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Recent Posts
- CA5: Deficient privilege log after records search was waiver
- 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
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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)
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Monthly Archives: May 2018
D.D.C.: Content of affidavit for SW suggests start of investigation predated Special Counsel’s appointment
The fact a 22-page affidavit for search warrant was signed before a USMJ ten days after the Special Counsel was appointed suggests that the investigation was going on long before that. The investigation is within the Special Counsel’s purview. United … Continue reading
WV: Def can’t show abuse of discretion for trial court to not consider oral motion to suppress instead of a written one
Defendant can’t show an abuse of discretion from the trial judge’s declining to consider an oral motion to suppress. The rule says it’s in the discretion of the trial court. State v. Gaiser, 2018 W. Va. LEXIS 370 (May 14, … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: SW affidavit didn’t sufficiently show nexus, but not so lacking that GFE didn’t apply
The affidavit for the search warrant here failed to show nexus to defendant’s house under Sixth Circuit precedent. It was sufficient, however, for the good faith exception to apply because the affidavit was not so lacking in information that reliance … Continue reading
ZDNet: US cell carriers are selling access to your real-time phone location data
ZDNet: US cell carriers are selling access to your real-time phone location data by Zack Whittaker: LocationSmart, a California-based technology company, is one of a handful of so-called data aggregators. It claimed to have ‘direct connections’ to cell carrier networks … Continue reading
CA9: Search of car could not be sustained as inventory since there was an admitted-evidence gathering motive
The inventory here was to conduct a criminal search of the car, and it is suppressed. Officers timed the arrest when defendant was in the car [allegedly] to minimize safety concerns. They admittedly were searching for criminal evidence, and not … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def was essentially and admittedly an “innocent bystander” at the place searched and had no standing
This defendant had no standing in the condo that was searched under a search warrant. He produced nothing to show that he had any connection to the property or was a guest with a connection to the premises, even an … Continue reading
Daily Beast: Justices Thomas and Gorsuch Just Hinted They Would End Privacy as We Know It
Daily Beast: Justices Thomas and Gorsuch Just Hinted They Would End Privacy as We Know It by Jay Michaelson: President Trump’s addition to the Supreme Court sides with the bench’s ‘originalist’—and it has terrifying implications for your rights. Because privacy … Continue reading
SCOTUS: The driver of a rental car not on the contract may have a REP in the car
The driver of a rental car not listed on the contract may have a reasonable exception of privacy in the car Byrd v. United States, 2018 U.S. LEXIS 2803 (May 14, 2018). Syllabus:
Washington City Paper: Civil Rights and Activist Groups Sue Bowser Over Stop-and-Frisk Data Collection
Washington City Paper: Civil Rights and Activist Groups Sue Bowser Over Stop-and-Frisk Data Collection by Matt Cohen: ACLU-DC, Black Lives Matter D.C., and the Stop Police Terror Project D.C. want the mayor and MPD to comply with the two-year-old law.
E.D.Mich.: No IAC where suppression motion wouldn’t be granted
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not moving to suppress cell phone records in 2014 because that motion would not be granted. United States v. Scott, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 78666 (E.D. Mich. May 10, 2018).* The CI’s information was corroborated … Continue reading
NPRL: Body Camera Maker Weighs Adding Facial Recognition Technology
NPRL: Body Camera Maker Weighs Adding Facial Recognition Technology by Ian Wren: The largest supplier of law enforcement body cameras in the U.S. is exploring pairing its cameras with new AI capabilities — including real-time face recognition.
E.D.Mich.: Motion to suppress cell phone SW1 led to issuance of SW2, and SW2 was legally sufficient
Defendant’s cell phone was properly seized incident to his arrest. It was later searched with “search warrant 1.” When the defense filed a motion to suppress, the government got “search warrant 2” which was legally sufficient. United States v. Bailey, … Continue reading
NY3: Smell and smoke from working meth lab in garage was exigency
The officer pulled into defendant’s driveway and defendant came out and was really nervous. Smoke was coming out a window in the garage that smelled like a meth cook. There was exigency for entry without a warrant. People v. Alberts, … Continue reading
CA5: When govt addresses GFE, defendant must respond or waive it
In the Fifth Circuit it’s good faith first, probable cause second. The government addressed good faith in its brief, but defendant didn’t in his. Good faith prevails. United States v. Carroll, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 12280 (5th Cir. May 10, … Continue reading
CA5: Grounds to overcome GFE all have to be raised in the trial ocurt or waived
Defendant raises a ground to attempt to overcome the good faith exception, but he didn’t raise it in the district court, so it’s waived. United States v. Rosa, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 12276 (5th Cir. May 10, 2018). When defendant … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Minor testimonial inconsistencies in testimony about a trash pull did not mean no PC
Minor testimonial inconsistencies in testimony about a trash pull did not mean there was no probable cause. United States v. Gershwin, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77029 (E.D. Mich. May 8, 2018). “Taken with Arguelles’s sex offender status, which included a … Continue reading
NYTimes: Service Meant to Monitor Inmates’ Calls Could Track You, Too
NYTimes: Service Meant to Monitor Inmates’ Calls Could Track You, Too by Jennifer Valentino-DeVries:
W.D.Tex.: Removal of def’s key fob to press the buttons to locate car was a search that violated a REP in def’s pants pocket
The removal of defendant’s key fob from his pocket to locate his car violated a reasonable expectation of privacy and required suppression of the identity of his car. United States v. Fennell, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77041 (W.D. Tex, May … Continue reading