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- USA Today: Cell phone SW for cause of crash
- Treatise on sale to 11/1
- MD: While protective sweep information made it into SW affidavit, there was PC without it
- N.D.Ga.: A Customs forensic search of a cell phone away from the border was still a border search
- CA6: State officer’s arrest for violation of federal MJ law likely wouldn’t violate 4A
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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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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"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. 
Category Archives: Good faith exception
TN finally adopts GFE after 30 years, at least as to Davis situations
Having avoided the question for 30 years until it was “squarely presented,” the Tennessee Supreme Court adopts the good faith exception to the extent provided for in Davis. It does not yet signal Leon good faith. State v. Reynolds, 2016 … Continue reading
IN: Failure to show CI’s basis of knowledge and reason to believe him was a failure of PC and GFE
Defendant was charged with illegally harvesting ginseng based on a search warrant that lacked a proper showing of informant hearsay with no showing of basis of knowledge or why it would be believable or should be credited. Turning to the … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Def could file second motion to suppress on different ground; this one prevails for lack of PC and no GFE
Defendant filed a motion to suppress on one ground and lost. He was not prohibited by law of the case from arguing the different issue of a complete lack of probable cause in a subsequent motion, on which he prevails. … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Fact of a sex crime against a child does not, without more, mean there is CP on def’s computer
Mere evidence of forcible sodomy on a child does not ipso facto mean that there is probable cause to believe that there will be child pornography on the defendant’s computer, too. Only one circuit would make that inferential link (CA8), … Continue reading
Two on good faith: No showing of PC for (1) GPS warrant and (2) nexus to def’s house
Game officers got a GPS warrant for defendant’s truck because they suspected him of hunting violations. After a couple of weeks, the truck’s movements were monitored daily. The issuance of the GPS warrant was without a finding of probable cause … Continue reading
DC: Inevitable discovery applied to cell phone search in 2002 rather than GFE
Inevitable discovery used to justify a search of a cell phone in 2002 because it might have been unreasonable under Riley from 2014 (no mention of good faith exception applied to pre-Riley searches). Logan v. United States, 2016 D.C. App. … Continue reading
D.Utah: Use of the drug dog while the ticket is being written is reasonable
Running a drug dog around a car before the ticket is finished being written is reasonable under Cabelles and Rodriguez. United States v. Smith, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124158 (D.Utah Sept. 12, 2016). Defendants raised a Fourth Amendment IAC claim. … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Nexus shown to def’s home by his committing the crime on a computer in his house and shipping packages there
FedEx determined that packages were being diverted, and they narrowed it to a former employee in Memphis and his computer was creating fictitious labels on a hijacked FedEx account. A Franks challenge fails because the probable cause isn’t undermined. Nexus … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: In a Playpen case, planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search”
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in IP addresses, but planting software on a computer to cause it to transmit its address is “unquestionably a search.” Recognizing the split of authority, Rule 41 was violated, but the court declines … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Reliance on a state court tracking order years ago was entitled to good faith
Under the Stored Communications Act, one must still prove standing as an “aggrieved person.” A state court cell phone tracking order is entitled to good faith exception deference, particularly since it was issued prior to any cases on the subject. … Continue reading
TX11: A search for evidence under an unconstitutional statute still suppressed in Texas despite good faith
Search for evidence under a statute later declared unconstitutional in state court had to be suppressed because Texas has only a limited good faith exception. Siller v. State, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 8733 (Tex.App. – Eastland Aug. 11, 2016). Speculative … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: PC doesn’t have to be shown, just objective reliance on the showing for the issuance of the warrant
The affidavit for the search warrant was a close enough showing of probable cause to make reliance on the affidavit objectively reasonable under the good faith exception. United States v. Melendez, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98940 (S.D.N.Y. July 28, 2016):
CA5: Pre-Jardines dog sniff at garage was valid at time under case law; GFE applies
The good faith exception applied to validate dog sniffs based on law at the time saying that a sniff at defendant’s garage wasn’t an invasion of the curtilage back then. The search was 2008 and Jardines was 2013. The deterrent … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Use of an electronic “sniffer” to find a target computer in a college building was particular
Police used an electronic “sniffer” to attempt to find a MAC address of an operating computer in an Emory University building. “The affidavit described the plan to use a sniffer to ‘identify the wireless device associated with the suspect MAC … Continue reading
Two on pre-Jones GPS and good faith
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not challenging GPS in 2007. The state passed its own GPS statute in 2002, and defendant argued it wasn’t complied with when a GPS was placed on his car after an armored car robbery he … Continue reading
PA: Totality and common sense overcomes typo on year in SW application
On the totality and by common sense, the record and the affidavit for the search warrant show that a critical date in the search warrant application had a typographical error as to the year (March 2013 v. March 2014), and … Continue reading
M.D.La.: SW for examination of boat two years after alleged false BP spill claim for repairs not performed wasn’t stale
Defendant was suspected of making a fraudulent claim in the BP oil spill litigation claiming repairs on a boat. The government gathered information from others that strongly suggested that the boat was neither damaged nor repaired. The government finally applied … Continue reading
CA2: Retention of mirror image of hard drives for 3 yrs before searching them under SW was at least good faith
The government copied defendant’s hard drives in 2003 but didn’t get around to searching them until 2006. After discussing the privacy interests in data and the wealth of information that could be held on a computer, the court said: “Having … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: “Playpen” website SW invalid as outside USMJ’s jurisdiction and no GFE, but a case contra, too
In the fifth Tor “Dark Net” case involving the child pornography “Playpen” website where the government took over the website and moved it to Virginia, this court, applying Tenth Circuit precedent, finds the USMJ lacked jurisdiction to issue a search … Continue reading