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- 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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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Monthly Archives: August 2018
WA: 20 days not too long for staleness in a theft case
In a theft case, 20 days between the theft of someone’s personal belongings and a search warrant for defendant’s house was not too stale. “Yet not too much time had passed to raise staleness concerns.” State v. Barboza-Cortes, 2018 Wash. … Continue reading
OH5: Warrantless fire scene search after fire out, power off, and property secured was unreasonable
During a fire in a house, a grow operation was seen and reported to the police. By the time the police came in, the fire was out, the power was off, and the property was secure. The warrantless fire scene … Continue reading
CA8: Gratuitously drawing weapons after initial stop was unreasonable
The initial drawing of weapons at the beginning of a stop was not unreasonable under all the facts. Doing it again gratuitously without apparent justification was unreasonable. Wilson v. Lamp, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 24386 (8th Cir. Aug. 28, 2018). … Continue reading
OH3: Arrest warrant issued without required sworn narrative was executed by other officers in good faith so no suppression
The arrest warrant didn’t have a sworn narrative because it wasn’t signed. The warrant was issued and entered into the state database. Officers executing the arrest warrant acted in good faith, and the arrest would not be suppressed. State v. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Ptf was a bombing victim seeking return of property under equitable jurisdiction; 3 of 4 factors weigh against her, so denied
Plaintiff was a bombing victim and property was taken from her by consent. She wanted some of it back and brought an action under equitable jurisdiction for return of the property. “A district court’s exercise of equitable jurisdiction over a … Continue reading
OH5: Ptf stated claim for invasion of privacy that private drug tester had to observe genitalia
Plaintiff stated a claim for invasion of privacy that a private drug tester had to observe their genitals in a drug test. Lunsford v. Sterilite of Ohio, 2018-Ohio-3437, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 3725 (5th Dist. Aug. 27, 2018). “Failure to … Continue reading
GA: Trial court failed to consider state’s alternative ground to sustain search; remanded
Defendant filed a motion to suppress and that put the state on notice that it had to prove the ordinance under which it prosecutes. The state failed to prove it up, but its backup argument was that the officer relied … Continue reading
D.Minn.: USMJ who issues SW doesn’t have to recuse from deciding motion to suppress
The USMJ who issued the search warrant doesn’t need to recuse from deciding on a motion to suppress that warrant. “The Court also concludes that Strieff controls the analysis of Defendant’s challenge to his stop in Rock Island, Illinois. In … Continue reading
E.D.La.: The statements in the affidavit were exaggerations rather than outright falsehoods, but PC was there on the totality
“To the extent that the statements identified by Defendant are inaccurate, most are exaggerations of the truth. While the Government, and this Court, lament that the affidavit was written in terms of absolutes, the removal of the statements identified by … Continue reading
M.D.La.: The govt alleged the house was abandoned, and def had the burden to prove standing and failed
“The parties’ briefing and the testimony at the hearing further suggest that the house was abandoned and that any search occurred away from Defendant’s ‘residence of record’ or an ‘additional residence on Osceola Street.’ … Contrary to a suggestion in … Continue reading
NE: Court with jurisdiction over criminal case has jurisdiction to return property seized
When a criminal case is over, the defendant is entitled to return of non-contraband seized property from the court with jurisdiction over the criminal case. In an IFP case, the court declines to say that he pled wrong in seeking … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Investigative detention at gunpoint isn’t per se unreasonable
An investigative detention at gunpoint isn’t per se unreasonable. Here, defendant was told to stay in the car and he didn’t, and the officer justifiably drew his weapon for self-protection. This wasn’t unreasonable under the circumstances. “In addition, over the … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: This SW directed at a place and things, not just persons
“Defendant’s argument that 1335 Geyer Avenue was indeed his home, but that police did not know it was his home, thus fails. Additionally, ‘search warrants are directed, not at persons, but at property where there is probable cause to believe … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: No REP in bank records under still settled law
“Petitioner argues that the IRS’s summonses to Bank of America and Regions Bank violate his Fourth Amendment rights. … The Eleventh Circuit recently considered and rejected a Fourth Amendment challenge to an IRS summons directed towards a bank because the … Continue reading
ABAJ: Class action filed against Google over location tracking
ABAJ: Class action filed against Google over location tracking by Jason Tashea:
Editorial: Police Videos Should Be Public Under OPRA
NJLJ: Editorial: Police Videos Should Be Public Under OPRA: In Paff v. Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, our Supreme Court has held in a 4-3 decision that police video recordings are exempt from disclosure under the Open Public Records Act. We … Continue reading
NYLJ: Crime Fighting Cyber Surveillance Tools After ‘Carpenter’s’ Adjustment
NYLJ: Crime Fighting Cyber Surveillance Tools After ‘Carpenter’s’ Adjustment by Peter Crusco: In his Cyber Crime column, Peter Crusco discusses ‘Carpenter v. United States,’ describing the case as ‘probably the most important Fourth Amendment case involving new crime fighting cyber … Continue reading
CA7: Pre-Carpenter CSLI was valid in good faith reliance on SCA (Davis not cited)
Defendant’s pre-Carpenter CSLI gathering was challenged under the theory that the SCA statute was unconstitutional. It was done in good faith reliance on the statute under Krull v. Illinois, and there would be no exclusion. (Davis good faith is not … Continue reading