An Iowa State University police officer ran car tags because the car was driving unusually slow when the driver saw the officer. The owner came back as a 60 year old man, but the driver was much younger. This was common in this college town. The owner’s son came back as having a suspended license. That was cause for a stop, and defendant’s was the son with the expired tags. State v. Bohl, 2016 Iowa App. LEXIS 917 (Aug. 31, 2016).
The officer was looking for another car when he found defendant’s car with expired tags. That was justification for the stop. State v. Childs, 2016 Iowa App. LEXIS 920 (Aug. 31, 2016).*
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on IA: Driver in college town was much younger than registered owner, owner’s son had suspended DL, stop reasonable
IP address on child pornography coming back to a residence is nexus to search the residence and its computers. United States v. Wylie, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113669 (D.Minn. July 18, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112900 (D. Minn. Aug. 23, 2016).
Defendant’s house was searched with a warrant for marijuana and a firearm was found. The seizure was lawful. United States v. Hayes, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112234 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 23, 2016).*
Defendant was found to have consented to the entry into his apartment, and he didn’t object. The officers’ reasonable suspicion as to him wasn’t based on his race: it was based on his relationship to another person they were interested in. United States v. Cobo-Cobo, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112686 (N.D.Iowa Aug. 24, 2016).*
Posted inConsent, Nexus, Plain view, feel, smell|Comments Off on D.Minn.: IP address on CP coming back to a residence is nexus to search the residence and its computers
Defendant visitor in the apartment who arrived 30 minutes before the police came to arrest the homeowner could be detained and searched when the police came in and smelled marijuana. State v. Williams, 2016 Ida. App. LEXIS 101 (Aug. 26, 2016) (substitute opinion for June 16, 2016 opinion).
“This case is about whether the Constitution allows the government to collect a person’s electronically stored information from the person’s service provider without giving notice to the affected person. It is also about whether the Constitution permits court orders forbidding service providers from notifying their customers of the government’s information requests. The statutes that allow for these actions—which Microsoft challenges—are part of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (‘ECPA’).” The ACLU can’t intervene because it can’t show that Microsoft won’t adequately pursue the litigation. Instead, the ACLU can be an amicus and brief the issues. Microsoft Corp. v. United States DOJ, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115867 (W.D.Wash. Aug. 29, 2016).*
Posted inArrest or entry on arrest|Comments Off on ID: Visitor could be detained when police arrive to arrest occupant and MJ could be smelled in house
Just because our privacy can be violated does not mean we should expect or tolerate such violations. Continue reading →
Posted inReasonable expectation of privacy|Comments Off on AlterNet: Why Baltimore’s Covert Spy Plane Program Is a Major Battleground for Privacy and Free Speech
A person under pretrial restrictions and ordered to appear (not merely summoned) is “seized” under the Fourth Amendment. The court adopts Justice Ginsberg’s Albright concurrence. Black v. Montgomery County, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 15997 (3d Cir. Aug. 30, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inSeizure|Comments Off on CA3: Pretrial restrictions and order to appear are a seizure, adopting Justice Ginsburg’s Albright concurrence
IP address used in P2P internet child pornography downloads linked to defendant’s one-family address was probable cause for a search warrant for the computers in that house. United States v. Wylie, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113669 (D.Minn. July 18, 2016), adopted 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112900 (D. Minn. Aug. 23, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inComputer and cloud searches, Nexus|Comments Off on D.Minn.: IP address used in P2P internet CP downloads linked to def’s one-family address was PC for SW for the computers in that house
Defendant was pulled over by state ABC officers. His claim that they lacked authority to do so under Alabama law doesn’t apply in federal court. That’s his only ground, so motion to suppress denied. United States v. Henry, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111402 (S.D.Ala. Aug. 22, 2016).
Officers standing next to defendant’s car on a CVS parking lot could see jars of meth inside, and that was a plain view. United States v. Sullivan, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111465 (S.D.Ill. Aug. 22, 2016).*
Even if defendant didn’t have standing in the Hampton Inn hotel room he didn’t rent and was being evicted from for sex trafficking there, when one of his prostitutes came from another room into the hallway and gave more information, the officers had probable cause and exigent circumstances. United States v. Ford, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111249 (D.Ore. Aug. 22, 2016).*
How the court makes credibility determinations, and these officers are credible. United States v. Brounson, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112352 (N.D. Ga. May 23, 2016), adopted 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 112278 (N.D. Ga. Aug. 23, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on W.D.Pa.: Standards for credibility determinations
The Burley sisters say they were raided, roughed up and verbally abused, but because they can’t name the perpetrators, they won’t get a fair day in court.
Posted inWarrant execution|Comments Off on WaPo: The Watch: For nine years, DEA withholds names of masked agents who violently raided two innocent women. Federal court shrugs
In 2007, Judge Richard Posner found it “untenable” that attaching a tracking device to a car is a seizure. But the Supreme Court struck down warrantless attachment of a GPS device to a car on that basis in 2012. Putting a tracking device on a car makes use of it without the owner’s permission, and it deprives the owner of the right to exclude others from the car. Continue reading →
Posted inSeizure|Comments Off on cato.org: The Weird World of Data (and Your Privacy)
cato.org: ‘Pre-Search’ Is Coming to U.S. Policing by Jim Harper:
News that the city of Baltimore has been under surreptitious, mass-scale camera surveillance will have ramifications across the criminal justice world. When it comes to constitutional criminal procedure, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment, it’s time to get ready for the concept of “pre-search.” Like the PreCrime police unit in the 2002 movie Minority Report, which predicted who was going to conduct criminal acts, pre-search uses technology to conduct the better part of a constitutional search before law enforcement knows what it might search for.
Seattle Times: FBI’s massive porn sting puts internet privacy in crossfire by Mike Carter:
The FBI snared scores of people after taking over a child-pornography bulletin board and conducting a sting and computer-hacking operation. But there is a growing social and legal controversy over the bureau’s tactics and the impact on internet privacy.
Posted inComputer and cloud searches|Comments Off on Seattle Times: FBI’s massive porn sting puts internet privacy in crossfire
Momentary compliance with an officer’s commands is still not a seizure under Hodari D. when defendant flees after that. United States v. Brown, 448 F.3d 239, 246 (3d Cir. 2006)). United States v. Ridgeway, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111537 (M.D.Pa. Aug. 22, 2016).
Defendant was not in custody for Miranda purposes, and his statement about the location of a gun was admissible under the “public safety” exception. United States v. Dominguez-Chaidez, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 111083 (E.D.Mich. Aug. 2, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 110616 (W.D. Mo. Aug. 19, 2016).
Posted inSeizure|Comments Off on W.D.Pa.: Momentary compliance with officer’s commands then flight is not a seizure
“The Court finds Defendant had an expectation of privacy because she was the lessee of the rental car. … Although there is some dispute as to whether Defendant renounced control over the car, the Court finds that Defendant’s possessory interest in the car remained intact. Her actions evinced a possessory interest in the vehicle and its contents: she had access to the vehicle, placed items in the trunk, and demonstrated control and ownership over the property. The Court finds Defendant had a sufficient possessory interest over the vehicle’s contents to confer Fourth Amendment standing.” The search was valid under the automobile exception. United States v. Camacho, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109390 (N.D.Cal. Aug. 17, 2016).
Defendant’s car was illegally parked with the engine running, the door ajar, and the driver apparently asleep. It took a couple of minutes to rouse the driver and he said he was fine. Officers asked him out of the car and he was unsteady on his feet. He was arrested for DUI and the car was inventoried finding a gun, and defendant was a felon in possession. The stop for the parking violation was reasonable considering the driver might have been in need. State v. Eason, 2016-Ohio-5516, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 3393 (8th Dist. Aug. 25, 2016).*
Posted inCommunity caretaking function, Standing|Comments Off on N.D.Cal.: Lessee of car had standing: “Her actions evinced a possessory interest in the vehicle and its contents”
Postal worker who left personal stuff in an unlocked locker had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it. Postal workers knew that they were subjected to searches of their belongings and containers on postal service property. United States v. Cluse, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108434 (W.D.La. July 13, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108312 (W.D. La. Aug. 9, 2016).
With the help of the dashcam video, the court credits the officer’s testimony that defendant was speeding and that provided justification for the stop. United States v. Green, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108926 (W.D.Pa. Aug. 17, 2016).*
A motorist who sought assistance, and without reasonable suspicion, can be required to be patted down before the motorist gets in the police car. People v. Gow, 2016 COA 119, 2016 Colo. App. LEXIS 1176 (Aug. 25, 2016), op. mod. 2016COA119M, 2016 Colo. App. LEXIS 1280 (Aug. 25, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on CO: Motorist seeking aid can be required to submit to patdown w/o RS to get into police car
Officers saw defendant by his car with the hood open. Something about his elbow body language made them want to stop him. They told him to raise his hands. He did, then he fled. The court finds the directive was the seizure, and it was without reasonable suspicion. The flight came after. United States v. Jones, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108477 (W.D.N.Y. Aug. 16, 2016), rejected, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171988 (W.D.N.Y. Dec. 13, 2016) (here)*
The court credits only the government’s version and finds defendant consented to entry and seizure of the computer. United States v. Eastman, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107471 (D.Conn. Aug. 15, 2016).*
The minor errors in the affidavit for the search warrant have no bearing on the probable cause showing. Therefore, he gets no Franks hearing. United States v. Campagna, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 108238 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 11, 2016).*
Posted inConsent, Franks doctrine, Reasonable suspicion, Seizure|Comments Off on W.D.N.Y.: Def had hood of car open and police told him to put his hands up, he did, then fled; he was seized w/o RS [Updated: rev’d 12/13/16]
Defendant was found to have been stopped at gunpoint without reasonable suspicion. Even if he said “‘do whatever you want,’ this Court finds that Schulterbrandt did not freely and voluntarily give his consent” to the armed force that just arrested him. There were also no exigent circumstances for the entry. People v. Schulterbrandt, 2016 V.I. LEXIS 121 (Aug. 22, 2016).
The search warrant described the car to be searched by year and make and VIN. The fact it didn’t include the model number is hardly important. United States v. Cobb, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188861 (E.D.Ky. Feb. 5, 2014).
Defendant’s guilty plea waived his suppression motion. State v. Derrick, 2016 Del. Super. LEXIS 427 (Aug. 23, 2016).*
Posted inConsent, Particularity|Comments Off on VI: Alleged consent at gunpoint after stop without RS was involuntary
"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.
