Border Patrol officers at Nogales watching over the border saw a launching device to throw bundles over the border fence, and they tried to see where the packages landed to round them up. Defendant was seen matching the description of a person carrying one of the bundles. That was reasonable suspicion when they went to the door of his house near the border. United States v. Liquidano, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54871 (D. Ariz. Jan. 14, 2016), adopted 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54872 (D.Ariz. April 25, 2016).
Exchanges of heroin by two CIs and defendant were probable cause. United States v. Peterson, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55370 (D.Minn. April 25, 2016),* adopting 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 177696 (D.Minn. Dec. 2, 2015).*
Staleness for a wiretap follows the same general rule as staleness for search warrants except that the question is probable cause to believe that the content of telephone calls will help prove the conspiracy. United States v. Ford, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55510 (D.D.C. April 26, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inStaleness|Comments Off on D.D.C.: Staleness for a wiretap follows the same general rule as staleness for search warrants except it’s to find evidence of conspiracy
A computer monitoring and internet bar probation condition of a convicted sex offender was modified to better match his circumstances. He can have access to the internet, and, on reasonable suspicion, the PO can search his computer. State v. Cornell, 2016 VT 47, 2016 Vt. LEXIS 44 (April 22, 2016).
The third-party doctrine makes cell phone billing records available by grand jury subpoena. Motion to suppress denied. United States v. Zodhiates, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55748 (W.D.N.Y. Jan. 20, 2016).*
The subjective intent of the officers conducting a parole search for whether it is really a criminal investigative search is irrelevant. State v. Crawford, 2016 MT 96, 2016 Mont. LEXIS 280 (April 26, 2016): Continue reading →
The House voted unanimously, 419-0, on Wednesday to bring the law that protects the privacy of Americans’ e-mails into the 21st century.
The Email Privacy Act would reform the 1986 Email Communications Privacy Act by requiring all federal agencies (with few exceptions) to get a warrant before searching old digital communications stored in the cloud by companies like Google and Facebook.
Posted inECPA|Comments Off on The Intercept: Email Privacy Bill Passes House Unanimously
One vehicle was being stopped in a driveway, but another was between the police car and the target car. The officers could reasonably get the occupants out of the car in between so they could know what they were dealing with. People v. Steele, 2016 Cal. App. LEXIS 325 (3d Dist. April 25, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inReasonableness|Comments Off on Cal.3d: When stopping a car and a second one stops, too, it was reasonable to order occupants out of second car
Defendant was apparently a regular passenger on El Expreso bus traveling from Florida to Texas and back. Intel briefings told him that heroin was being concealed in large cans of food. Defendant had a large can of food in his luggage, and he got a pass and was let go. Two weeks later he was encountered again, and his luggage underneath caused a dog to alert. The officer validly searched the bag under the automobile exception which applied to an interstate bus. Defendant refused to consent to opening a large can of jalapeno peppers, so the officer opened it and found heroin in a container inside. The search was valid. United States v. Pina, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 7300 (11th Cir. April 22, 2016).
Posted inAutomobile exception|Comments Off on CA11: Luggage dog alerts to on interstate bus is subject to automobile exception
A cell phone ping order allegedly in violation of ECPA was not subject to suppression. The warrantless entry into the house was justified by exigent circumstances. United States v. Banks, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53876 (W.D.Okla. April 22, 2016).
The officer gets the credibility call here, not because she’s a law enforcement officer, but because of detailed findings of why. There was a preexisting arrest warrant for defendant, and its absence in the reports is not fatal. United States v. Harrell, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53666 (D.N.J. April 21, 2016).*
The court does not have to decide whether probable cause exists for a DNA warrant [it does] because the search warrant for DNA was clearly within the good faith exception. United States v. Lopez-Castillo, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54435 (D.Minn. April 22, 2016).*
Defendant was arrested in his house, and a protective sweep of the porch was valid. In plain view was a rifle case, and defendant was a felon in possession. It was reasonable to seize the rifle. State v. Cope, 2016 N.J. LEXIS 329 (April 25, 2016).
Defendant’s statements were obtained in violation of Miranda, and the gun found was a direct result of that. Suppressed. United States v. St. Rose, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53245 (D.V.I. April 21, 2016).*
Posted inPlain view, feel, smell, Protective sweep|Comments Off on NJ: A rifle case on a felon’s porch seen in a protective sweep qualifies for plain view; its incriminating nature is immediately apparent
“Unlike Navarette, this case presents an identified citizen informant, who, according to Weisner, is credited with greater reliability.” It also wasn’t necessary to call the police dispatcher at the suppression hearing. State v. Hancock, 2016-Ohio-2671, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 1544 (3d Dist. April 25, 2016).
Defendant’s actions individually were not suggestive of criminality, but collectively they were and that’s reasonable suspicion. State v. Hair, 2016-Ohio-2679, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 1549 (12th Dist. April 25, 2016).*
Posted inInformant hearsay, Reasonable suspicion|Comments Off on OH3: Citizen informant reliable per se; dispatcher doesn’t need to be called at suppression hearing
WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has issued new rules that give prosecutors in Washington greater oversight and control over national security cases after the collapse of several high-profile prosecutions led to allegations that Chinese-Americans were being singled out as spies.
The new rules are intended to prevent such missteps, but without undermining a counterespionage mission that is a top priority for the Obama administration.
Posted inFISA|Comments Off on NYTimes: After Missteps, U.S. Tightens Rules for National Security Cases
A group of Karen Christians from Burma and Thailand have partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to challenge the civil forfeiture of more than $53,000 by Muskogee County. The seized assets included cash donations made to a Thai orphanage and funds being raised for a nonprofit Christian school in Burma by the Klo & Kweh Music Team, a Burmese Christian rock band on a five-month tour of Karen churches across the U.S. (Institute for Justice) Continue reading →
Posted inForfeiture|Comments Off on WaPo: Why Oklahoma cops are returning $53,000 to a Christian band, an orphanage and a church
Posted inCell site simulators|Comments Off on techdirt: EFF, ACLU And Public Records Laws Team Up To Expose Hidden Stingray Use By The Milwaukee Police Department
A package in the mail addressed to a house that has suspected contraband in it justifies an anticipatory warrant for the whole house. State v. Mullen, 2016 Kan. LEXIS 242 (April 22, 2016).
Defendant’s furtive movements during a traffic stop justified a protective sweep of the car. State v. Dubose, 2016 Del. Super. LEXIS 143 (April 18, 2016).*
The trial court erred by granting defendant’s motion to suppress contraband recovered from the search, where the officers had collective knowledge of defendant’s multiple furtive movements, the vehicle was of interest in an investigation, the driver had prior assault and drug offenses, and defendant had prior involvement in weapons and drug related offenses. State v. Ojezua, 2016-Ohio-2659, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 1519 (2d Dist. April 22, 2016).*
Revelations that the Department of Justice (DOJ) in mid-March with the help of an undisclosed tech company discovered an access vulnerability and new method to unlock the Apple iPhone 5C used by one of the San Bernardino terrorists only delays the day of reckoning with respect to the significant security and privacy issues raised by the Apple litigation.
Posted inCell phones|Comments Off on NYLJ: Passcodes, Privacy and Public Safety: Apple vs. DOJ
A car belonging to the house the target of a search warrant and on the curtilage at the time of execution is subject to search under a warrant for the “premises.” In this case, defendant’s son was sitting in the car in the driveway and registered at that address, and the search of the car and the containers in it were valid. State v. Patterson, 2016 Kan. LEXIS 240 (April 22, 2016), aff’d 49 Kan. App. 2d 1001, 319 P.3d 588 (2014): Continue reading →
Posted inCurtilage, Scope of search|Comments Off on KS: A vehicle on the curtilage belonging at house may be searched with a SW for the “premises”
Computer searches should occur away from the target’s premises. Sometimes they take a long time, and it is infeasible to do them at the scene of the search when it can take days. The comment to the Rule supports this. Thus, the officers did not violate Rule 41(e)(2)(B), so there is nothing to suppress. United States v. Loera, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52111 (D.N.M. April 19, 2016).
A state officer violated the immigration law in arresting the defendant for being somebody already deported. “Thus, based on the Court’s factual findings regarding the sequence of events, Officer Tritschler’s arrest of the Defendant was not justified under [8 U.S.C.] § 1357(g)(10). As this is the only justification cited by the Government for the lawfulness of the arrest, the Court finds that the Government has not met its burden of establishing the lawfulness of this warrantless arrest. Accordingly, the Court concludes that Officer Tritschler violated the Defendant’s right to be free from unlawful seizure.” His fingerprints are thus the fruit of the poisonous tree and had to be suppressed. United States v. Argueta-Mejia, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185444 (D.Colo. May 27, 2014), aff’d 615 Fed. Appx. 485 (10th Cir. 2015).*
Defendant was an adult, and he lived with his parents. His father had the apparent authority to consent to a search of his room. There were no precautions to protect his privacy in the household. United States v. Hernandez, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52556 (S.D.Ind. April 19, 2016): Continue reading →
Posted inApparent authority|Comments Off on S.D.Ind.: Def’s father could consent to search of his bedroom in the home
"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.
