Daniel Rushing was arrested, charged with possession with a weapon, strip-searched and jailed in December. The 64-year-old Orlando man told officers he’d never done drugs in his life, and the crumbs were from his Krispy Kreme doughnut. Weeks later, a state crime lab proved him right.
Posted inReasonable suspicion|Comments Off on Miami Herald: He was arrested for meth, but the crumbs in his car were Krispy Kreme doughnut glaze
Posted inNational security, Surveillance technology|Comments Off on New Law Review Article: Protecting the Fourth Amendment in the Information Age: A Response to Robert Litt
The testimony of the defendants on consent was consistent, detailed, and credible, but the testimony of the officers was vague. Thus, the consent is found invalid. Since the consent search made it into the affidavit for the search warrant, it has to be purged. The remainder shows no probable cause, and the motion to suppress is granted. United States v. Scott, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93372 (C.D.Cal. April 27, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inExclusionary rule, Warrant requirement|Comments Off on C.D.Cal.: Purging an invalid consent search from the affidavit for SW, the remainder shows no PC, so search suppressed
The court finds on the face of the pleadings that one defendant had no standing to contest the search but goes to the merits because the government failed to assert standing. United States v. Pierce, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93614 (M.D.Ala. July 19, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inBurden of proof, Standing|Comments Off on M.D.Ala.: Def didn’t show standing but gov’t didn’t raise it, so it’s waived
The officer here came upon a car parked in an empty car wash bay in the middle of the night in a high crime area. When he saw and recognized defendant, to him a known criminal, he had reasonable suspicion to act to protect his safety. This was, essentially, a classic Terry stop. He called and waited for backup before looking in the windows of the car to see if there were others. United States v. Evans, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13633 (8th Cir. July 27, 2016).
Where the facts of excessive force aren’t conceded by the defense, there is no jurisdiction over an appeal of a denial of qualified immunity. Rolen v. City of Cleveland, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13695 (6th Cir. July 25, 2016).*
Posted inQualified immunity, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on CA8: Car in abandoned car wash bay in high crime area in middle of night occupied by a known criminal was RS
Defendant put a backpack in the shed of Allen, and Allen told the police he didn’t put a lock on the shed and consented to cutting it off and the entry. An officer testified that defendant consented too, and defendant didn’t testify to contradict. Thus, the record supports the finding of consent. United States v. Wolff, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13632 (8th Cir. July 27, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inConsent|Comments Off on CA8: Record supports consent because that’s all district court had
The tipster provided only easily known public information, but for the fact defendant sat in his car and smoked marijuana during his lunch breaks. Police watched him and he didn’t do that. Because the police never corroborated the one observable nonpublic fact, they lacked reasonable suspicion from the CI. United States v. Derrick, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96022 (E.D.Wis. June 10, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96006 (E.D.Wis. July 22, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inInformant hearsay|Comments Off on E.D.Wis.: CI’s only nonpublic fact wasn’t corroborated, so no RS
The CI’s information defendant would be delivering crack cocaine to a specific apartment complex and an officer’s personal observations of defendant arriving there and engaging in what appeared to be a drug deal were sufficient to create reasonable suspicion to justify a brief investigatory stop. State v. Allen, 2016 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 542 (July 25, 2016).
Defendant’s wife freely consented to the search. State v. Wells, 2016 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 540 (July 25, 2016).*
Posted inApparent authority, Informant hearsay|Comments Off on TN: CI’s tale def was coming to apartment complex to do a drug deal was corroborated by him showing up and apparently doing a drug deal
Defendant’s motion to suppress was cast as a motion in limine that the police officers should be barred from testifying because their police car wasn’t properly marked. The trial court denied the motion and defendant conditionally pled. He can’t appeal this because it was a motion in limine and never mentioned the Fourth Amendment. State v. Parker, 2016-Ohio-5094, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 2975 (5th Dist. July 21, 2016).
Defendant was on Lincoln University in violation of a no trespassing directive to him a month earlier. His arrest justified a search incident of the person that produced a firearm, and he was a convicted felon. United States v. Hawkins, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13552 (8th Cir. July 26, 2016).*
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on OH5: Where motion to suppress was actually pursued as a motion in limine, appeal after conditional plea fails
By statute, Nevada justice courts have express authority to suppress illegally obtained evidence during preliminary hearings. Grace v. Eighth Judicial Dist. Court of Nev., 131 Nev. Adv. Rep. 51, 2016 Nev. LEXIS 639 (July 21, 2016).
Even if the officer responded to defendant with an unintelligible word just prior to the search, the context of their exchange made her consent clear. He asked for permission to search what he believed was a blanket and defendant understood that he was asking for permission to search a sweater and handed it to him. By handing a fanny pack to the agent wrapped in the sweater without limiting her consent, defendant gave permission to search the fanny pack. United States v. Amador-Beltran, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13444 (10th Cir. July 20, 2016).
Posted inConsent, Exclusionary rule|Comments Off on NV justice courts have statutory power to suppress during preliminary hearings
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in containers he left fleeing from a stolen truck. State v. Stubblefield, 279 Ore. App. 483, 2016 Ore. App. LEXIS 928 (July 20, 2016).
The officer smelled burnt marijuana during his stop of defendant, and defendant produced a joint. Out of the car, defendant was told the officer was going to search the car, and he fainted. The car search was with cause from the smell. State v. Cabrera, 2016 R.I. Super. LEXIS 85 (July 21, 2016).*
When defendant was arrested on outstanding warrants, his car was not subject to search incident. State v. Sanchez, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 7712 (Tex. App. – Corpus Christi – Edinburg July 21, 2016).
“[T]he clearly established law in existence in May 2011 would not have apprised a reasonable police officer similarly situated to Officer Acosta that he could be held liable under § 1983 for a Fourth Amendment violation based on handcuffing a minor pursuant to a lawful arrest.” The arrest was at school for disrupting class in violation of New Mexico statute, which he also gets qualified immunity for. A.M. v. Holmes, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13490 (10th Cir. July 25, 2016).*
Posted inQualified immunity, Search incident|Comments Off on TX13: Arrest on outstanding warrants doesn’t justify search incident of car
There was a factual basis for the stop, so the pretext argument fails. United States v. Diaz-Cordova, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91591 (N.D.Ohio July 14, 2016).
It appears that the U.S. Marshals had objectively reasonable belief that defendant was where they entered to arrest him on a warrant, so the case is remanded to the USMJ to rerun the hearing. United States v. Maclin, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88683 (W.D.N.Y. July 8, 2016),* rejecting, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91118 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 6, 2016).*
At an immigration checkpoint, about 30 or 40 seconds elapsed before the driver consented to a search that led to the discovery of undocumented aliens hidden in the tractor. The search was lawful. United States v. McMillon, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13240 (5th Cir. July 20, 2016).*
Defendant’s consent to search after his admitted Miranda violation was invalid. Moreover, the vehicle search was otherwise unlawful because the government can’t support it as an inventory search. United States v. Groce, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93352 (M.D.Ala. July 1, 2016), adopted in part, rejected in part, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 92874 (M.D.Ala. July 18, 2016): Continue reading →
Conclusory allegations that an electronic tracking warrant wasn’t issued in compliance with Rule 4.1 is not sufficient to get a hearing. United States v. Joyner, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90241 (N.D.Ga. May 24, 2016).
The factual record supports the district court’s finding of consent. United States v. Springer, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 13236 (5th Cir. July 20, 2016).*
Defendant’s car in his driveway is not immune as on the curtilage to a plain view by probation officers when they saw a gun inside it. United States v. Ward, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91370 (N.D.Ga. July 14, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91625 (N.D.Ga. June 24, 2016).*
When the driver and passenger remain silent as to who’s bag belongs to whom, the consent of one applies to all of it. State v. Asbach, 2016 ND 152, 2016 N.D. LEXIS 150 (July 20, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inApparent authority, Consent|Comments Off on ND: When two in car remain silent as to which bag belongs to which person, consent to search is complete
So instead of asking the company that made the phone to grant them access, they’re going another route: having the Jain lab create a 3D printed replica of the victim’s fingers. With them, they hope to unlock the phone.
Posted inSurveillance technology|Comments Off on Fusion: Police asked this 3D printing lab to recreate a dead man’s fingers to unlock his phone
The FBI planted recording devices outside two courthouses in Northern California to catch conversations on the street between their targets. The devices were planted in a light fixture, a bus stop, and on a parked vehicle. The court finds no reasonable expectation of privacy in the conversations because the conversations were in normal volume that were loud enough to be caught by passersby, “whether at the courthouse entrance or at the bus stop, undermining the reasonableness of any subjective expectation of privacy.” It did not matter at all to the court that no one else did overhear; just that it was theoretically possible, suggesting a whisper might have shown a reasonable expectation of privacy because the eavesdropping device did not catch whispers. [This is wrong, but read it because, if this opinion survives appeal, the only place there may be a reasonable expectation of privacy is in one’s own home and one’s own mind.] United States v. Marr, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96172 (N.D.Cal. July 22, 2016) [this will be in §§ 3.09, 3.11, 3.12 & 42.04 in 2016 supplement]: Continue reading →
Defendant was parked with high beams on on a one way street. The statute unambiguously says that it was not a violation unless there was an oncoming vehicle, and being on a one way street or an officer on foot doesn’t count. Thus, the stop was invalid. This is not a mistake of law under Heien because the statute is unambiguous. State v. Scriven, 2016 N.J. LEXIS 698 (July 20, 2016).*
Defendant did not consent to the PBT test because he wasn’t told of right to refuse, and he passed the field sobriety test. People v. Taylor, 2016 IL App (2d) 150634, 2016 Ill. App. LEXIS 476 (July 20, 2016).*
Posted inReasonableness|Comments Off on NJ: Heien reasonable mistake doesn’t apply to an unambiguous statute
"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.