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- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
- CA4: Tracking order using cell site simulator with PC was reasonable
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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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--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)
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Monthly Archives: December 2018
S.D.Fla.: Pen register requests that includes subscriber changes overbroad
The pen register request under § 3124(b) is overbroad for the service provider to tell the government about changes in the account. In re Application of the United States, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209036 (S.D. Fla. Nov. 29, 2018):
D.Neb.: Def motion for SW materials denied for time being; ongoing investigation
Where there is a First and Fourth Amendment and common law right to discovery of search warrant materials, Supplemental Rule G also provides for it for forfeiture. Here, however, the government shows in camera that disclosure now would jeopardize an … Continue reading
E.D.La.: No PC or RS for def’s stop and frisk
Under the totality of circumstances, the officer lacked both probable cause and reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop. United States v. Muse, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209817 (E.D. La. Dec. 12, 2018)*:
CNS: Suit Over Search on Domestic Delta Flight Advances
CNS: Suit Over Search on Domestic Delta Flight Advances by Josh Russell:
Today is Bill of Rights Day
227 years ago today the Fourth Amendment became effective, Dec. 15, 1791
D.Mass.: Coded language on wiretap supported issuance of SW for house; inference of drug dealing was apparent
Evidence from the wiretap in coded language strongly supported the inference that defendant had drugs in his house. United States v. Flynn, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209546 (D.Mass. Dec. 12, 2018).* Defendant was outside of his car walking away when … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Immigration questions require RS; here they had it
Immigration status questions require reasonable suspicion. It was lacking at first because they thought at first defendant was somebody else, but the officer quickly concluded the correct facts. Then there was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Hernandez-Hernandez, 2018 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: A reasonable but mistaken belief defendant’s car was just involved in a burglary justified its stop
A reasonable but mistaken belief defendant’s car was just involved in a burglary justified its stop. United States v. Morgan, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208715 (W.D. Mo. Oct. 31, 2018), adopted, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 207735 (W.D. Mo. Dec. 10, … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Surreptitiously made recording invalid by Georgia statute is still admissible in federal court
A surreptitiously made recording invalid by Georgia statute is still admissible in federal court. United States v. Kilpatrick, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208799 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 1, 2018), adopted, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 208223 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 10, 2018). At … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: When jail calls are a part of the PC for a SW affidavit, transcripts aren’t required
“Dubose raises a slew of arguments [not a good sign] in support of her contention that the affidavit fails to establish probable cause to search the iPhone; however, none of those arguments has merit.” There was an argument that a … Continue reading
TX: Officers jumped the gun on facts for exigency based warrantless blood draw; suppression affirmed
Defendant was in a “catastrophic car crash” and was at the hospital. Officers suspected defendant had been driving under the influence. Medical treatment and IVs were expected, and a warrantless blood draw was done. It turned out that it was … Continue reading
DE: Whether a state tracking warrant permits tracking in NJ is avoided in favor of inevitable discovery
A tracking device was put on defendant’s Jeep by warrant, and it was tracked into New Jersey as well. The court offers that it’s a difficult question whether the vehicle could be tracked in New Jersey too, but decides the … Continue reading
CA9: Whether state officers violated state law in the search doesn’t matter in federal court under the 4A
Defendant argues that the officers violated Washington state law in his search and seizure. That doesn’t matter in federal court. United States v. Dauenhauer, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 34797 (9th Cir. Dec. 11, 2018). Under Hudson, “The federal exclusionary rule, … Continue reading
CA5: Officers get QI for body cavity search with SW that turned up nothing
Plaintiff’s pat down at the jail after a valid arrest led officers to believe that he had something protruding from his anus. He denied anything was there, and he refused to consent to removing it. Officers got a search warrant … Continue reading
TN: Apparent authority to consent also determines standing
Apparent authority to consent is also standing. Lack of apparent authority to consent is no standing. State v. Madewell, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 896 (Dec. 12, 2018). The smell of marijuana was probable cause for the search of defendant’s … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: Def was sitting in car on friend’s curtilage visiting the friend, and officer violated curtilage to look in car window
Defendant was in his car on another person’s curtilage when he was there to visit. The officer’s walking up to the car on the curtilage of the owner to look in defendant’s car window violated the Fourth Amendment. United States … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: 4 month delay in producing evidence from iPod doesn’t warrant dismissal
The fact something was extracted from defendant’s iPod in April but not turned over to the defense until August isn’t a ground to dismiss. United States v. Taylor, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206364 (W.D. Wash. Dec. 7, 2018). There was … Continue reading
CA6: 2255 argument that def counsel didn’t make “best arguments for suppression” fails; he’d still lose
“Maurice Carter pled guilty to a variety of sex crimes and received a twenty-year prison sentence. He now petitions for habeas relief. Carter alleges his attorneys were constitutionally ineffective for failing to make the best arguments for suppression of key … Continue reading
CA6: Def’s IAC argument that suppression argument could have been better made fails because it wouldn’t prevail in any event
“Maurice Carter pled guilty to a variety of sex crimes and received a twenty-year prison sentence. He now petitions for habeas relief. Carter alleges his attorneys were constitutionally ineffective for failing to make the best arguments for suppression of key … Continue reading
D.Utah: Def lacked standing in an apt rented for him he knew was by identity theft
Defendant lacked standing to contest a search of the apartment he knew was rented by another for him via identity theft. United States v. Kafuku, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 207331 (D. Utah Dec. 8, 2018):