Archives
-
Recent Posts
- AR: RS def rented a hotel room was sufficient for search waiver; PC not required
- LA5: No standing to challenge search of shooting victim’s cell phone in def’s possession
- N.D.Okla.: Cell phones possessed by tribal police not subject to return under Rule 41(g)
- E.D.Ark.: Landlord and tenant refused rental property inspection and SW was validly issued and protected privacy interests
- D.D.C.: Judge shopping after denial of SW inappropriate; could have appealed to DJ
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
-
by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
-
Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog -
"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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew "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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Search Results for: dog
CO: Recreational MJ created privacy interest in cars from dog sniff for MJ
The state constitutional amendment legalizing recreational marijuana created a privacy interest in one’s car from a dog sniff for drugs on only reasonable suspicion. The good faith exception does not apply. People v. Lopez, 2022 COA 70M, 2022 Colo. App. … Continue reading
Cal.6: Calling drug dog before the stop helped show the stop was prolonged for dog’s arrival
The officer unreasonably prolonged the stop for the arrival of the drug dog. While subjective intentions aren’t determinative under Whren, here the officer called for the drug dog before the stop even happened. People v. Ayon, 2022 Cal. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CO: Dog sniff after legal possession became law suppressed; no RS
A dog sniff after Amendment 64 legalized personal possession of marijuana in Colorado was unjustified, unreasonable, and suppressed. Other case law already put the issue in doubt before this search occurred. There was no reason to suspect the occupants of … Continue reading
CA7: Inevitable impoundment of car mooted claim dog jumped in car
Defendant’s car was inevitably going to be searched after impoundment, so the question of the drug dog jumping into the car doesn’t have to be decided. United States v. Overton, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 16158 (7th Cir. June 13, 2022). … Continue reading
OH12: Dog alert on car and def’s person didn’t justify strip search
There was reasonable suspicion for and continuing defendant’s stop. A dog sniff was permitted. The dog’s alert, however, didn’t permit a strip search of defendant. It did permit a search of the person. State v. Owensby, 2022-Ohio-1702, 2022 Ohio App. … Continue reading
UT: IAC shown for not challenging dog alert
The initial dog alert here did not provide probable cause for search of defendant’s vehicle. Thus, defense counsel was ineffective for not pursuing a Fourth Amendment challenge. “In summary, based on the record before us, a motion to suppress the … Continue reading
ID: Calling for drug dog before RS existed extended the stop
During the traffic stop, the diversion to call for a drug dog was without reasonable suspicion and it extended the stop. State v. Still, 166 Idaho 351, 458 P.3d 220 (App. 2019), is overruled. State v. Karst, 2022 Ida. LEXIS … Continue reading
MA: Dog alert to buttocks PC for strip search
After witnessing suspicious movement, and observing white powder on the vehicle dashboard where defendant had been sitting, police had probable cause to arrest defendant on drug charges and consequently were justified in conducting a search of the defendant incident to … Continue reading
OH11: Dragging out the stop a few minutes to allow drug dog to arrive made it unreasonable
In a state where the appellate courts are overly solicitous of police calling for drug dog sniffs in traffic stops, this court finds the stop prolonged for the drug dog to get there without reasonable suspicion. Neyhard v. State, 2022-Ohio-1098, … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: A dog sniff on federal property was reasonable; MMJ not an issue
“Defendant argues that given the evolving laws regarding marijuana (and other cannabinoid products or derivatives), dog sniffs are increasingly becoming unreliable and therefore violative of the Fourth Amendment because dog sniffs cannot discriminate between contraband and marijuana that is legally … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Dog sniff during investigation of a traffic accident didn’t extend the stop
“The evidence before the Court indicates the canine sniff in this case did not prolong the ‘mission’ of Officer Sautter’s traffic accident investigation. The total length of time from when Defendant’s vehicle was struck to when Officer Sautter’s canine alerted … Continue reading
NY Kings: 911 call 6 dogs in Manhattan apt were uncared for not exigency for warrantless entry
“Upon a review of the record, we find that the evidence adduced at the hearing did not establish the existence of facts sufficient to provide the police officer with reasonable grounds to believe that an emergency existed which required the … Continue reading
OH3: Where PC exists as to a car, use of a drug dog before the physical search not unreasonable
Once the officer smells marijuana, it violates no law to use a drug dog first rather than just proceeding to search the car. State v. Jones, 2022-Ohio-561, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS 487 (3d Dist. Feb. 18, 2022). (The less intrusive … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Stopping UPS truck for dog sniff of packages wasn’t unreasonable
Of two coconspirators in a package containing drugs, the named sender has standing but the coconspirator does not. Stopping the UPS truck for a dog sniff of the packages did not interfere with any reasonable expectation of privacy. Besides, there … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Stopping work on the traffic ticket when the drug dog arrived resulted in lengthening the detention without RS
“Officer Allen admits that he was not printing the police department’s copy of the first citation or processing the second citation during the drug sniff. Rather, he completely stopped his traffic-related mission as soon as Officer Wiebe arrived and worked … Continue reading
KY: Seeking consent to search car by threatening to use drug dog unreasonably extended stop
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, but the officer readily abandoned it by seeking consent and “repeatedly threatened the use of a dog sniff” if he didn’t. Commonwealth v. Conner, 2021 Ky. LEXIS 419 (Dec. 16, 2021):
CO: In a MJ recreational use state, a dog alert on a car doesn’t discriminate between legal and illegal drugs and violates privacy
Possession of small quantities of marijuana is legal in Colorado. Where the drug dog doesn’t discriminate between marijuana and other drugs, a dog alert can be an unreasonable search for a legal substance. Therefore, the district court did not err … Continue reading
OH5: Def’s consent after being told drug dog was coming for her car wasn’t voluntary
The trial court held defendant’s consent was involuntary. She was asked for consent and told that a drug dog was coming so she might as well give it up. The conclusion is supported by the evidence and isn’t clearly erroneous. … Continue reading
FL1: Drug dog sniff of motel door from common hallway reasonable
Drug dog sniff outside motel room door from common hallway invaded no reasonable expectation of privacy. Jardines inapplicable. Robinson v. State, 2021 Fla. App. LEXIS 13874 (Fla. 1st DCA Oct. 13, 2021). Defendant’s actions of pacing and reaching into his … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: The Rodriguez question is: Did the use of the dog prolong the stop
“The answer to this question doesn’t hinge on ‘whether the dog sniff occurs before or after the officer issues a ticket’ but whether the dog sniff ‘prolongs’ the stop. [Rodriguez] at 357. The answer today is undoubtedly no. Deputy Samuelson, … Continue reading