooting a man obviously surrendering
- DE: Officers approaching men on a stoop at night with a police dog saying “nobody move” was a seizure
- E.D.N.Y.: To get CSLI, there must be some showing the phone was involved in the crime
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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)
--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: May 2018
Sputnik News: US Sheriff Wildly Exaggerates Drug Bust for Social Media Fame (VIDEO) [raid turns up nothing]
Sputnik News: US Sheriff Wildly Exaggerates Drug Bust for Social Media Fame (VIDEO) Drug raid at a “narcotics” house with MRAP vehicle and SWAT team turns up nothing; gets viewed 3.4m times. Police raids consistently show up on social media … Continue reading
CA9: Claim that SW was defective on face wasn’t preserved in district court
The specific argument the search warrant was defective on its face wasn’t encompassed within the motion to suppress, so it’s waived for appeal. United States v. Robinson, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 14097 (9th Cir. May 29, 2018). The basis of … Continue reading
WaPo: Texas woman says warrant presented for son killed by police
WaPo: Texas woman says warrant presented for son killed by police by AP: ARLINGTON, Texas — The mother of a black Texas man whom police fatally shot last year said Wednesday that sheriff’s deputies recently turned up at her mother’s … Continue reading
Chicago Reader: Groups fight huge expansion of police drone monitoring of protests
Chicago Reader: Groups fight huge expansion of police drone monitoring of protests by Freddy Martinez: Civil liberties groups are pushing back against proposed legislation in Illinois that would allow police to dramatically expand the use of drones to monitor large … Continue reading
Reason.com: Volokh Conspiracy: Collins v. Virginia and “the Conception Defining the Curtilage”
Reason.com: Volokh Conspiracy: Collins v. Virginia and “the Conception Defining the Curtilage” by Orin Kerr: A familiar idea “easily understood from our daily experience” — or is it?
Lawfare: Summary: Circuit Split on Device Searches at the Border in US v. Touset
Lawfare: Summary: Circuit Split on Device Searches at the Border in US v. Touset by Grayson Clary:
MN: SW for drugs in rectum to be retrieved by anoscopy was reasonable under Winston
Following the three factor test of Winston v. Lee, the search warrant for defendant’s rectum performed at a hospital by a doctor by anoscopy was reasonable. It was an affront to dignity, but it was a reasonable and safe procedure. … Continue reading
SCOTUS: “The automobile exception does not permit the warrantless entry of a home or its curtilage in order to search a vehicle therein.”
The power of curtilage: Collins v. Virginia, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 3210 (May 29, 2018) (8-1, Alito dissenting):
D.Minn.: An alert of a vehicle wanted in a bank robbery doesn’t need the LPN to provide RS
Defendants’ vehicle looked like one wanted in a recent bank robbery, and officers sped up to get closer, and the vehicle was speeding through a residential area. Aside from speeding, officers had reasonable suspicion they were involved in the bank … Continue reading
NYTimes: F.B.I.’s Urgent Request: Reboot Your Router to Stop Russia-Linked Malware
NYTimes: F.B.I.’s Urgent Request: Reboot Your Router to Stop Russia-Linked Malware By Louis Lucero II: Hoping to thwart a sophisticated malware system linked to Russia that has infected hundreds of thousands of internet routers, the F.B.I. has made an urgent … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Merely saying that defendant “will offer evidence” to support his allegations at a Franks hearing isn’t an offer of proof
Merely saying that defendant “will offer evidence” to support his allegations at a Franks hearing isn’t an offer of proof. “Stating an intent to offer evidence in the future does not satisfy McMillan’s immediate burden to justify the need for … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def lacked standing to challenge SW to YouTube for search history and videos viewed in terrorism case
Defendant was indicted for providing material support to a terrorist organization and planned to travel to Afghanistan, and there were nine search warrants. She communicated with Afghanistan on digital devices and by a gmail account. The search warrants for all … Continue reading
NYTimes: Can 30,000 Cameras Help Solve Chicago’s Crime Problem?
NYTimes: Can 30,000 Cameras Help Solve Chicago’s Crime Problem? By Timothy Williams Armed with advanced gadgets and mapping, officers can get to crime scenes “in time to see the guy still shooting.” But what does it mean for residents’ privacy? … Continue reading
FL4: State law doesn’t bar officer from getting SW out of jurisdiction
State law does not limit a law enforcement officer from applying for a search warrant outside the officer’s territorial jurisdiction. [Neither does the Fourth Amendment, but it isn’t even cited.] State v. Stouffer, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 7274 (Fla. 4th … Continue reading
D.Mont.: No SW needed for non-tribal officer to enter a reservation
The search here was in a remote area on the Crow Nation. First, officers had exigency because it was cold, raining, and getting dark, and evidence might be lost. Also, defendant was abandoned there by his assault victim, and he … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: RS applied to the car def got into despite the fact he wasn’t there when an occupant hid a gun
Officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct a protective weapons search of the car defendant came out of a motel and got into. While watching the car, before defendant was there, officers saw a juvenile hiding a gun under the floor … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Failure to describe a CI as a “paid informant” isn’t material; every CI has a reason for providing information
Failure to describe the CI as a “paid informant” doesn’t undermine his credibility. Every issuing magistrate should know that a CI has some motive for providing information, be it money or leniency. United States v. Mobley, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: RS present for protective weapons search of car under Long
There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop, and that included a protective weapons search for a firearm under Michigan v. Long, which produced one. United States v. Caraang, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81814 (W.D. Wash. May 15, 2018).* In the … Continue reading