Since the facts are undisputed, the court does de novo review and finds that defendant consented to the breath test and reverses. State v. Jacobs, 2017 Ga. App. LEXIS 361 (Aug. 2, 2017).
“Counsel was not ineffective in failing to move to suppress the evidence referenced in Levy’s motion because any suppression motion would have been meritless.” United States v. Levy, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118083 (S.D. N.Y. July 25, 2017).*
Police showed probable cause for a DNA search warrant in an effort to connect defendant to an armed robbery. The warrant had a nighttime search clause. Since this all happened during daylight hours, any issues with the nighttime clause are moot. United States v. Mendoza, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119718 (D. Nev. May 10, 2017), adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 119399 (D. Nev. July 28, 2017).
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“The very Fourth Amendment issues now raised by Berger in this § 2255 proceeding were raised and decided adversely to him on direct appeal. … He may not do so again now.” United States v. Berger, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 120709 (W.D. Ark. June 12, 2017). Accord: Harvey v. United States, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189561 (S.D. Fla. June 17, 2015) (heavily litigated in district court).
The stop was based on reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation, and then the officer encountered the overwhelming smell of marijuana. That was probable cause. United States v. Zamora, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117896 (D. Nev. June 16, 2017),* adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116846 (D. Nev. July 26, 2017).*
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Posted inThird Party Doctrine|Comments Off on ACLU: A Federal Court Says Your Prescription Records Aren’t Really Private. The Supreme Court Might Have Something to Say About That.
Plaintiffs were involved in a domestic dispute outside their trailer that had started to cool down, or so they said. One wanted to go into the house to retrieve shoes, but the officer insisted on following to be sure there were no weapons. There was resistance to the police entry that resulted in one plaintiff being injured and suing. The case was dismissed on qualified immunity for lack of clearly established law that even minimal force can be used to resist an alleged unlawful search. Starrett v. City of Lander, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13935 (10th Cir. Aug. 1, 2017): Continue reading →
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Officers had reasonable suspicion when they confronted defendant on the parking lot of a club where there had been many crimes in the past. His delay for 15 seconds in raising his hands justified drawing their weapons. United States v. Daughtridge, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116015 (E.D. N.C. May 3, 2017), adopted, United States v. Daughtridge, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115450 (E.D.N.C. July 25, 2017).
When there are two taillights on one side of the car, one bulb being out can support a stop for defective equipment under state law. State v. Farish, 2017 N.M. App. LEXIS 61 (July 31, 2017) [Heien all over again.]
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on E.D.N.C.: 15 second delay in raising hands when told to is RS
“At issue in this case is whether a court may require a probationer convicted of driving under the influence (DUI) to submit to random urinalysis testing (UAs) for controlled substances. In particular, this issue centers on whether this testing violates DUI probationers’ privacy interests under article I, section 7 of our state constitution. Random UAs do implicate a probationer’s reduced privacy interests. But here, where urinalysis was authorized to monitor compliance with a valid probation condition requiring Olsen to refrain from drug and alcohol consumption, the testing does not violate article I, section 7. Accordingly, we affirm the Court of Appeals.” State v. Olsen, 2017 Wash. LEXIS 828 (Aug. 3, 2017).
Officers were attracted to a group of youths in an area known for potential gang violence. They approached them and informed defendant that he smelled of marijuana and searched him. Because smelling of marijuana isn’t a crime and possession of less than an ounce is an infraction, there was no offense for a search incident. In re D.W., 2017 Cal. App. LEXIS 670 (1st Dist. July 6, 2017), published Aug. 2, 2017).
Posted inSearch incident|Comments Off on Cal.1st: Smell of MJ on the person is at worst indicative of an infraction and it can’t justify a search incident
The juvenile in this case was in a Kroger parking lot late one Sunday morning asking to use cell phones. The police were called, and he was found with two backpacks and the police suspected he was a runaway. A patdown was not shown by the state to be objectively for officer safety. K.G. v. State, 2017 Ind. App. LEXIS 317 (July 31, 2017).
There was probable cause for issuance of the search warrant here independent of the protective sweep defendant alleges was unreasonable. Brown v. Commonwealth, 2017 Va. App. LEXIS 184 (Aug. 1, 2017).*
“Here, the Court finds that Officer Kunz had reasonable suspicion to believe that Defendant was armed and presently dangerous, such that his patdown of Defendant was lawful. The stop occurred at night, when it was dark outside. After the vehicle was stopped, Officer Kunz approached the passenger side and attempted to speak with Defendant. Defendant refused to even look at him, instead staring straight forward and refusing to acknowledge the officer’s questions. Additionally, Defendant appeared nervous, as his hands were shaking. When Officer Kunz asked Defendant to walk toward his vehicle, he specifically told Defendant to keep his hands visible and not reach for his pockets. Despite those clear instructions, Defendant reached for his front pockets on three separate occasions for an object that was not visible, causing Officer Kunz to fear for officer safety.” United States v. Vargas, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116019 (D. Nev. March 3, 2017), adopted, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115139 (D. Nev. July 24, 2017).
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on D.Nev.: Passenger’s refusal to answer basic questions and ignoring officer during routine traffic stop justified patdown
Defendant was de facto arrested when he was taken in handcuffs from the place of his seizure to a police station and placed in a holding cell for interrogation. United States v. Wrensford, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13894 (3d Cir. July 31, 2017).
“Based on a review of the record, the trial court could reasonably determine that Officer Rodriguez diligently pursued a means to confirm or dispel his suspicions and the detention was not so long as to become constitutionally prohibited,” and that defendant consented to a search of his wallet for an ID card that proved to be false. Alfaro-Jimenez v. State, 2017 Tex. App. LEXIS 7225 (Tex. App. – San Antonio Aug. 2, 2017).*
A nine hour old report of a man claiming suicidal ideations was no longer an emergency when the police got it. It was also vague and uncorroborated. “Every emergency ends at some point.” And this one did before the entry. State v. Hyde, 2017 ND 186, 2017 N.D. LEXIS 195 (July 31, 2017): Continue reading →
Posted inEmergency / exigency|Comments Off on ND: 9 hour old call about a suicidal man was no longer emergency; “Every emergency ends at some point.”
Posted inCell site location information, SCOTUS, Third Party Doctrine|Comments Off on SCOTUSBlog: Symposium: Justices poised to consider, or reconsider, Fourth Amendment doctrines as they assess the scope of privacy in a digital age
Posted inArrest or entry on arrest|Comments Off on SMU Law Review: Reaching Across the Threshold of the Fourth Amendment — Why Payton v. New York Should be Interpreted Broadly
"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.