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Recent Posts
- CA5: Even if parole search was to aid criminal investigation, it was still reasonable
- IN: Cell phone linked to murder by TM sent before; PC for search
- C.D.Cal.: Inquiry into actions of others besides the officers involved in search is a new Bivens claim and barred
- D.Minn.: Regular CI had “extensive knowledge of street gangs, firearms, and narcotics distribution”; there was PC
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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)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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: July 2018
D.Utah: Officers had no objective information supporting exigency for entry
The officers had no objective information that even suggested that a protective sweep was required here, and the warrantless entry into the home was unreasonable. Moreover, the claimed consent wasn’t voluntary. United States v. Lawley, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125920 … Continue reading
FL2: Car outside motel room can’t be searched under SW for room; it’s not “curtilage”
Police surveilled three motel rooms for drug activity, and finally they procured a search warrant for the three rooms. They also searched the cars associated with those rooms under the theory the cars were within the curtilage of the motel … Continue reading
D.N.M.: GFE applies to CA10’s Ackerman that NCMEC is not a private searcher
In United States v. Ackerman, 831 F.3d 1292 (10th Cir. 2016), the Tenth Circuit held that NCMEC was not a mere private actor when it opened emails. Defendant’s search was 2012, and the court applies the good faith exception. At … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Pre-Carpenter CSLI obtained without search warrant is admissible under GFE
Pre-Carpenter CSLI obtained without search warrant is admissible under Davis good faith exception. United States v. Hearst, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126005 (N.D. Ga. July 3, 2018), adopted 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125791 (N.D. Ga. July 27, 2018). The search … Continue reading
KS: Pleading facts doesn’t plead specific 4A claims; this specific claim is waived for lack of development below
Defendant’s argument in the district court was that the package was subjected to detention without reasonable suspicion, and he did not argue that the package was detained too long. His statement of facts isn’t enough for the court to have … Continue reading
NY2: Defense counsel not ineffective for not challenging cell phone search that apparently would lose
“Counsel’s failure to challenge the [cell phone] search warrant can be explained as a legitimate trial strategy because the application for the warrant was supported by probable cause, and the warrant was not unconstitutionally overbroad, despite a technical defect on … Continue reading
FL4: Parkland school shooting videos obtained by SW subject to state FOIA
After the Parkland FL school shooting, police got a search warrant for all the school video. The news media then made a public records request for it all, which the court found reasonable. “The evidence presented by the Media establishes … Continue reading
Forward: Justice Brandeis Was Right About Technology — 90 Years Before The Courts
Forward: Justice Brandeis Was Right About Technology — 90 Years Before The Courts by Joshua Z. Rokach:
ND: No PC for shipped package, but there was for def’s house
Police lacked probable cause for the search warrant for a package defendant was shipping just because they suspected it contained cash for drugs. There were suspicions because of volunteered explanations when he was shipping it, but no probable cause and … Continue reading
NE: State dropping count CI was witness in keeps identity under wraps; can’t show materiality to other counts
The CI was used to get the search warrant for drugs in defendant’s house. During the search, the CI said there would be a gun, and officers found it. Later, the state chose not to pursue the drug charge but … Continue reading
CA9: Virtual knowing Franks violation leads to suppression of immigration search before BIA
Petitioner established that the warrant for employment records sought by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was based on knowingly material omissions and thus qualified as an egregious violation of the Fourth Amendment for an immigration proceeding. Frimmel Mgmt. v. United … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Mississippi cops went to the wrong house and killed an innocent man. A grand jury just refused to indict them.
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Mississippi cops went to the wrong house and killed an innocent man. A grand jury just refused to indict them. by Radley Balko: After just over a year, we finally have some news about the death … Continue reading
CA8: SW for search of def’s person wasn’t particular, but there was a reference to the affidavit; GFE applies
The search warrant to search defendant’s person for things wasn’t particular, but the good faith exception applies. It referred to the affidavit which wasn’t present, but they remembered it. The search warrant wasn’t so deficient that it could not be … Continue reading
CA4: Def in rental car preserved standing issue; remanded for application of Byrd
Defendant was in a rental car, and he moved to suppress. He was denied standing under existing case law, but that was abrogated in Byrd. SCOTUS GVR’ed. Remanded for application of Byrd and whatever else. United States v. Houston, 2018 … Continue reading
CO: Person arrested at MJ grow but not charged can get his seized property back
An uncharged person originally arrested at an alleged illegal marijuana grow has standing to recover his own property seized from him. Boudette v. State, 2018 COA 109, 2018 Colo. App. LEXIS 1036 (July 26, 2018). Defendant’s bicycle rack on the … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Reasonable mistaken identity justified stop
Defendant’s stop was based on reasonable suspicion he was in the country illegally, but it was a case of mistaken identity. “Defendant was observed emerging from the vicinity of the target’s residence. Defendant closely resembled the target. Any discrepancy between … Continue reading
VI: Officer’s use of “legal buzz words” with “rote and mechanical” testimony and then memory failures leads trial court to conclude he’s not credible
The officer’s use of “legal buzz words” with “rote and mechanical” testimony and then memory failures leads trial court to conclude he’s not credible. People v. Stevens, 2018 V.I. LEXIS 70 (Super. Ct. July 26, 2018):
CA11: “The record shows” without showing it is not a Franks “substantial preliminary showing”
Defendant failed to make an offer of proof as required by Franks. Merely saying “the record shows” or something like that without more is not a “substantial preliminary showing.” United States v. Ward, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 20674 (11th Cir. … Continue reading
ME: Def was about to go into surgery after suspected DWI and accident; warrantless blood draw was with exigency and PC
Defendant was in a serious accident, and he was about to go into surgery. The blood draw at the request of the police was with exigent circumstances and probable cause. State v. Palmer, 2018 ME 108, 2018 Me. LEXIS 111 … Continue reading
OR: Late night stop of apparently intoxicated driver permits officer to ask about weapons
During a stop for suspected DUI late at night, the officer can legitimately ask the defendant whether he is armed. State v. Miller, 363 Ore. 374, 2018 Ore. LEXIS 602 (July 26, 2018):