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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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
N.D.Cal.: 2012 download of cell phone two hours after arrest not search incident; Davis inapplicable
Two defendants, two cell phones searched in March 2012. One on parole, one not. The parole search of the cell phone is valid. The other, however, wasn’t a search incident of the cell phone; it was downloaded two hours after … Continue reading
Stop The Drug War: Will Supreme Court Cell Phone Search Ruling Apply Retroactively?
Stop The Drug War: Will Supreme Court Cell Phone Search Ruling Apply Retroactively? by Clarence Walker. Since so many federal cases held that the search incident doctrine applied until Wurie, Davis good faith pretty much seals the fate of that … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Cell phone GPS location was obtained by court order under § 2703 so GFE applies
Cell phone GPS location data was obtained by HSI with a court order on probable cause. While it wasn’t under Rule 41, it was clearly covered by good faith under § 2703. United States v. Garcia, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Good faith exception applies to applications for CSLI
The good faith exception applies to applications for CSLI. United States v. Corona, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 106398 (D. Neb. June 23, 2014): Notwithstanding the sufficiency of the search warrant issued by Judge Gossett, or any theoretical ramifications behind distinguishing … Continue reading
ID: Search of second two cell phones just prior to warrant issuing was inevitable discovery
Defendant had three cell phones and the police had a search warrant for one based on its location because defendant’s rape victim said she believed there was a video of her on the phone. When the others were discovered, other … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Strong ether odor big factor in PC for a meth lab
The Eighth Circuit has long held that the odor of ether is a strong factor in probable cause for a methamphetamine lab. Here, the affidavit for the search warrant recounted many other factors in his past drug history. At the … Continue reading
CA8: Pre-Jardines dog search at the door saved by Davis good faith; Jardines had been already argued
A drug dog alerted at defendant’s door. After the motion to suppress was filed, but before it was heard, Jardines was decided. Because Eighth Circuit precedent allowed the use of a dog at the door prior to Jardines, the Davis … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Pre-Riley search incident of cell phone saved by Davis GFE
Pre-Riley search incident of cell phone was valid in the Fifth Circuit under the Davis good faith exception. The defendant’s trial concluded eight days before Riley was decided, and he raised the issue. United States v. Spears, 2014 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
WaPo: Riley won, but will Riley benefit from it?
WaPo: Riley won, but will Riley benefit from it? by Orin Kerr: The Supreme Court gave a big victory to criminal defendants last week when it held in Riley v. California that the police need a warrant to search a … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: GFE applies to overbreadth questions, too
A child pornography warrant was not overbroad as to the computers and a Dropbox account. Even it if was, the offending portion would be severed. Here, nothing was seized under the allegedly overbroad phrase. And, even if it was, the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: The day after Riley, Davis GFE saves a warrantless cell phone search despite no controlling case; this is just wrong
In February, the USMJ found the warrantless search of defendant’s cell phone unreasonable, but in Davis good faith [despite the lack of controlling law in support?]. The day after Riley, the USDJ finds that the search of a cell phone … Continue reading
Cato: Police Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse (re: Heien v. North Carolina)
Cato: Police Ignorance of the Law Is No Excuse (re: Hein v. North Carolina) by Ilya Shapiro: To execute any search or seizure, a police officer must reasonably suspect that a crime has been or is being committed based on … Continue reading
OH5: Not necessary to have issuing magistrate at suppression hearing as witness; what does that add?
The trial court didn’t abuse its discretion in quashing the subpoena for testimomy from the issuing magistrate because it would add little or nothing to the suppression hearing. State v. McElfresh, 2014-Ohio-2605, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 2549 (5th Dist. June … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Failure to sign affidavit for SW after being sworn not a Fourth Amendment violation
The failure of the officer to sign the affidavit after he was sworn did not void the warrant. It actually was issued on “oath or affirmation.” United States v. Williamson, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77703 (D. Kan. March 18, 2014), … Continue reading
D.S.D.: “Good faith is not a magic lamp for police officers to rub whenever they find themselves in trouble.”
Warrantless entry was not “sanitized” by an ex post facto search warrant. “‘Good faith is not a magic lamp for police officers to rub whenever they find themselves in trouble.’” Leon involved no police misconduct; this case does. United States … Continue reading
KS: Failure to corroborate anonymous informants was a complete lack of PC for GFE
A police car was stolen and left in a ditch apparently with blood and hair left on it. Three anonymous calls linked defendant to the theft. He first agreed to come in and give samples and then didn’t show. A … Continue reading
D.C.Cir. finds good faith exception applies to warrant, and probable cause was not even considered
The reliability of the informant’s tale does not need to be decided here because the good faith exception applies [without a word of why]. United States v. Matthews, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 10522 (D.C. Cir. June 6, 2014). Defendant in … Continue reading
TX11 declines to follow Davis good faith exception for Jones GPS violation
A GPS device installed on mere reasonable suspicion with a court order was invalid under Jones. Texas’s limited good faith exception does not recognize the Davis good faith exception. State v. Jackson, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 5861 (Tex. App.–-Eastland May … Continue reading
OH8: Negligent dispatcher reported car as stolen that wasn’t; dispatcher’s negligence not attributable to searching officer
A negligent dispatcher reported the vehicle the juvenile was in as stolen, and it was stopped and searched. The information turned out to be wrong. Still, the search of the car was in the officer’s good faith reliance on the … Continue reading