Defendant’s car was licensed in another state, so the state’s window tint law didn’t apply, and that couldn’t be a basis for the stop. However, the car was uninsured per the police computer system. “We further note that Campbell’s reliance on the information he received through NCIC from his squad car computer was reasonable.” It’s a reliable source. People v. Wallace, 2022 IL App (4th) 210475, 2022 Ill. App. LEXIS 430 (Oct. 4, 2022).
The court credits the officer’s testimony he could see defendant’s gun in plain view v. dashcam video of a telephone call by defendant that was unclear on that. United States v. Powell, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182122 (S.D. Fla. Sep. 20, 2022).*
A protective sweep was justified, and it resulted in a plain view of a weapon. United States v. Newman, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182562 (D.R.I. Oct. 4, 2022).*
Defendant’s motion to suppress searches of cell phones is denied because he doesn’t show any standing in the phones that were searched. “A motion to suppress is not a discovery tool. Without a basic factual premise, the Court cannot discern threshold questions of law, such as standing.” United States v. Agosto-Pacheco, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182482 (D.P.R. Oct. 4, 2022). [If done right, it can be.]
Defendant’s stop for not having an LPN was valid. It turned out there was a drive out tag in the back, but it wasn’t visible to the officer. There were other furtive suspicious things he did in the car before the stop. Wilson v. State, 2022 Miss. App. LEXIS 354 (Oct. 4, 2022).*
There was probable cause for seizure of defendant’s cell phone for a later search warrant. United States v. Santiago, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182252 (W.D. Okla. Oct. 5, 2022).*
Just because the judge on the 2255 reviewed and issued a search warrant early in the case is no ground to recuse from the 2255. United States v. Peterson, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182438 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 5, 2022).*
Running the IDs of the passengers and checking on the probation or parole status was beyond the mission of the traffic stop. Motion to suppress granted. United States v. Taylor, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 182023 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 4, 2022).
Even if the controversy of the CI’s statement was a viable Franks issue, probable cause remains without it. United States v. Hunt, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 181421 (D. Or. Oct. 4, 2022).*
The state concedes that defendant’s stop lacked reasonable suspicion, but he fled rather than stopped, and that gave reasonable suspicion. State v. Bruce, 2022 Iowa App. LEXIS 750 (Oct. 5, 2022).*
The warrant for defendant’s place wasn’t stale because the probable cause showing showed an ongoing drug operation. State v. Wood, 2022-Ohio-3536, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3348 (5th Dist. Sep. 30, 2022).*
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A child pornography investigation in Idaho led to a search warrant in a neighboring county in Washington. The Washington officers inviting Idaho officers to participate in aiding the search did not violate statute or the Fourth Amendment. It was permitted at common law. State v. Chambers, 2022 Wash. App. LEXIS 1931 (Oct. 4, 2022).
A car parked at a fuel pump at a gas station was in public for the automobile exception to apply. State v. Parker, 2022-NCCOA-655, 2022 N.C. App. LEXIS 657 (Oct. 4, 2022).*
Appellant’s license plate light was still out, and it didn’t matter that the officer could read it anyway. State v. Kay, 2022-Ohio-3538, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3346 (5th Dist. Oct. 3, 2022).*
The trial court’s order ordering return of a cell phone seized in a murder investigation was void and reversed. “‘Suppression of evidence and return of property are not the same relief.’” Defendant had not yet been indicted, so the trial court lacked jurisdiction. Mandamus granted. State v. Gault, 2022 Tex. App. LEXIS 7360 (Tex. App. – Houston (1st Dist.) Oct. 4, 2022).
Plaintiff prevails in his malicious prosecution action. Plaintiff was arrested and detained for 61 days without probable cause, which the officer later admitted was lacking. Moreover, it was clearly apparent there was no PC. Luke v. Gulley, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27631 (11th Cir. Oct. 3, 2022).*
Officers had valid arrest warrant for entering defendant’s hotel room, and a silencer was seen in plain view inside. United States v. Holton, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180386 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 3, 2022).*
ProPublica: Mississippi’s Missing Search Warrants Prevent Scrutiny of No-Knock Raids (“No-knock warrants authorize police to burst into someone’s home unannounced. Search warrants are supposed to be filed at the courthouse, but they’re missing from many of Mississippi’s justice courts.”)
Posted inKnock and announce|Comments Off on ProPublica: Mississippi’s Missing Search Warrants Prevent Scrutiny of No-Knock Raids
Because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a prison or in a cell phone in prison, a contraband cell phone can be wiretapped without a Title III warrant. United States v. Bash, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180680 (E.D. Cal. Sep. 30, 2022).
Probable cause was shown for defendant’s arrest warrant. The CI was adequately corroborated. The fact the CI wasn’t adequately searched before his interaction with defendant, that was before the jury to weigh whether the CI planted the drugs. State v. Cutlip, 2022-Ohio-3524, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3332 (7th Dist. Sep. 30, 2022).*
The search warrant for defendant’s Instagram account was based on a child’s father discovering from see it that defendant was selling tobacco to the minor. State v. Boyd, 2022-Ohio-3523 (7th Dist. Sep. 30, 2022).*
On the totality of circumstances, it was objectively reasonable for officers to believe that defendant consented to an entry and search of his house for firearms. They asked to see them, and he took the officers inside. United States v. Macon, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180399 (D. Conn. Oct. 3, 2022).*
“[T]he district court did not clearly err by finding that Pridgen abandoned the getaway vehicle and his cell phone, and, thus, the court did not err by finding that he lacked a reasonable expectation of privacy in those items when they were searched.” United States v. Pridgen, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27545 (4th Cir. Oct. 3, 2022).
“With respect to plaintiff’s claim that she was threatened with violence if she did not complete the search, the allegation that Moreland told her that other officers would be called to assist if plaintiff did not comply with the search does not render the search unreasonable or equate to a threat of physical violence. Finally, assuming Moreland did in fact comment to another officer that she did not trust plaintiff because she leaked [and peed on herself some], though embarrassing, this does not violate plaintiff’s constitutional rights.” Belyew v. Honea, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180166 (E.D. Cal. Sep. 30, 2022).*
Running an LPN on a vehicle is not a search. People v. Dicke, 2022 NY Slip Op 22306, 2022 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 5111 (Town Ct. Sep. 22, 2022).*
Police attempted a knock-and-talk at a motel, but no one opened the door. The motel owner here was watching so he opened the door on his own. He asked the officers before he did, but they said they needed a warrant or consent. This was purely private action. The officers never suggested that he open the door for them. United States v. Cordova-Espinoza, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27461 (5th Cir. Sep. 30, 2022).
Because of information from a CI, the officers had reasonable suspicion to extend the stop before it even occurred. The stop was based on a traffic offense. United States v. Robinson, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 179684 (W.D. Ark. Sep. 30, 2022).*
“Here, under Crane’s account, Crane was shot while he was held in a chokehold in a parked car while evading arrest for several confirmed misdemeanors and an unconfirmed felony parole violation. Roper was on notice that the use of deadly force is objectively reasonable except in only one circumstance, where an officer has ‘a reasonable belief that he or the public was in imminent danger.’ As previously discussed, Roper’s alleged belief that Crane had a gun was not reasonable, nor was his belief that a parked car posed a danger to himself, the passengers, or the other officers standing on the side of the car. When we accept the facts as we must, this case is an obvious one. ‘While the Fourth Amendment’s reasonableness test is ‘not capable of precise definition or mechanical application,’ the test is clear enough that Roper should have known he could not use deadly force on an unarmed man in a parked car.” Crane v. City of Arlington, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27462 (5th Cir. Sep. 30, 2022).*
Defendant’s consent to search his phone was merely acquiescing to a claim of lawful authority because it was told if he consented he could get it back faster. State v. Seem, 2022-Ohio-3507, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3314 (6th Dist. Sep. 30, 2022).
Defendant’s plain error 2255 fails. The subjective intent of the officer to stop him isn’t a factor when there was, as here, an objective cause. United States v. Ingram, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178682 (W.D. Okla. Sep. 30, 2022).*
Defendant was driving without a license, and his passenger didn’t have one either. The officer could order impoundment of the car and that means inventory. State v. Matheny, 2022-Ohio-3447, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3295 (5th Dist. Sep. 28, 2022).*
An illegal arrest alone doesn’t state a post-conviction claim in Arkansas. Braud v. State, 2022 Ark. 169, 2022 Ark. LEXIS 234 (Sep. 29, 2022).* (About Arkansas 15 cases say that.)
Plaintiff’s unarmed decedent was shot and killed by the St. Louis PD SWAT team in a no-knock drug raid of the wrong house. Plaintiff stated a claim that the affidavit for search warrant omitted critical facts that undermined probable cause. (Plaintiff also alleged some officer planted drugs to attempt to justify the search.) The warrant provided for no-knock because they all do. Plaintiff, however, stated a failure to train claim against the city because there was no justification for a no-knock with a flashbang at the time of execution. Clark v. City of St. Louis, Mo., 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178774 (E.D. Mo. Sep. 30, 2022).* (This is just a horrible case on its facts: A man asleep in his own house, unarmed, shot to death when the flashbang woke him up. They also are alleged to have knowingly let him bleed out before calling an ambulance.):
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The information in a drug search warrant was six months old. No reasonable officer would believe it showed probable cause, despite a magistrate signing off on it. It is “so lacking” in its showing that the good faith exception does not apply. United States v. Suong, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178494 (D. Mass. Sep. 30, 2022).
Being ordered out of one’s car during a traffic stop is not unreasonable. United States v. Pullen, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 178249 (E.D. Cal. Sep. 29, 2022).*
Defendants were convicted of wire fraud involving pharmaceutical returns. The search warrant here was issued in 2011 for information found on computers which the defendants already told the government it had all the pertinent records. The records sought were found on a hard drive, and the warrant was sufficiently particular. Moreover, the good faith exception applies. There was also a 2014 warrant involved in the suppression hearing, and it isn’t discussed on appeal, so it is abandoned. United States v. Fallon, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27404 (3d Cir. Sep. 30, 2022).* When the government can show a reason to go back after execution of a warrant, there’s no reason they can’t get another if they can show probable cause.
Under the inventory policy, the police had the discretion to impound vehicles with excessive window tint, even though they did not apply impoundment uniformly. State v. Hall-Johnson, 2022-Ohio-3512, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 3308 (10th Dist. Sep. 30, 2022).
An investigation is not a search, so a police department does not need to show reasonable suspicion to start an internal investigation. And, even if there was a Fourth Amendment violation in the investigation, the exclusionary rule does not apply to police discipline proceedings. Scatchell v. Bd. of Fire & Police Commissioners for Melrose Park, 2022 IL App (1st) 201361, 2022 Ill. App. LEXIS 423 (Sep. 30, 2022).
Police got a search warrant for defendant’s cell phone in a murder investigation, and they recovered a Google search request for “how do you suffocate?” “Accordingly, we reject defendant’s fourth amendment argument and conclude the officers involved in the underlying encounter did not make a show of authority which would cause a reasonable person not to feel free to leave. … In addition, because we find the reenactment was consensual at the outset and did not implicate the fourth amendment, it cannot be said defendant’s trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance for failing to raise this argument in his motion to suppress evidence.” People v. Logan, 2022 IL App (4th) 210492, 2022 Ill. App. LEXIS 424 (Sep. 30, 2022).*
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Franks claim fails for failure to show how the alleged false statements undermined the probable cause. “The defendant failed to meet his burden of controverting the warrant, as he failed to analyze, must less establish, that after the excise of allegedly offending statements in the officer’s affidavit, the remaining content was insufficient to establish probable cause.” People v. Biggs, 2022 NY Slip Op 05328, 2022 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5226 (2d Dept. Sep. 28, 2022).
The anonymous tip here wasn’t able to be corroborated in its suggestion of crime, and thus lacked reasonable suspicion. State v. Barclift, 2022 ME 50, 2022 Me. LEXIS 52 (Sep. 27, 2022).
Defendant’s stop after a “disturbance” call was with reasonable suspicion. Coleman v. State, 2022 Ind. App. LEXIS 321 (Sep. 29, 2022).*
There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop, and his failure to identify himself was probable cause of obstruction. The search incident that followed was reasonable. State v. Hargrove, 2022 La. App. LEXIS 1683 (La. App. 3 Cir. Sep. 28, 2022).*
A Gant search incident of a vehicle authorized for open containers of alcohol didn’t permit a more intense search of a plastic “otter box” finding PCP. Smith v. United States, 2022 D.C. App. LEXIS 326 (Sep. 29, 2022).
The state constitution provides more protection of individual privacy than the Fourth Amendment. The probation and parole officer’s warrantless search of his cell phone was unreasonable under the state constitution. State v. Mefford, 2022 MT 185, 2022 Mont. LEXIS 896 (Sep. 27, 2022).
The search incident of defendant went to his sock where drugs were found. His perfunctory argument doesn’t develop anything to consider. The trial court’s decision as to his statements on the street are suppressed, however. Williams v. United States, 2022 D.C. App. LEXIS 325 (Sep. 29, 2022).
The officer’s questions about travel plans were not an unreasonable extension of a traffic stop. United States v. Turner, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27280 (11th Cir. Sep. 29, 2022).
Officers approaching defendant’s car where he was asleep was not a seizure until he was actually seized. Drugs were inside the car in plain view. United States v. Roberson, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175905 (N.D. Ind. Sep. 28, 2022).*
This 2255 has an ineffective assistance of counsel claim for failure to effectively litigate a Playpen warrant that would have never succeeded anyway. Relief denied. Barnes v. United States, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176400 (M.D. Fla. Sep. 28, 2022).*
“Here, even after accepting the trial court’s factual findings as we must do since they are supported by some evidence, we conclude that Hall lacked reasonable suspicion as a matter of law pursuant to de novo review.” As to consent, “do you mind if I search you” responding “I do, but …” was not consent. The trial court’s findings have less deference because it’s based on a video of the stop. State v. Frasier, 2022 S.C. LEXIS 138 (Sep. 28, 2022):
Posted inConsent, Reasonable suspicion, Standards of review|Comments Off on SC: Request for consent with “do you mind” met with “I do but …” not voluntary. Also no RS for continuing stop.
Defendant was driving a white Corvette and he allegedly was involved in a road rage incident with occupants of a landscaping truck where he flashed a gun. An APB was put out for him, and he was stopped the next day. There was probable cause for a search incident for the firearm. United States v. Mulkern, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27031 (1st Cir. Sep. 27, 2022).
The City of Chicago’s policy that property brought to book-in at the jail has to be reclaimed within 30 days or it is treated as abandoned satisfies the due process clause. Kelley-Lomax v. City of Chicago, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 27190 (7th Cir. Sep. 28, 2022).
Defendant’s request to file an out of time objection to the R&R is denied. He can’t win anyway. United States v. Bradley, No. 18-03073-03-CR-S-BP, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174574 (W.D. Mo. Sep. 27, 2022).*
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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, 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.
