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Recent Posts
- 404 Media: Cops Keep Getting Arrested for Using Flock to Stalk People
- Cal.1: Entry by robot, drone, tear gas, and flash bang was with PC after def refused to come out on a SW and AW
- CA8: Def’s connection to property searched was so tenuous he had no standing; no one claimed to know him
- D.Mass.: Inventory valid despite there being no impoundment policy
- CA6: The smell of burnt MJ in a car is still PC for driving under influence even where personal possession is legal.
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
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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)
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“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.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Author Archives: Hall
TN: Collective knowledge also applies to RS
Collective knowledge also applies to reasonable suspicion. State v. Hodge, 2023 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 317 (Aug. 24, 2023). Defendant’s “certified question” for appeal was overbroad. State v. Beech, 2023 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 313 (Aug. 24, 2023).* Defendant was … Continue reading
CA5: GFE applies to undated Instragram posts
Undated Instagram messages were still sufficient for the good faith exception to apply to a warrant issued on them. United States v. Mason, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 22367 (5th Cir. Aug. 23, 2023)*:
CA6: GFE applies to showing of nexus, too
The affiant for the warrant failed to show nexus, but there was enough nexus for the good faith exception to apply. United States v. Westley, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 22357 (6th Cir. Aug. 22, 2023):
CA6: Absconding parolee on electronic monitoring had no standing against using OnStar to find him
“Although the Supreme Court has expressly declined to hold that a parolee categorically has no expectation of privacy in any context, … Lenhart, as a parolee who was subject to electronic monitoring as a condition of his parole, had no … Continue reading
TX5 upholds geofence warrant on PC and nexus, and then with GFE
The geofence warrant here satisfied the requirements of both probable cause and the good faith exception. There aren’t a lot of cases on geofence warrants, but those reaching the merits (and not just GFE) fully support the process here of … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Residual smell of MJ can still provide PC
“The Officers testified the smell of marijuana can remain in the area, or linger on clothing or other items, after marijuana is removed from the area, before or after it has been smoked. … It can also be difficult to … Continue reading
CA6: Standing required in a § 1983 case
Plaintiff didn’t have standing to raise someone else’s rights in a § 1983 case. Appeal dismissed. Jordan v. City of Toledo, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 22063 (6th Cir. Aug. 21, 2023). Drug officers’ executing search warrants and stealing property was … Continue reading
CA7: PC can exist even if officer doesn’t believe “putative victim”
“But Garcia has a high hurdle to combat a probable-cause determination because G.C., the putative victim, identified him as responsible. … An officer need not even believe that a witness is reliable to determine that her statement supports probable cause … Continue reading
Lawfare: Data Isn’t Property. It Doesn’t Have to Be.
Lawfare: Data Isn’t Property. It Doesn’t Have to Be. by Mailyn Fidler:
Forbes: Will The Judge Who Let Police Raid A Small Kansas Newspaper Be Held Accountable?
Forbes: Will The Judge Who Let Police Raid A Small Kansas Newspaper Be Held Accountable? by Andrew Wimer:
D.Ariz.: No REP in shared folder on computer open on eMule program
The government’s “pre-search” of a shared folder on defendant’s computer available through eMule was not subject to a reasonable expectation of privacy and was reasonable. United States v. Johnson, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146664 (D. Ariz. Aug. 21, 2023), adopting … Continue reading
Bloomberg Law: Church Sues California County Over Alleged Covid-19 Geofencing
Bloomberg Law: Church Sues California County Over Alleged Covid-19 Geofencing by Jorja Siemons:
OH5: “Red screen” on patrol car’s computer screen was RS for def’s LPN
A “red screen” on the police car’s computer screen meant a serious warning about defendant’s LPN, and that justified the stop. State v. Cooper, 2023-Ohio-2897, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS 2881 (5th Dist. Aug. 18, 2023).* Blocking both ends of an … Continue reading
NYTimes: The Revealing Case of a Kansas Judge and a Search Warrant
NYTimes: The Revealing Case of a Kansas Judge and a Search Warrant by Gregory P. Magarian (“A government raid on a newspaper’s office and its publisher’s home, with police seizing reporters’ computers and phones, sounds like a lurid tale from … Continue reading
ND: Opening door of a parked and running semi when driver didn’t wake up was to gather information and was unreasonable
“Thus, we conclude law enforcement was acting outside the scope of the community caretaking function when opening the semi door and stepping onto the running boards in an attempt to gather information without first attempting to get a response from … Continue reading
CA6: The fact a prior car search came up empty isn’t material for Franks
“Daniel has not demonstrated that the omission of the initial car search’s fruitlessness from the affidavit amounted to a deliberate falsehood or showed reckless disregard for the truth.” United States v. Daniel, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 21751 (6th Cir. Aug. … Continue reading
FL2: Knock-and-announce not violated by “peaceably” entering through open door
“The record establishes that the doors to Mr. Wallin’s room were ‘completely wide open’ and the officers entered without force to execute a valid arrest warrant. The knock-and-announce requirement in section 901.19(1) did not apply based on the statute’s plain … Continue reading