Archives
-
Recent Posts
- 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
- CADC: When searching a cell phone and officers find it belonged to someone else, a new SW isn’t required; SWs are directed at things, places, and people and owner doesn’t matter for PC
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
-
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) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
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)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog -
"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: November 2021
S.D.N.Y. Bankr.: Law firm in bankruptcy from missing trust account money gets a hearing on return of items seized under SW of the local DA
This is a civil contempt of bankruptcy court. The debtor is a law firm that declared bankruptcy because $8 million in trust account funds are missing. The DA executed a search warrant on the law firm records. The debtor wants … Continue reading
LA1: SW not required under automobile exception
Defendant was involved in a struggle with another in a car, and he reached for the console to open it, and a gun was briefly visible. When he was finally arrested, a warrant was not required for search of the … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Important case: SW affidavit didn’t support the breadth of cell phone search
Defendant was arrested for sex trafficking child in a reverse sting operation, and the court finds the search warrant for his telephone lacked probable cause to search it for child pornography. “That Lofstead may have attempted to purchase commercial sex … Continue reading
D.Mass.: SW for premises included def’s separate locked bedroom
The search warrant for the premises also permitted a search of defendant’s locked separate bedroom only accessible from the common area. United States v. Cecchetelli, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 224649 (D.Mass. Nov. 22, 2021). A host of things added up … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Tracking data obtained by SW is not testimonial for Crawford purposes
Tracking data on defendant’s vehicle in a stalking investigation was not testimonial for Crawford purposes, and it comes in as a business record. United States v. Miah, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 224557 (M.D.Pa. Nov. 22, 2021). A citizen complaint against … Continue reading
EFF: Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest
EFF: Police Aerial Surveillance Endangers Our Ability to Protest by Matthew Guariglia (“The ACLU of Northern California has concluded a year-long Freedom of Information campaign by uncovering massive spying on Black Lives Matter protests from the air. The California Highway … Continue reading
WV: Witness recantation doesn’t per se eliminate PC; it is a factor to consider
A witness’s recantation is a factor for the prosecutor to consider in deciding whether to pursue charges. It does not mean that all probable cause is gone. Fall v. Ames, 2021 W. Va. LEXIS 640 (Nov. 19, 2021). The particularity … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: 10-14 month old information sought on cell phone SW in fraud case wasn’t stale
Defendant’s car was stopped for no front license plate, and he was found to be without a valid DL. The car was towed to the 44th Precinct and inventoried, and two cell phones were seized. An officer at another precinct … Continue reading
GA: Minor inconsistencies between driver and passenger during stop aren’t RS
Nervousness is normal during a traffic stop. “Lastly, inconsistencies in answers to police questions do not give rise to reasonable articulable suspicion unless the inconsistencies in the car occupants’ statements are meaningful.” These weren’t, so there was no reasonable suspicion. … Continue reading
E.D.Wash.: Covid-19 testing requirements are not subject to 4A reasonable suspicion standard
“Plaintiff argues any COVID-19 testing requirement is subject to the reasonable suspicion standards under the Fourth Amendment. … However, the Proclamation does not contain or implicate a testing requirement. … Therefore, Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim is without merit. Plaintiff has … Continue reading
WV: Family court judge can’t conduct searches for marital property; search and seizure is an executive function
In a judicial discipline case, a family court judge who had a 20 year practice of searching parties’ homes for marital property is censured. Search and seizure is an executive function, not a judicial one. This is just inappropriate. In … Continue reading
N.D.N.Y.: Prolonging detention after conviction is an 8A claim, not 4A
Prolongation of detention after conviction is an Eighth Amendment claim, not Fourth Amendment. Trapani v. Annucci, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 223605 (N.D.N.Y. Nov. 19, 2021). Plaintiff’s claims that a TV she bought at Walmart is video spying on her and … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Interesting, but not about application of Fourth Amendment law
Unum Life Insurance sought declaratory judgment that it wanted to know who to pay life insurance to under Oklahoma’s “slayer rule” that a killer can’t take life insurance or under an estate. Here, the alleged killer was not mentally fit, … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Even suppressed evidence can sometimes be used in rebuttal if the door is opened
The government says that it is not going to use evidence from the search of defendant, but it reserves its ability to attempt to use it in rebuttal, if defendant opens the door. The possibility of a superseding indictment to … Continue reading
NY4: Failure to ID source of information in affidavit for SW failed showing PC
“Here, the majority of the information provided in support of the warrant application was in an affidavit prepared by a detective, and that affidavit ‘does not “permit a reasonable inference that it was based upon [the detective]’s personal knowledge”’ .… … Continue reading
WaPo: For seniors using tech to age in place, surveillance can be the price of independence
WaPo: For seniors using tech to age in place, surveillance can be the price of independence by Heather Kelly (“To age in their own homes, seniors are juggling being watched with being on their own”):
Penn Live: Opinion: The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability
Penn Live: Opinion: The concrete effects of body cameras on police accountability (“We are criminologists and economists, and our recent study has found that providing police officers with body cameras has a substantive effect on investigations of police accountability. The … Continue reading
OH5: Employer’s call to police def was probably driving drunk was RS
A Home Depot employee was sent home for working under the influence of alcohol. They used a PBT on him, and he was twice the limit. They tried to arrange a ride for him, but he attempted to drive off … Continue reading
IL: The foregone conclusion doctrine applies to providing passcode to search a cell phone
The foregone conclusion doctrine applies to obtaining the passcode to a cell phone to search it. Thus, production of the passcode is non-testimonial for the Fifth Amendment. People v. Sneed, 2021 IL App (4th) 210180, 2021 Ill. App. LEXIS 637 … Continue reading
CA6: “The Fourth Amendment does not require an officer to be right, only to be reasonable.”
As to probable cause: “The Fourth Amendment does not require an officer to be right, only to be reasonable.” Allen v. City of Ecorse, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 34348 (6th Cir. Nov. 18, 2021). Defendant’s guilty plea included a comprehensive … Continue reading