Citizen informant’s call to the police about erratic driving was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop when the car was found. State v. Tidey, 2011-NMCA-068, 2017 N.M. App. LEXIS 103 (Oct. 17, 2017).
The stop was justified by a lane change violation. Reasonable suspicion comes from: “(1) the Honda Odyssey minivan had dark window tint, which is common on vehicles used to transport illegal contraband; (2) the van was travelling on Interstate 80, which is a known major drug corridor; (3) two other SHIELD members conducted stops on Honda Odyssey vans that contained a hidden trap in the rear bumper; (4) Meran said the van belonged to his friend Angel, but he did not know Angel’s last name; (5) the van was registered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Angel Rameu, not Meran, who possessed a New York driver’s license; (6) Philadelphia and New York are major source and consumption areas for drugs; (7) there was a single key in the ignition, which often signifies a third-party vehicle used by individuals who smuggle contraband; (8) there was an energy drink in the van, which often indicates the occupants are attempting to travel a long distance in a short period of time; and (9) there were air fresheners in the van, which are often used to mask the odor of narcotics.” United States v. Meran, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174849 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 23, 2017).*
Posted inInformant hearsay, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on NM: Citizen informant’s call about erratic driving was RS for stop when the vehicle was found
Courts have long made it clear that agents can search the bags of people entering the country. For the past decade or so, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has applied that logic to digital devices. NACDL members are uniquely exposed to abuse in this context: digital devices store materials and information subject to the attorney-client privilege and attorney work-product doctrine, as well as information on overseas clients and witnesses, and other extremely sensitive materials that could be covered by Rule 1.6 of the Model Rules of Professional Responsibility.
Newly-minted FBI Director Christopher Wray threw out several justifications for the continued, warrantless government search of American communications. He’s wrong on all accounts.
Posted inFISA|Comments Off on EFF: FBI Director Wray is Wrong About Section 702 Surveillance
In his Cyber Crime column, Peter A. Crusco addresses the particularity requirement as it relates to digital evidence seized by search warrant, reviews some of the recent cases, and highlights possible trends.
Posted inCell site location information|Comments Off on Forbes: Is Warrantless Access To Cell Site Info A Fourth Amendment Violation? A Primer On Carpenter v. US
Driving back to one’s house after a drug sale establishes nexus to the house. United States v. Rich, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173634 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 20, 2017).
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not moving to suppress defendant’s stop which was clearly reasonable for not having headlights on at night. State v. Menchu, 2017-Ohio-8252, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4624 (2d Dist. Oct. 20, 2017).*
Posted inNexus|Comments Off on E.D.Mich.: Def driving back to his house after a drug sale establishes nexus to the house
Defendant’s car was going to be subjected to a dog sniff, and the handler wanted him out. The first officer directed defendant out of the car, which is reasonable in any traffic stop. At that point, a gun could be seen. State v. Benjamin, 2017 Fla. App. LEXIS 14900 (Fla. 5th DCA Oct. 20, 2017).
Posted inDog sniff|Comments Off on FL5: Driver can be ordered out of car for dog sniff
The officers here had reasonable suspicion to detain defendant’s express mail parcel. United States v. Zirkle, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173863 (S.D. W.Va. Oct. 20, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inMail and packages|Comments Off on S.D.W.Va.: Govt established RS to detain def’s express mail package
The seizure of defendant’s backpack for 20 days without seeking a search warrant was unreasonable. It infringed on defendant’s possessory interest, even though he did not seek return of the backpack. United States v. Uu, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170636 (D. Haw. Oct. 16, 2017).
Officers had reasonable suspicion to continue the stop when defendant gave curious answers to questions. He said he just left a bar that the officers knew was closed and that he was driving between two towns but was 100 miles out of his way. He also had no license plate and was in an area known for smuggling. United States v. Milne, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171533 (D. N.M. Oct. 16, 2017).*
“One of the findings could be based only on testimony from the officer: ‘Although [defendant’s girlfriend] had not expressly stated that [the officer] could come into the house, he interpreted her action as inviting him in.’ There is no testimony from either witness that supports the last phrase of this finding — that the officer interpreted the girlfriend’s action as an invitation to enter. The finding is clearly erroneous.” State v. Allis, 2017 VT 96, 2017 Vt. LEXIS 118 (Oct. 13, 2017).
Defendant’s stop was based on reasonable suspicion, and defendant’s argument seeks to impose a definition of reasonable suspicion that’s not the law in the Eighth Circuit. United States v. Schwarting, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170633 (D. S.D. Oct. 16, 2017).*
Posted inReasonable suspicion, Standards of review|Comments Off on VT: Where no testimony supports the trial court’s finding of fact, the finding is clearly erroneous
The showing of probable cause for defendant’s blood testing specified alcohol, but the warrant actually said alcohol or drugs could be tested for. This was not unreasonable considering defendant’s driving which was a part of the probable cause. Roberts v. State, 2017 Miss. App. LEXIS 610 (Oct. 17, 2017).
An officer on patrol saw a group of young men in Crips territory and a high crime area and recognized defendant as a member of the gang. He saw defendant walk behind a car and heard the sound of what he concluded was the dropping of a gun. That was reasonable suspicion to inquire further. United States v. Polite, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 173242 (D. Neb. Sept. 20, 2017).*
Posted inOverbreadth, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on MS: SW request was for blood alcohol but SW said drugs too; warrant not unreasonable or overbroad
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in a contraband cell phone found in a jail. Riley provides no protection in a jail cell phone. State v. Kisack, 2017 La. LEXIS 2314 (Oct. 18, 2017).
A traffic stop was based on probable cause of a traffic offense, and then the officer smelled marijuana which gave probable cause to search the vehicle. Martin v. State, 2017 Miss. LEXIS 424 (Oct. 19, 2017).*
Officers had probable cause for a search of defendant’s vehicle based on observations of a controlled buy and detailed information from a CI. United States v. Morales, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 172935 (D. S.D. Oct. 19, 2017).*
Posted inCell phones|Comments Off on LA: No REP in a contraband cell phone found in a jail
Pinging defendant’s cell phone to locate him after an arrest warrant issued didn’t implicate the Fourth Amendment. There was also exigency from fear for safety of the CI and of destruction of evidence. United States v. Sauceda, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170747 (D. S.D. Sept. 27, 2017).
Defendant’s IAC claim for not challenging a search fails simply because he stated at his guilty plea that he was satisfied with his defense counsel’s advice. Britain v. State, 2017 Miss. App. LEXIS 602 (Oct. 17, 2017).*
Execution of a search warrant might be excluded from insurance coverage on a home under the “civil authority” exclusion under the policy, but here the search was based on the suspect’s flight into the house while wanted for a violent crime. Officers used 15 tear and pepper gas canisters fired through windows that caused more damage than the house was worth. This police action did not require a warrant and wasn’t action under “civil authority” under the policy exclusion. Allen v. Marysville Mut. Ins. Co., 2017 Kan. App. LEXIS 76 (Oct. 20, 2017).
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on KS: Warrantless teargassing of house wasn’t under the “civil authority” exclusion under the insurance policy for the damage
The warrantless search of defendant’s apartment, his person, and his cell phone was justified by exigent circumstances under the Fourth Amendment because the still-missing kidnapping victim’s life was in danger. The police reasonably believed that his phone had been used in the kidnapping operation. State v. Buck, 2017-Ohio-8242, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4619 (1st Dist. Oct. 20, 2017).
A truck with about 50-60 undocumented persons getting out of it was seen in a parking lot in Albuquerque but police were only able to round up about 15 of them. They were disoriented and didn’t know where they were. It was obvious they were treated as cargo in the back of the truck. Defendant was connected to the truck. A protective sweep of his house was reasonable. That resulted in a valid search warrant. United States v. Mora, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171532 (D. N.M. Oct. 17, 2017).*
Posted inCell phones, Emergency / exigency, Protective sweep|Comments Off on OH1: Warrantless search of def’s cell phone in kidnapping investigation was reasonable and justified by exigency
The court finds the defendant spoke English well enough to understand what the officer was saying to him and thus consented to a search of his hotel room. State v. Guerrero-Sanchez, 2017-Ohio-8185, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4548 (2d Dist. Oct. 13, 2017).*
Plaintiff was allegedly subjected to an unreasonable body cavity search at defendant hospital. The claim was filed one month past the expiration of the statute of limitations. He also failed to respond to any motions to dismiss or summary judgment. Mitchell v. Holzer Med. Ctr., 2017-Ohio-8244, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4617 (4th Dist. Sept. 27, 2017).*
Posted inBody searches, Consent|Comments Off on OH2: Def spoke English well enough to consent
While there were a lot of police officers present, defendant doesn’t show that his consent was the product of coercion. It was voluntary. United States v. Long, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171660 (E.D. Mo. Aug. 4, 2017),* adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171138 (E.D. Mo. Oct. 17, 2017).*
Another Playpen warrant sustained. United States v. Grisanti, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171373 (S.D. Ind. Oct. 17, 2017).*
Being a passenger in a stolen car was reasonable suspicion where the driver made furtive movements, the car was in a high crime area and outside a drug house, and one of the occupants of the car fled. State v. Lipsinic, 2017-Ohio-8187, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 4552 (2d Dist. Oct. 13, 2017).*
Posted inConsent, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on E.D.Mo.: Just being around a lot of cops isn’t coercion per se; still found voluntary
The affidavit for the child pornography search warrant here was issued at least with a reasonable belief in probable cause under the third Leon test. [The court should have just found probable cause because it certainly looks like there is a reasonable belief there is probable cause, and that’s the standard of review. Here, they blend together.] United States v. Sustaita, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171728 (S.D. Tex. Oct. 17, 2017).
Las Vegas officers did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they entered plaintiff’s house in response to an ongoing domestic battery call. Jeffries v. Las Vegas Metro. Police Dep’t, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 20307 (9th Cir. Oct. 17, 2017).*
"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.
