There was no justification for defendant’s traffic stop based on two statutes that weren’t violated. The government’s assertion of reasonable suspicion from an anonymous tip also failed. United States v. Salazar, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 234747 (E.D. Tex. Dec. 12, 2022).*
Police made a specific request for a safety sweep of the premises that was founded on objective need. Defendant said “absolutely” and let them in. The plain view was justified. United States v. Mejia-Velazquez, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2265 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 6, 2023).*
Defendant’s parole search conditions didn’t mention whether one could be justified on reasonable suspicion or less. There was at least reasonable suspicion here. United States v. Tinsley, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 245 (6th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023).*
Intelligencer: Amazon’s New Car Cam Takes Personal Surveillance on the Road by John Hermann (“Amazon on Thursday opened preorders for a long-awaited addition to its vast catalogue of Ring personal surveillance devices: the Car Cam. Starting at $200, the car cam includes front- and rear-facing cameras, motion alerts, GPS tracking, and voice communications. It is, as its name suggests, a Ring for cars — a comprehensive monitoring system for your vehicle and whoever might find themselves in or even near it.”) Near crime scenes, police canvas for doorbell and security cameras for video of the crime. Now cars, maybe.
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The government argued that the search of defendant’s car was justified by the automobile exception because contraband was in plain view. The court disagrees. There was a plastic bag on the console, and the photographic evidence from inside the car presented by the government doesn’t support what was visible from outside the car. The officer may have had a strong suspicion, but he didn’t have probable cause. United States v. Loines, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 319 (6th Cir. Jan. 6, 2023).
Prison inmate did not state a Fourth Amendment claim that he was dosed with artificial intelligence in prison. Strader v. Schnurr, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 204493 (D. Kan. Nov. 9, 2022).*
Defendant’s Franks claim fails both the reckless misstatement element and materiality to the finding of probable cause. United States v. Allen, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 243 (6th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023).*
Defendant claimed his probation search was unreasonable because he was off probation when the search occurred. All the evidence, however, shows that the officers acted in good faith because they checked databases, and it all showed he was still on probation. Their reliance was objectively reasonable, and the search was based on reasonable suspicion. United States v. Fencl, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2231 (S.D. Cal. Jan. 5, 2023):
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The state 1971 constitutional amendment recognizing a right to privacy was really enacting what the people always believed about privacy. It provides: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures and unreasonable invasions of privacy shall not be violated . . . .” S.C. Const., art I, § 10. I. The court holds the constitutional right to privacy includes access to an abortion under state law. Planned Parenthood S. Atl. v. State, 2023 S.C. LEXIS 3 (Jan. 5, 2023) (a 142 page opinion).
There is no implicit right of privacy protecting a right to abortion in Idaho. Planned Parenthood Great NW. v. State, 2023 Ida. LEXIS 1 (Jan. 5, 2023).
This hotel can’t be sued under § 1983 because it wasn’t a state actor for allegedly violating plaintiff’s reasonable expectation of privacy in his room. Jones v. Embassy Suites, Inc., 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1910 (S.D. Ga. Jan. 5, 2023).*
Plaintiff’s retaliatory prison strip search claim fails. “Simply put, nothing in the Complaint suggests that the search of Plaintiff was unreasonable or unnecessary. The full circumstances of the search are not alleged in the Complaint. While Plaintiff claims that the search was retaliatory, he does not elaborate on the allegations of retaliation. … He also concedes that the search was conducted as part of a large set of cell security inspections. … It is unclear from the Complaint whether Defendant Gagnon found contraband in Plaintiff’s cell or on his person that would justify the strip search. It additionally is unclear whether Plaintiff’s genitals were viewed, or even whether Plaintiff’s underwear was removed.” Morris v. Pa. Dep’t of Corr. DOC, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1927 (W.D. Pa. Jan. 5, 2023).*
The officer’s stop of plaintiff to flirt with her was without basis and thus unreasonable, and clearly established. Shepherd v. Robbins, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 36056 (10th Cir. Dec. 13, 2022) [corrected Dec. 28, 2022].
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing particularity of a search warrant where defendant consented to a complete search of the phone before he even knew there was a warrant, too. State v. Matthews, 2023 Del. Super. LEXIS 7 (Jan. 3, 2023).*
“‘[T]he Fourth Amendment does not require officers to use the best technique available as long as their method is reasonable under the circumstances.’ Davenport v. Causey, 521 F.3d 544, 552 (6th Cir. 2008) (cleaned up); Ashford, 951 F.3d at 801 (same). Thus, whether using a taser would have been a better technique is not a question that is before us; we are asked only whether the techniques used were reasonable under the circumstances.” Puskas v. Del. Cty., 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 186 (6th Cir. Jan. 5, 2023).*
“The Court agrees with essential premise of the R&R: that probable cause existed for the tracking warrant because there was probable cause for the arrest warrant. First, Mr. Ellerman cites no authority for the idea that using a judicially approved tracking warrant to locate the subject of a lawful arrest warrant violates the Fourth Amendment, and the Court has found no cases that support such an argument.” United States v. Ellerman, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1550 (D. Minn. Jan. 5, 2023).
The person consenting to this entry had apparent authority, and a gun was found in plain view. United States v. Sanchez, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 174 (10th Cir. Jan. 5, 2023).*
Defendant’s post trial Franks motion based on trial testimony fails. “To the extent any tension could be found between the testimony and the affidavits, defendant has not provided any evidence to prove that the sworn affidavits, rather than the sworn testimony, were false.” United States v. McKinney, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 175 (10th Cir. Jan. 5, 2023).*
Defendant’s motion to dismiss for a discovery violation in not timely processing a subpoena for a street corner camera that allegedly would show that defendant’s turn signal was on and the stop was wrong is denied. The city didn’t timely process it, and the video was ultimately purged, but it wasn’t shown to be in bad faith. United States v. Caudle, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1001 (N.D. Ill. Jan. 4, 2023).*
A Fourth Amendment claim in federal court is considered as brought under § 1983. Tinsley v. Fox, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 995 (W.D. Ky. Jan. 4, 2023).*
2255 claim that defense counsel was ineffective for not raising a Fourth Amendment claim is rejected because he did and he appealed on that ground, too. United States v. Mosley, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1408 (M.D. Pa. Jan. 4, 2023).*
Probable cause, not reasonable suspicion, is required for belief the parolee is at his residence for a parole search. Surveys conflicting authorities, even from the same district court. United States v. Thabit, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 169 (8th Cir. Jan. 5, 2023).
“During their testimonies, the officers did not articulate enough to demonstrate that they could meet the reasonable-suspicion burden. ‘[P]olice are not entitled, under the guise of Terry, to stop a person simply for being in the vicinity of a suspected crime.’ Gallinger, 227 F. Supp. 3d at 1169 (citing Terry, 392 U.S. at 29; Wardlow, 528 U.S. at 119). ‘Something more is necessary to raise suspicion that a person is the one engaged in wrongdoing. The [o]fficer must have “a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity.”’ Id. (quoting Navarette v. California, 572 U.S. 393, 396-97 (2014). I find that particularized and objective basis lacking here.” United States v. Garcia, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 903 (D. Nev. Jan. 3, 2023).*
Defense counsel’s letter to the prosecutor that there was no search warrant application in the discovery and requesting it was sufficient to trigger reciprocal discovery. Motion to dismiss for lack of speedy trial denied. State v. Runner, 2022-Ohio-4756, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 4483 (7th Dist. Dec. 19, 2022).*
techdirt: Government Continues To Rely On Private Contractors To Bypass Privacy Protections by Tim Cushing (“There’s only so much domestic surveillance the government can engage in before it starts running into problems. The Supreme Court’s Carpenter decision strongly suggested gathering data in bulk to track people might run afoul of the Fourth Amendment. Lower courts have delivered a variety of opinions on the subject. Meanwhile, a few privacy-oriented legislators are trying to codify privacy protections that would limit the government’s ability to abuse the Third Party Doctrine to obtain massive amounts of data.”)
“Defendants may have held a subjective expectation that activity in and around the doorway of the apartment would remain private but such an expectation was not objectively reasonable because their activity took place in a common area exposed to the public. Thus, Bean-Bousseau and Parsons do not have standing under the Fourth Amendment to suppress the evidence obtained from the apartment hallway camera. [¶[ A similar analysis applies to the challenged surveillance of the parking lot and building exterior at One Mansfield.” United States v. Bean-Bousseau, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 871 (D. Mass. Jan. 4, 2023).
The initial encounter was consensual and ripened to reasonable suspicion for detention. United States v. Anderson, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 113 (4th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023).*
An argument in a car with screaming in a Target parking lot caused employees to call the police. Defendant wasn’t seized when approached by the police, even when he was told to “hop out of the car.” His actions led the officer to reasonably suspect he was hiding a gun. United States v. Blount, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 108 (4th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023).*
The no-knock provision in this search warrant was not based on a showing of necessity based on this case. It was based on experience and generalities. [In addition, defendant was supposedly standing in the front yard, so what about the useless gesture rationale? If someone else was inside, then it would not apply.] The good faith exception and Michigan v. Hudson go unmentioned. Hughes v. State, 2023 Ga. App. LEXIS 2 (Jan. 4, 2023). Update: Daily Report: Appellate Ruling Is Good News for Defense Trial Lawyers Looking to Exempt Evidence (“‘A no-knock provision is permissible only when based on a neutral evaluation of each case’s particular facts and circumstances, not on blanket provisions based on generalized experience,’ the Georgia Court of Appeals ruled.”)
Officers prevail in § 1983 case because their entry was objectively justified by the emergency aid exception. Toman v. Crabtree, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 94 (9th Cir. Jan. 4, 2023).*
Probable cause does not require certainty. The fact the license plate was taped elsewhere still gave a basis for the stop. United States v. Delpriore, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 732 (D. Alaska Jan. 4, 2023).*
Inquiring into the contents of a bag in the car was for officer safety and thus related to the stop. United States v. Smith, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 730 (E.D. Va. Jan. 3, 2023).*
When the collective knowledge rule applies to information from an anonymous or confidential source, the officer using the information has to have actual knowledge of the factors supporting its reliability. Zarcadoolas v. Tony, 2023 Fla. App. LEXIS 26 n.3 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 4, 2023). [Otherwise, truly weak information is sanitized by adding a step of hearsay.]
Defendant consented to entry of his home to obtain two cell phones. United States v. Barr, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 32 (11th Cir. Jan. 3, 2023).*
Pre-Carpenter obtaining of CSLI was in good faith. Siri-Reynoso v. United States, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 663 (S.D.N.Y. Jan. 3, 2023).*
A defense attorney is not ineffective for not filing a motion to suppress that would not win. Harmon v. State, 2023 Alas. App. LEXIS 1 (Jan. 4, 2023).
Defendant’s motion to suppress did not put the state on notice that he was seeking to suppress the result of his arrest. The trial court erred in granting that relief. State v. Bender, 2023 Fla. App. LEXIS 27 (Fla. 4th DCA Jan. 4, 2023):
After examining evidence, investigators “developed probable cause to believe this incident was an intentional act,” and placed Patel under arrest, according to the CHP.
Authorities haven’t determined what driving mode the Tesla was in — including whether the vehicle had its Autopilot function on — but investigators don’t believe the vehicle’s driving mode contributed to the crash.
A Tesla is four wheels, a dozen cameras, a big battery, and a computer. Logically, its computer contains all the information of the crash. It’s no mere black box; it’s got GPS, multiple videos, and performance data.
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“This Court concludes that the supporting affidavit for the GPS tracking warrant establishes probable cause.” “Here, it is undisputed that when the GPS tracking device was placed on the gold Chevy Tahoe at approximately 5:00 p.m. on March 3, 2022, it constituted an improper search. This Court concludes, however, that the subsequent search warrant obtained approximately two and a half hours later satisfies the independent source requirements. The first requirement is met because the warrant did not rely on tainted information.” “Furthermore, nothing in the record indicates that the police were not going to apply for the GPS warrant if they had not already placed the tracker on the vehicle.” The affidavit admitted the GPS was already installed and said that nothing was viewed from it. A Franks challenge also failed. United States v. Martinez, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 234060 (D. Minn. Nov. 16, 2022).
Despite the lack of a dog alert, there was probable cause for search of defendant’s car. State v. Aguilar, 2022-NCCOA-903, 2022 N.C. App. LEXIS 943 (Dec. 29, 2022).*
Officers had probable cause to collect defendant’s DNA in a sex assault case. Moreover, defendant implicitly consented to its taking. Suppression reversed. Commonwealth of the N. Mariana Islands v. Kaipat, 2022 MP 9, 2022 N. Mar. I. LEXIS 11 (Dec. 31, 2022).*
Involuntary civil detainees in a sex offender program have no reasonable expectation of privacy in their rooms. White v. Dayton, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 71 (D. Minn. Jan. 3, 2023).
Habeas petitioner’s claim that a bad photo ID led to his false arrest and then his conviction was barred by Stone. Daniels v. Royce, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8 (E.D.N.Y. Jan. 2, 2023).*
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone was issued with probable cause. State v. Byrd, 2022-NCCOA-905, 2022 N.C. App. LEXIS 939 (Dec. 29, 2022).*
The exclusionary rule does not apply to probation revocation proceedings. State v. Boyette, 2022-NCCOA-904, 2022 N.C. App. LEXIS 941 (Dec. 29, 2022).*
Extrinsic evidence of alleged falsity in a Franks challenge is admissible. United States v. Smith, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 234002 (S.D. Ill. Dec. 20, 2022).
Questioning defendant about the presence of a firearm in his vehicle fell within the Quarles public safety exception. United States v. Griffin, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 233992 (S.D. Ill. Dec. 31, 2022).
Defendant is a Russian national indicted for hack-and-trade securities fraud. Probable cause was shown for a search warrant for his iCloud account. The good faith exception would apply in any event. United States v. Klyushin, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 233870 (D. Mass. Dec. 2, 2022).*
“But our review of the affidavit shows that even with the addition of the omitted information, the affidavit still establishes probable cause to arrest Frantz for first-degree premeditated murder.” State v. Frantz, 2022 Kan. LEXIS 124 (Dec. 30, 2022).*
"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, 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.
