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- NY Queens: PC shown for SW blood drawn at hospital after car wreck
- CA7: Hotel room vacated by tenant could be searched by hotel management
- W.D.N.Y.: SW for devices used for video surveillance included cell phones because apps can be used to view cameras from cell phones
- CA3: PC for ptf’s arrest for punching a police horse
- D.N.M.: Three Franks challenges, one successful
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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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"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: December 2018
TN: Implied consent law doesn’t violate right to a warrant under religious liberty
Defendant’s sovereign citizen claim the state DUI implied consent violated his religious liberty without a warrant and right to travel is rejected. How does religion figure into it? State v. Simmons, 2018 Tenn. App. LEXIS 755 (Dec. 21, 2018).* Sovereign … Continue reading
The Hill: Are the Chinese and Russians listening to your phone calls?
The Hill: Are the Chinese and Russians listening to your phone calls? by Julian Gehman with cell site simulators? I’m not worried about them listening to mine because I only bitch about Russians and I’m 1,000 miles away, but too … Continue reading
CA3: Municipal officers may execute federal PV warrants
Defendant was ID’d as a likely suspect in a bank robbery, and a federal probation violation warrant was issued. Municipal officers may execute federal probation violation warrants. “See, e.g., United States v. Polito, 583 F.2d 48, 51 (2d Cir. 1978); … Continue reading
NY3: When trial court sustains search on two grounds, both have to be challenged on appeal or no error
Defendant challenged the search of his BAC which was obtained by consent and a search warrant. Challenging only the search warrant doesn’t matter because consent remains. People v. Guzy, 2018 NY Slip Op 08714, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8665 … Continue reading
Tech Advocate: Can Schools Search Students’ Personal Devices
Tech Advocate: Can Schools Search Students’ Personal Devices by Matthew Lynch:
CA3: Legality of arrest on an ICE warrant for overstaying visa irrelevant to removal
“Matos first argues that local law enforcement violated his Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable seizures by arresting him pursuant to the purported ICE warrant. Matos protests that he never waived this right when he entered … Continue reading
Reason: Kansas Supreme Court Says Cops Can Search Your Home Without a Warrant If They Claim It Smells Like Pot
Reason: Kansas Supreme Court Says Cops Can Search Your Home Without a Warrant If They Claim It Smells Like Pot by Jacob Sullum: Cops supposedly smelled 25 grams of pot inside a plastic container inside a safe inside a closet … Continue reading
CA9: Seizure of a vehicle for 30 days for no DL without alternatives was unreasonable
Plaintiffs get summary judgment on their damages claim against the County and officers for impounding vehicles if the driver never had a valid DL rather than letting others take the vehicle. It was an unreasonable seizure. The state has a … Continue reading
OH11: When def’s ID showed he wasn’t subject to an order of protection, questions about drugs unreasonably extended stop
Defendant was stopped and the officer asked for his ID to determine whether defendant was subject to an order of protection. He wasn’t. Then the officer started asking about drugs, and he didn’t like the form of defendant’s answer. That … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: SW for CP permitted search of entire dwelling; it wasn’t apparent to officers def had a roommate
Defendant’s email and IP address connected him to receipt of child pornography. The search warrant for his entire home for child pornography was valid even though defendant had a roommate. There’s no constitutional requirement for police to go to great … Continue reading
IA: No conflict in motion to suppress where def counsel was law partner of issuing magistrate
Defense counsel was the law partner of the issuing magistrate. On post-conviction, defendant did not show that defense counsel was operating under a conflict of interest because defense counsel filed and vigorously litigated a motion to suppress. Kensett v. State, … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Reasonable to put def in police car where he had no DL or registration to car while they checked it out
It was reasonable for officers to put defendant in their vehicle when he had no DL or registration for the vehicle he was driving while they checked it out. “The officers ran Bonner’s name through their databases and learned that … Continue reading
New law review article: Fourth Amendment Reasonableness After Carpenter
This brief essay is great insight into arguing the next steps of Carpenter, reasonableness, property rights, and whether the reasonable expectation of privacy test will be changed. We recommend you read all you can about Carpenter because the right reasonableness … Continue reading
CA4: Once def knew he was target of a child porn investigation, exigency for seizure of cell phones was apparent
In interviewing the defendant about possible possession of child pornography, his answers created exigent circumstances for seizure of his cell phone because he was well aware of what he was accused of and could then destroy evidence. The two day … Continue reading
MO: Requiring trial objection after denial of motion to suppress allows trial court to reconsider; issue still preserved here
Defense counsel in Missouri is obligated to object again when evidence that was subject to a motion to suppress that was overruled is offered into evidence. This gives the trial court the opportunity to revisit the ruling under the evidence … Continue reading
San Bernardino County Sun: San Bernardino County settles for $390000 with families of girls arrested to ‘teach them a lesson’
San Bernardino County Sun: San Bernardino County settles for $390000 with families of girls arrested to ‘teach them a lesson’. The case: CA9: School resource officer’s arrest of alleged bullying middle school girls ‘to prove a point’ and ‘make [them] … Continue reading
ID: Def counsel’s refusal to say officers attempted to mislead the issuing magistrate was fatal to Franks claim
Defendant entered the Pocatello federal courthouse with a backpack. The x-ray scanner revealed a meth pipe, and the local police were called. After police searched the backpack and found meth, they went to defendant’s pickup truck, placed the backpack in … Continue reading
D.Minn.: This wasn’t a case of guilt by association for being near a drug dealer; officers reasonably believed drug deal occurred
This was not a case of mere propinquity to a drug dealer causing defendant’s frisk. Based on the officer’s training and experience, the officers could fairly conclude that there was a drug deal going on and not just a casual … Continue reading
IA: Def answered door in underwear with apparent semen stains; police there with SW for sex abuse with minors
Defendant was under investigation for sexual abuse of minors. “[T]he police went to Heggebo’s house to execute a search warrant. Heggebo answered the door wearing only shorts. The police seized Heggebo’s shorts because the shorts had apparent semen stains on … Continue reading
IL: Fatal accident alone not PC for blood draw; no exigency argued either
Just because defendant was involved in a fatal accident where his passenger died, there wasn’t probable cause for a blood draw. The state did not argue exigent circumstances below or on appeal, but that would also require probable cause. People … Continue reading