The military search of defendant’s electronic devices was reasonable and done under a valid search authorization. The fact they were in his room did not prohibit entry to retrieve them. United States v. Basey, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70988 (D. Alaska Apr. 13, 2021).
“As to Mr. Taylor’s Fourth Amendment claim, the jurisdiction of the Claims Court ‘is limited to cases in which the Constitution or a federal statute requires the payment of money damages as compensation for their violation.’ Brown v. United States, 105 F.3d 621, 623 (Fed. Cir. 1997) (emphasis added). Because ‘the Fourth Amendment does not mandate the payment of money for its violation,’ the Claims Court does not have jurisdiction over Fourth Amendment claims. Id.” Taylor v. United States, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10504 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 13, 2021).
Posted inMilitary searches|Comments Off on D.Alaska: Military authorized seizure of electronic devices valid despite entry into room
A 27 month delay in getting a search warrant for defendant’s cell phone was unreasonable, and the good faith exception is not applied. United States v. Tu Anh Nguyen, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70671 (N.D. Iowa Mar. 16, 2021):
The Detroit News: Lawsuit: Man suffered ‘great harm’ after wrongful arrest based on Detroit’s facial recognition technology by George Hunter (“Attorneys representing a Farmington Hills man filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday seeking undisclosed damages from the city, its police chief and a Detroit police detective for ‘the grave harm caused by the misuse of, and reliance upon, facial recognition technology.’”). Predication? Dismissed: Qualified immunity for lack of clearly established law. Regretfully.
Posted inSurveillance technology|Comments Off on The Detroit News: Lawsuit: Man suffered ‘great harm’ after wrongful arrest based on Detroit’s facial recognition technology
Stopping defendant, the officer walked up and shined his flashlight on the backseat of the car seeing two guns. That was not an unreasonable search, and on the totality there was otherwise reasonable suspicion. United States v. Spruell, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69789 (E.D. Pa. Apr. 12, 2021).*
“[T]he Fourth Amendment was not implicated during Cloud’s encounter with police on April 7, because he never acquiesced (passively or otherwise) to a show of authority. Further, even assuming that Cloud acquiesced to a show of authority, there was a reasonable articulable suspicion to support the seizure in order to investigate who owned the firearm that Officer Jenkins observed.” United States v. Cloud, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10379 (4th Cir. Apr. 12, 2021).*
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on E.D.Pa.: Use of flashlight on backseat of car at night not a search
Defendant’s RV was stopped for crossing the center line, and a drug dog was called within two minutes, arriving shortly thereafter. Waiting for and using the dog did not delay the stop, and the Fourth Amendment was not violated. State v. Turpin, 2021-Ohio-1251, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1241 (5th Dist. Apr. 9, 2021).
“Although the Court agrees that the Fourth Amendment does not permit officers to prolong a traffic stop in order to establish reasonable suspicion to conduct a dog sniff, here, the Court finds the officers had reasonable suspicion to conduct the dog sniff from the outset based upon their months-long investigation of Tuschoff and could prolong the traffic stop if required.” United States v. Mahan, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69690 (D. Idaho Apr. 9, 2021).*
Posted inDog sniff, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on OH5: Dog was called two minutes into stop of RV and it didn’t prolong the stop
A non-citizen on an unflagged boat at sea off Florida had no protection of the Fourth Amendment from a Coast Guard stop. In addition, the stop was based on reasonable suspicion merely from observation. United States v. Perez, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69761 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 12, 2021):
Where there is reasonable suspicion to pull over and keep a driver detained, the officer need not rule out innocent explanations for defendant’s conduct. United States v. Smith, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69687 (E.D. N.C. Mar. 17, 2021):
Officers with an emergency order of protection used it to enter defendant’s house and seize firearms. The protections of the Fourth Amendment and the state constitution are greater. The order was not, then, the functional equivalent of a warrant, and the seizure of the marijuana in his criminal case should have been suppressed. State v. Snyder, 2021 W. Va. LEXIS 154 (Apr. 8, 2021).
Defendant’s swerving to avoid a temporary patch in the road was still reasonable suspicion for a stop under the court’s reading of the state traffic code. Alternatively, there was probable cause for the stop and search under the automobile exception. United States v. Garcia, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10264 (4th Cir. Apr. 9, 2021).*
Officers had probable cause by collective knowledge for the automobile exception for searching defendant’s vehicle. United States v. Lopez, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69589 (N.D. Tex. Apr. 9, 2021).*
Defendant was stopped for riding a bicycle with no helmet. The single question about possessing firearms didn’t unreasonably extend the stop. “Because the question asked here, whether Defendant had any firearms, is perhaps the most basic of inquiries related to officer safety, I find that it was related to the mission of the stop itself and does not violate the Fourth Amendment. See Rodriguez, 575 U.S. at 355.” United States v. Racer, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69427 (S.D. W.Va. Apr. 9, 2021).
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not adequately challenging the search warrant for defendant’s computers based on a Yahoo! and NCMEC report that provided probable cause. Phillips v. United States, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69021 (M.D. Fla. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Collective knowledge provided probable cause for search of defendant’s vehicle. United States v. Leon, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10275 (5th Cir. Apr. 9, 2021).*
Defendant’s swerving in his lane was reasonable suspicion for a stop. United States v. Smith, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69687 (E.D. N.C. Mar. 7, 2021).*
Posted inCollective knowledge, Reasonableness|Comments Off on S.D.W.Va.: Single question about possession of firearm reasonable under Rodriguez
A prosecutor’s false presentation of evidence for a search warrant is entitled to immunity. Here, plaintiff doesn’t even say what the false evidence is. Captain Jack’s Crab Shack, Inc. v. Cooke, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69196 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 8, 2021):
The defendant officer’s use of deadly force against the armed plaintiff who fired a gun into the air around many people apparently to attempt to break up a scuffle led to him getting shot multiple times in seconds. Someone else picked up the gun and aimed it at the officer who used plaintiff as a human shield until the situation de-escalated. This wasn’t in violation of clearly established law. Lopez v. Sheriff of Cook Cty., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10259 (7th Cir. Apr. 9, 2021)*:
Posted inExcessive force, Qualified immunity|Comments Off on CA7: Shooting ptf after firing a gun in the air around a crowd of people still entitled to qualified immunity
Even without an adequate showing of nexus, search warrants have been sustained under the good faith exception. This is one of those cases where the inference is close enough. United States v. Mayweather, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10208 (8th Cir. Apr. 8, 2021):
The officer’s stop of defendant for not having a license on his bike per local ordinance was reasonable. Defendant’s flight justified his detention and seizure of his backpack. CoA denied. Thomas v. Sec’y, Dep’t of Corr., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10191 (11th Cir. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Defendant was in the hospital and his encounter with the officers was consensual and he consented to a search of his person. State v. Penwell, 2021-Ohio-1216, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1202 (2d Dist. Apr. 9, 2021).*
The search warrant for plaintiff’s business was based on probable cause that it was being used for some people to live in in violation of the certificate of occupancy. The arrest of an individual for violation of the city ordinance was with probable cause. TRO denied. RCI Entm’t (San Antonio), Inc. v. City of San Antonio, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68799 (W.D. Tex. Apr. 9, 2021).*
Posted inReasonable suspicion, Reasonableness|Comments Off on CA11: Stop for not having license on bicycle in violation of city code was reasonable
Posts to a “secret” Facebook group weren’t protected by any reasonable privacy interest in civil litigation. Social media isn’t protected by any privacy interest. “Defendant does not cite, and the Court could not find, any case that extends the Fourth Amendment to limit discovery among private parties in civil cases on the basis of a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy.’” Mazzara v. Provencher (In re Provencher), 2021 Bankr. LEXIS 934 (W.D. Tex. Bankr. Apr. 7, 2021).
Plaintiff’s § 1983 claim that he was unnecessarily punched during execution of a search warrant and then fell out of second story window overcame the officer’s claim of qualified immunity. Peroza-Benitez v. Smith, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10126 (3d Cir. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Defendant’s encounter with police on Amtrak was consensual. United States v. Thompson, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68526 (W.D. Mo. Mar. 9, 2021).*
The reach into defendant’s car was a search, but it was justified by the automobile exception. United States v. Joyner, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68324 (E.D. N.C. Mar. 15, 2021).
Defendant’s stop wasn’t unreasonably extended. “Although Officer Hambrock walked back and forth between the cruiser and Eggleston’s vehicle several times, there is no evidence to suggest that Officer Hambrock prolonged the traffic stop beyond what was necessary for an ordinary traffic stop. Rather, Officer Hambrock was in the process of conducting ‘ordinary inquiries incident to the traffic stop’ — such as verifying identification information and completing paperwork for the misdemeanor traffic violations — when he smelled the marijuana.” United States v. Eggleston, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68222 (W.D. Tenn. Feb. 12, 2021).*
Defendant’s challenge that he alleges a lack of probable cause for the search warrant here fails. “The Court finds that the affidavit in support of the search warrant for the Residence provided the magistrate judge who signed the warrant with a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause was established for the search.” United States v. Flores, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68240 (N.D. Ga. Apr. 8, 2021).*
The defendant has the burden of showing standing, if raised, but he doesn’t have to testify to do it. The affidavit for the warrant here said the place to be searched was defendant’s and that’s enough. Other cases in this district support that conclusion (noted below) . United States v. Wilburn, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68256 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 8, 2021) (see Treatise § 4.03 n.15). On the government’s inconsistent positions:
Posted inBurden of proof, Standing|Comments Off on W.D.Pa.: Def can show standing from govt’s papers, including affidavit for SW, and its case at suppression hearing
The protective sweep of defendant’s motel room was reasonable, and it was also justified by a search waiver. There was a woman in the room who was not the defendant they were looking for. United States v. Banegas, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68104 (N.D. Okla. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Defendant wasn’t entitled to a warning of the right to refuse consent. Still, on the totality, he consented to a stop, conversation, and then search of his bag after being spotted on an Amtrak train. He drew attention because his bag was under his feet instead of overhead. United States v. Thompson, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68123 (W.D. Mo. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Defendant didn’t raise application of the exclusionary rule below to his violation of supervised release, so it’s waived. And, even if raised, it doesn’t apply there. United States v. Smalley, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10109 (8th Cir. Apr. 8, 2021).*
Posted inConsent, Protective sweep, Waiver|Comments Off on N.D.Okla.: Not readily finding def in his motel room justified its protective sweep
Police received a CI’s tip defendant had a gun. The tip alone lacked reliability until the officer saw defendant discard it. “Notably, the reasonable suspicion standard does not present the most demanding hurdle to overcome. See Kansas v. Glover, 140 S.Ct. 1183, 1188 (2020) (‘The reasonable suspicion inquiry falls considerably short of 51% accuracy, for, as we have explained, [t]o be reasonable is not to be perfect[.]’) (internal citations and quotations omitted).” It’s way less than probable cause. United States v. Williams, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 67564 (W.D. Tenn. Apr. 7, 2021).*
Police officers pulled up and stopped where defendant was standing, and he fled. He had not been seized when he fled. United States v. Brown, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10095 (11th Cir. Apr. 8, 2021).*
There was probable cause and nexus for the search warrant for defendant’s house. While some of the three year old information was old intel, the new information made it current enough. United States v. Robles, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10103 (3d Cir. Apr. 8, 2021).*
The officer arrested defendant for a completed misdemeanor of stealing a cell phone not occurring in his presence. The manager of the place where it happened wanted defendant arrested. The officer and the manager never informed defendant this was a citizen’s arrest under Idaho law, a required step. The search incident to the citizen’s arrest produced evidence for trial. Failing to comply with the citizen’s arrest statute, however, does not warrant suppression of evidence because the court does not find violation of the statute is a state or federal constitutional violation. The arrest would be valid at common law. State v. Sutterfield, 2021 Ida. LEXIS 62 (Apr. 8, 2021):
"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.
