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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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--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: September 2020
CA9: Prison visitor should be allowed to avoid a strip search based on RS by being permitted to leave
A prison visitor has the right to leave a prison to avoid a strip search based on reasonable suspicion as a condition of entry. Qualified immunity, however, is granted because the right was not well established before this case. Cates … Continue reading
PA addresses smell of MJ in a new MMJ state: it’s a factor in RS, and not determinative of RS or PC
Under the Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Act, the smell of marijuana is only a factor in reasonable suspicion for a detention or probable cause for a search since many Pennsylvanians can now legally possess. There is no per se rule. Presentation … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Defense counsel not ineffective for challenging state search under state constitution and not 4A too
Defense counsel was not ineffective for making a state constitutional challenge to his search and not a Fourth Amendment one. If anything, the state challenge would have potentially provided him a better chance at relief, but it ultimately didn’t. If … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Indian tribes not subject to 4A claims
“Plaintiff cannot bring a claim based on a Fourth or Fourteenth Amendment violation against an Indian tribe like the Defendant. Oviatt v. Reynolds, 733 F. App’x 929, 933 (10th Cir. 2018) (dismissing Fourth Amendment claim against an Indian tribe ‘because … Continue reading
CA6: Leon‘s GFE applies to arrest warrants
“And while Leon’s exception to the exclusionary rule arose in the context of a search warrant allegedly lacking probable cause, we think the Court would extend its basic rules to arrest warrants too. Cf. Herring v. United States, 555 U.S. … Continue reading
CA6: Because def’s car would be towed and inventoried anyway, officer’s comments at time of seizure not determinative
Because defendant’s car would be towed and inventoried in any event after his stop, it didn’t matter what the officer said at the time. United States v. Snoddy, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 30512 (6th Cir. Sept. 24, 2020). “While Williams … Continue reading
TN: Parole search is a question of standing
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenge defendant’s parole search. In fact, “Because the search was a condition of his parole, the petitioner does not have standing to contest the search. Oody, 823 S.W.2d at 560; Turner, 297 S.W.3d at … Continue reading
FL1: Def didn’t show grounds for access to unredacted SW affidavit
Defendant did not make a sufficient showing to get access to the sealed portion of the affidavit for search warrant by simply saying that the information in the affidavit was likely stale. He needed to avail himself of the discovery … Continue reading
Prosecutors drop charges against Robert Kraft
CBS2 News (Palm Beach): Prosecutors drop charges against Robert Kraft by Gary Detman WaPo: Charges against Patriots’ Robert Kraft dropped in Florida after ruling on video evidence by Matt Bonesteel
S.D.N.Y.: Affidavit for SW in large scale drug operation justified no-knock provision
The no-knock provision in this search warrant was justified by the affidavit in support of the warrant. United States v. Bryant, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174793 (S.D. N.Y. Sept. 23, 2020):
D.Minn.: Apparent typo in a telephone number in a search warrant isn’t a Franks violation
An apparent typographical error in a telephone number in a search warrant isn’t a Franks violation. United States v. Green, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174674 (D. Minn. Sept. 23, 2020). Filter teams to protect privileged material are not per se … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def drew a diagram of shooting scene in his statement, and that provided nexus for SW for forensic evidence
Defendant’s shooting scene diagram during his statement created nexus for the search warrant to find forensic evidence of a homicide. United States v. Smith, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174615 (D.N.M. Sept. 23, 2020):
MA: SW affidavit showed inference def’s house was base of operation for drug operation, and that’s nexus
The affidavit for search warrant here raised more than an inference that defendant’s home was used as a base of operations for his drug dealing enterprise, and that was nexus. Commonwealth v. Andre-Fields, 2020 Mass. App. LEXIS 145 (Sept. 23, … Continue reading
IA: All exculpatory evidence doesn’t have to be presented to issuing magistrate under Franks
“Case failed to make a preliminary showing to warrant a Franks hearing. See Baker, 925 N.W.2d at 615 (‘[A]n officer applying for a search warrant is not required to present all inculpatory and exculpatory evidence to the magistrate, only that … Continue reading
TX: Suitcase with def in airport arrest was subject to search incident
Defendant was arrested in the San Antonio airport, and his luggage came with him to airport jail. The suitcase as a “receptacle must inevitably accompany him into custody, a warrantless search of that receptacle at or near the time of … Continue reading
McDonald v. U.S. (1948) (Justice Jackson, concurring)
McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451, 460-61 (1948) (Justice Jackson, concurring): I am the less reluctant to reach this conclusion because the method of enforcing the law exemplified by this search is one which not only violates legal rights … Continue reading
AR: An anonymous call to police with extraneous detail about a possible DWI was RS
An anonymous call to police (not 911) with extraneous detail about a possible DWI was reasonable suspicion. Gross v. State, 2020 Ark. App. 432 (Sept. 23, 2020):
The Intercept: Texas Deployed Swat, Bomb Robot, Small Army of Cops to Arrest A Woman and Her Dog
The Intercept: Texas Deployed Swat, Bomb Robot, Small Army of Cops to Arrest A Woman and Her Dog by Seth Harp (“She had done nothing wrong. State troopers started following her because of ‘anti law enforcement rhetoric’ on her car … Continue reading
NYT: Black New Yorkers Are Twice as Likely to Be Stopped by the Police, Data Shows
NYT: Black New Yorkers Are Twice as Likely to Be Stopped by the Police, Data Shows by Alan Fewer (“A report shows Black neighborhoods have been more heavily patrolled, but police officials have said that enforcement is mostly driven by … Continue reading