Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is concerned his peers will attempt to reauthorize and possibly even expand the federal government’s surveillance powers without any public debate at all.
Posted inFISA|Comments Off on Reason: Rand Paul Worries Whether Surveillance Reform Will Even Be Debated in Senate
Amazon is preparing to offer a new level of delivery service that would allow delivery persons to gain access to your house so they can leave packages inside: Continue reading →
Posted inSurveillance technology|Comments Off on Outside the Beltway: Amazon Would Like The Key To Your House
The probation search of defendant’s house was valid. The probation officer was acting on a tip that defendant had a meth lab in the house. Task force officers aided in the search. No meth lab was found, so the PO requested a task force officer to search a dresser and drugs were found. The probation search was valid. State v. Muhlenkamp, 2017-Ohio-8269, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4654 (3d Dist. Oct. 23, 2017).
There is no Miranda requirement before a consent search is sought of a person not in custody. State v. Casteel, 2017-Ohio-8303, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4678 (4th Dist. Oct. 18, 2017).
Posted inConsent, Probation / Parole search|Comments Off on OH3: PO officer asking LEO to assist in probation search didn’t make it unreasonable
Defendant had standing to challenge GPS tracking of a car he was loaned by the owner. The search wasn’t a pretext from inventory: there was probable cause for the automobile exception. “A warrantless search can occur even after the automobile is impounded if probable cause and exigent circumstances existed at the time the automobile was seized. Acevedo, 500 U.S. at 570 (citing Chambers, 399 U.S. at 51-52).” United States v. Cabrera, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176982 (D. Nev. Oct. 23, 2017).
Posted inStanding|Comments Off on D.Nev.: Def had standing in a car he was loaned
Calling for a drug dog during processing the paperwork of a traffic stop that produced a dog sniff before the stop was over was reasonable. United States v. Harry, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174689 (N.D. Iowa Oct. 23, 2017), adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187613 (N.D. Iowa Nov. 14, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inDog sniff, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on N.D.Iowa: Calling for drug dog whose sniff didn’t extend stop at all was reasonable
The officer’s belief that driving too long in the left lane of a divided highway was a traffic violation wasn’t reasonable because nothing in the statute allows that construction. Therefore, the stop was invalid. United States v. Buruato, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177043 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 25, 2017).
Plaintiff’s third suit against officers for arresting him for evasion when he refused to submit to a search warrant for DNA was barred by res judicata from losing the first two. Sweat v. Rickards, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 20767 (10th Cir. Oct. 23, 2017).*
Posted in§ 1983 / Bivens, Reasonableness|Comments Off on S.D.Tex.: Officer’s belief that driver couldn’t stay in the passing lane wasn’t reasonable mistake
Officers believed defendant was involved in a robbery and shot himself. At the ER, defendant lied and gave a false name because he was on probation with a search condition. Defendant’s lie about his identity is an estoppel. He was on probation, he lied about it, and any illegal search he claims wasn’t if the officer knew the truth. People v. Mathews, 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 932 (1st Dist. Oct. 25, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inProbation / Parole search|Comments Off on Cal.1: Def’s lie about his identity to avoid probation search estopped his 4A argument; search valid even if officer didn’t know about probation
Defendant’s window tint was the basis for a stop at night, and the officer got only a “split second” look at the car but couldn’t see inside. That’s at least reasonable suspicion. [Yes, it’s possible.] United States v. Bogan, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175005 (E.D. Wis. Oct. 23, 2017),* R&R 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175916 (E.D. Wis. Sept. 26, 2017).*
Just reading the affidavit for the search warrant, which is all the parties request and all the court is supposed to do, the count finds sufficient indicia of probable cause for the warrant to issue. United States v. Deluna, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175718 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 24, 2017).*
Failure to knock-and-announce was not a Fourth Amendment violation, and defendant gave no justification for extending the state constitution. State v. Robinson, 2017-Ohio-8274, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4658 (4th Dist. Sept. 27, 2017).
Defendant waived his knock-and-announce claim by not getting a ruling on it from the trial court. State v. Robinson, 2017-Ohio-8273, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4659 (4th Dist. Sept. 28, 2017).
Posted inKnock and announce, State constitution|Comments Off on OH4: Knock-and-announce is not a 4A exclusion issue, and no justification shown for state const. to have different result
Seeing defendant in the house of another was justification for entry into the home to arrest him on a warrant under Steagald. United States v. Terrell, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175483 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 24, 2017).
Defendant was stopped for erratic driving and was apparently under the influence. The officer could smell the faint odor of marijuana. That justified a search of the vehicle under the automobile exception. State v. Donovan, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 1096 (Oct. 24, 2017).*
Defendant was a probation absconder, and he did not have standing to contest a search of another probationer’s camper. Even if defendant did have standing, the probation officers substantially complied with departmental guidelines. Defendant’s presence as an absconder from probation attempting to evade police by hiding in the bathroom of a camper was an exigent circumstance. Thus, an arrest checklist for defendant was not required by departmental guidelines and the arrest did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Aiken v. State, 2017 Del. LEXIS 439 (Oct. 23, 2017).
“On appeal, petitioner argues that the stop was illegal because the deputy lacked a reasonable articulable suspicion to initiate the traffic stop. However, this argument simply ignores the evidence below. It is clear from the record below that the deputy did not initially make a traffic stop of petitioner’s vehicle, given that the vehicle in question was already stopped along the side of the road.” A search warrant issued for the vehicle after that. State v. DeFrietas, 2017 W. Va. LEXIS 802 (Oct. 23, 2017) (memorandum).*
Defendant’s arrest at his threshold when he answered his door was valid. The court declines to overturn its “longstanding rule.” People v. Garvin, 2017 NY Slip Op 07382, 2017 N.Y. LEXIS 3201 (Oct. 24, 2017).
There was reasonable suspicion defendant had threatened somebody and had gang affiliation based on his Facebook posts, so his stop was justified. Nothing developed thereafter, however, to justify a search of his person, so that is suppressed. United States v. Jordan, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 176115 (W.D. N.Y. July 14, 2017),* adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175682 (W.D. N.Y. Oct. 24, 2017).*
Search incident of a bag associated with defendant was valid here because defendant wasn’t handcuffed and inside a patrol car. Instead, he was handcuffed and outside the patrol car, and, of course, that’s a big difference. State v. Hughes, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 1091 (Oct. 24, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inSearch incident|Comments Off on MO: SI of bag with def was valid because, although handcuffed, he wasn’t yet in the patrol car
As Congress considers reforming Section 702, the NSA’s warrantless surveillance authority, EFF and ACLU are asking a federal court of appeals in New York to find this surveillance unconstitutional. Section 702 allows the government to collect billions of electronic communications—including those of Americans—and to use these communications in criminal investigations, all without a warrant. Our amicus brief in United States v. Hasbajrami argues that this practice represents an end run around the Fourth Amendment, which protects the privacy of e-mail and other electronic communications.
Posted inFISA|Comments Off on EFF: EFF and ACLU Ask Appeals Court to Find Section 702 Surveillance Unconstitutional
The state showed nexus to defendant’s laptop and the victim’s murder. Defendant had forged documents on a computer before, and it was reasonable to conclude that similar events happened here by defendant’s hand. Defendant was well experienced in using computers because he had a web design business. The particularity requirement is also satisfied. “Nor does the absence of search protocols mean the warrant lacked particularity for purposes of the Fourth Amendment and art. 14. This court has specifically declined to require search protocols in the past. McDermott, 448 Mass. at 776 (‘Advance approval for the particular methods to be used in the forensic examination of the computers and disks is not necessary’).” And this search warrant was issued eleven years ago. Finally, the warrant was executed reasonably. Commonwealth v. Keown, 2017 Mass. LEXIS 769 (Oct. 23, 2017).
Posted inComputer and cloud searches, Nexus|Comments Off on MA: Nexus shown between murder and def’s computer having relevant evidence on it
Plaintiff has the burden of pleading well established law was violated by defendants’ conduct. Here, the law was “murky” on whether the actions of the plaintiff was probable cause. Thus, the officers get qualified immunity. Burgan v. Nixon, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 20683 (9th Cir. Oct. 20, 2017).
“Because the suppression court concluded that Kurtz consented to the blood draw after being informed that he faced enhanced criminal penalties for refusal, the court did not err in finding that his consent was involuntary under the circumstances. See Ennels, 167 A.3d at 724.” Commonwealth v. Kurtz, 2017 PA Super 336, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 845 (Oct. 23, 2017).*
The triggering condition for the anticipatory search warrant was provided for in the warrant, but that’s not constitutionally required. It did not matter that defendant was a guest in the premises. There was a fair probability that the triggering conditions would exist and they were not speculative. Also, the good faith exception applies. State v. Maniaci, 2017-Ohio-8270, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4655 (3d Dist. Oct. 23, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inAnticipatory warrant|Comments Off on OH3: It’s not constitutionally required that the triggering condition of an anticipatory SW be stated
"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.