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- E.D.Va.: Must plead prejudice when delay of a cell phone SW is alleged
- CA: Avoiding the police in a high crime area isn’t RS
- CA7: Jail officials holding plaintiff under a valid court order aren’t liable for not releasing him sooner after a sentencing error
- 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
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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: February 2021
IA: Reasonable inference owner of car was driving where owner had a suspended DL
It was a reasonable inference that the owner of a vehicle with a suspended license was driving when the vehicle was seen because the officer’s experience [and commonsense by now] shows that persons with suspended licenses continue to drive. That … Continue reading
KY: Deputy in one county could go to another to investigate; no motion to suppress lies for statutory violation, if there even was one
A motion to suppress for a statutory violation doesn’t work in Kentucky absent a constitutional violation to found it on. Here, a deputy from one county crossed into another county to investigate. The statute defendant relies on deals with arrest, … Continue reading
LA1: Failure to include SW materials in record requires affirmance
Failure to include all the search warrant materials in the appellate record requires affirmance of that sole issue on appeal. “Relator failed to include copies of documents that would assist with addressing his complaint including the motion to suppress, the … Continue reading
FL5: Compelled production of cell phone passcode was moot point for lack of prejudice
Defendant claims she was forced to give up her cell phone passcode in violation of the Fifth Amendment would state a ground for reversal in this Florida district, but she doesn’t show what came from the phone into the trial. … Continue reading
HI: No PC shown for blood search warrant; no alcohol smell and disorientation was likely from head trauma
The state did not attempt to exhaust any possibilities that defendant’s disorientation wasn’t caused by likely head trauma because there was no probable cause otherwise that defendant had consumed alcohol. The search warrant for blood should not have issued. State … Continue reading
NY: SW for premises did not include vehicle parked there for which separate PC wasn’t shown
Defendant was long under surveillance for drug deals, and a search warrant was obtained for his person and premises. It did not include his vehicles. The search authorization did not encompass his vehicle on the premises outside the house, and … Continue reading
OH8: Defense counsel made logical choice to forego suppression for benefit to merits of case
Defense counsel made a logical choice to exploit certain facts from the search in defense on the merits. “Given the tumultuous relationship between Lucas and Parker, given the fact that she shot at him through a door, given his admitted … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Voluntarily providing iPhone passcode during proffer not immune act
Defendant’s providing his iPhone passcode during his proffer session did not immunize the contents of the phone from the government’s use at trial. Kastigar hearing (a misnomer) denied. United States v. Otunyo, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 30000 (D.D.C. Feb. 18, … Continue reading
OK Indian territory, McGirt v. Oklahoma, and the GFE
For a century, state officers investigated offenses on land that McGirt v. Oklahoma found were actually Indian lands. The good faith exception applies. The officer couldn’t have been expected to know that SCOTUS would finally hold as it did, and … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Brady violation included govt’s review of “raw state search warrant returns” disclosed during trial
The government disclosed an exculpatory document during trial and buried in a disclosure of previously disclosed information. “Astonishingly, even in its latest filings, the Government has informed the Court of yet another failure of disclosure in this case related to … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Impoundment under SOP was reasonable even though owner was present
Impoundment of defendant’s vehicle was reasonable and under standardized procedure, even though he was present. “I conclude Directive 406.3/2.3.4 was a reasonable standardized procedure. The officers’ decision to enforce Directive 406.2/2.3.4 and impound the vehicle, even though the lawful owner … Continue reading
CA1: Controlled buys were RS for a later stop
“Based on the previous controlled drug sales in which agents had seen Ochan participate — including the sale that day — agents had specific knowledge that Ochan sold drugs. From there, the sequence of events on the day of Tom’s … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Def not entitled to return of property deemed “classified”
Defendant is not entitled to return of property that the government has deemed “classified.” United States v. Montgomery, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29115 (S.D. Ohio Feb. 17, 2021) (“In re Search Warrant for the Person of John F. Gill, 2014 … Continue reading
IL: Rodriguez was not a new rule of law; it restated Caballes
Rodriguez was not a new rule of law; it restated Caballes. The state doesn’t get the benefit of the good faith exception by pointing to it. “At the outset, we note that the State acknowledges that the trial court erred … Continue reading
IA: Oral permission to amend SW to correct address of place to be searched made SW particular
When the executing officers arrived at the place of search, they realized that the particular description of the place to be searched was wrong. The affiant (apparently) called the issuing judge and got permission to amend the warrant’s place to … Continue reading
PA: Because of MMJ, smell of marijuana alone not RS or PC without more
The trial court’s order finding probable cause to search a car just based on the smell of marijuana alone from the passenger compartment is contrary to two state decisions involving medical marijuana and is reversed. Commonwealth v. Shaw, 2021 Pa. … Continue reading
CA9: California negligent excessive force law broader than 4A; ptf stated claim
California negligence law permits negligent excessive force actions where the Fourth Amendment might not. Plaintiff adequately stated and supported a claim for a police shooting death of a mentally ill man. Tabares v. City of Huntington Beach, 2021 U.S. App. … Continue reading
Reason: Civil Forfeiture Does Not Seem To Reduce Drug Use or Help Fight Crime
Reason: Civil Forfeiture Does Not Seem To Reduce Drug Use or Help Fight Crime by Jacob Sullen (“A new study provides further evidence that property seizures are driven by financial motives rather than public safety concerns.”) Contingent fee law enforcement?
IA: Terry stop questioning doesn’t require a Miranda warning until it gets confrontational
Terry stop questioning doesn’t require a Miranda warning until it gets confrontational and adversarial and the detainee isn’t free to leave. State v. Decanini-Hernandez, 2021 Iowa App. LEXIS 172 (Feb. 17, 2021). Defense counsel wasn’t shown to be ineffective for … Continue reading