Archives
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Recent Posts
- D.Utah: Minor time detours to writing up a traffic ticket didn’t unreasonable extend this stop; the dog was quickly on its way
- KY: Despite lack of nexus, SW sustained under GFE
- CO: DNA could be seized from trash
- CA8: Nebraska statute allowing SWs to cross state lines doesn’t violate 4A
- WA: Sweat patch as condition of release violated state constitution’s privacy provision
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
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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)
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“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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"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] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"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) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Monthly Archives: April 2019
DE: Vague CI information and lack of nexus to def’s home required suppression
There was no substantial basis for a finding of probable cause for this search warrant. Not only were the credibility and reliability of the informant questionable, but the tip was overly broad and made no mention of defendant’s residence and … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Generically describing in an inventory “tools” and “misc items” was constitutionally adequate to show true inventory
Describing a lot of stuff in defendant’s car as “tools” and “misc items” was good enough. “Officer Jas also testified that having the inventory search recorded in his BWC served to verify the accuracy of his paperwork. Having considered Officer … Continue reading
New Law Review Article: Contracting for Fourth Amendment Privacy Online
New Law Review Article: Contracting for Fourth Amendment Privacy Online by Wayne A. Logan & Jake Linford, Minnesota Law Review, Forthcoming: Abstract:
LA1: Plain view during a probation “compliance check” is valid
Plain view during a probation “compliance check” is valid. State v. Cheramie, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 576 (La. App. 1 Cir. Apr. 5, 2019). Defense counsel filed a motion to suppress which was heard and denied. He then pled guilty. … Continue reading
OH8: When on probation for bestiality, the Humane Society can conduct probation searches
Defendant was on misdemeanor probation for bestiality with a dog. He was subject to probation searches on reasonable suspicion for whether or not he had pets in the house, and the Animal Protection League (APL) is a part of the … Continue reading
CA6: Rule against warrantless housing inspection entries clearly established
Defendant police officers were properly granted summary judgment on plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claims regarding the validity of the warrants because probable cause supported two of the warrants and the third warrant was not so lacking in indicia of probable cause … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: SW over use of Instragram justifies SW for cell phone as source
Defendant’s alleged use of Instagram justifies a search warrant for his cell phone as the source of the usage. United States v. Sosa, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58467 (S.D. N.Y. Apr. 5, 2019):
N.D.Ga.: Email tip to Swiss authorities that defs were coming by plane with cocaine wasn’t enough to make the US agents of Switzerland
“Second, Defendants assert that HSI agents ‘were substantially involved’ in the search and seizure by Swiss officials based solely upon an email that was sent by a HSI special agent to the Swiss police alerting them to the fact that … Continue reading
OH2: Denial of motion for return of property affirmed on appeal for lack of a hearing transcript
Defendant’s motion for return of property was properly denied, but it’s because he failed to bring up a record of the hearing in the trial court. State v. White, 2019-Ohio-1264, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 1342 (2d Cir. Apr. 5, 2019).* … Continue reading
N.D.Miss.: There’s no right to counsel during execution of a SW where defendant isn’t arrested and being questioned
“Mr. Pillault also argues that he received ineffective assistance of counsel because he had no counsel present when his home was searched. This claim is simply frivolous.” Pillault v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 58295 (N.D. Miss. Apr. 4, … Continue reading
IN: Petition for return of firearms seized granted; state’s evidence too stale to carry burden
In a petition for return of firearms seized from an alleged dangerous person, the state didn’t put on proof of anything recent, so the petition should have been granted. Redington v. State, 2019 Ind. App. LEXIS 146 (Apr. 5, 2019). … Continue reading
CA2: Failure to make an offer of proof in motion to suppress means denial of the motion
“For starters, Ferrer was not entitled to a hearing on his motion to suppress. The motion, filed by counsel, was unaccompanied by any affidavit to support the charge that Ferrer was subjected to ‘an unlawful police-initiated interrogation.’ Gov’t App’x 2. … Continue reading
WI: Exclusionary rule applies to forfeiture actions; remanded for determination of GFE
The exclusionary rule applies to forfeiture actions under 1958 Plymouth Sedan; however, the state gets to argue and develop a record on remand that the good faith exception applies. State v. Scott, 2019 Wisc. App. LEXIS 191 (Apr. 4, 2019). … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Fire call about structure fire was erroneous, and further entry into backyard was unreasonable
The San Diego County Fire Department got a call about a structure fire. When they arrived, it turned out to be a small fire in a brush pile in defendant’s backyard that was virtually out. The exigency dissipated and it … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: State law was more protective than the 4A when the case was in state court, but it doesn’t apply in federal court
While state law was more protective of privacy rights and this case started as a state investigation, state law would not be applied to the motion to suppress the search. Only federal law applies. United States v. Capozzi, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
MO: No REP in third-party communications with Google and Craiglist
Defendant “fails to demonstrate that he had a legitimate expectation of privacy in the communications he voluntarily delivered to unknown third parties using Google and Craigslist.” State v. Demark, 2019 Mo. App. LEXIS 446 (Apr. 2, 2019). The search warrant … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Arresting def and family during raid at gunpoint and taking him outside to talk was still custodial; family inside in handcuffs
Defendant’s house was raided by police at gunpoint and then had everybody in the house in handcuffs and wouldn’t let a mother tend to her crying child in another room. Defendant was unhandcuffed and taken outside to talk. “Defendant was … Continue reading
CA1: SCA emergency request for Kik app customer info didn’t implicate Carpenter concerns
The government used an emergency application for user data from the Kik app after learning that defendant was allegedly sending child pornography to children through it. The information was nowhere near the quality and intrusiveness of the information in Carpenter, … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Health care fraud SW also reached def’s home because related mail was received there
In a health care fraud case, the fact some mail within the scheme came to defendant’s home was nexus for the search warrant including the home. “All of the items identified in the indictment were tied to or related to … Continue reading