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Recent Posts
- CA6: Impeaching def’s trial testimony about the search of his property using his proffer agreement was prejudicial, but harmless
- D.S.D.: Tribal officers governed by 4A and Indian Civil Rights Act
- CA9: Knock-and-announce failure doesn’t lead to suppression
- D.Minn.: Rehashing 4A argument to USMJ isn’t a proper objection to the R&R
- OH5: Drug dog officer’s touching car to redirect dog wasn’t a search
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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--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) -
“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)
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Category Archives: Admissibility of evidence
CA6: Impeaching def’s trial testimony about the search of his property using his proffer agreement was prejudicial, but harmless
Impeaching defendant’s trial testimony about the search of his property using his proffer agreement was prejudicial, but it was harmless on this record. They could have cross-examined without it. United States v. Grogan, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 2354 (6th Cir. … Continue reading
AR: Questions about legality of search before jury properly excluded under 403
Where the trial court denied the pretrial motion to suppress, cross-examination of the officer about the legality of the search was properly denied on objection by the state as potentially misleading to the jury. Damon v. State, 2025 Ark. App. … Continue reading
CA8: Drugs on person admissible under 404(b) despite being outside indictment
Drugs on defendant’s person at the time of arrest were admissible under 404(b) despite being outside the time of the indictment. United States v. Hodo, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 1796 (8th Cir. Jan. 28, 2025). Defendant was on supervised release … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Alleged mishandling of drugs during execution of SW didn’t make them inadmissible
Even if the officers (mis)handled the drugs during the search, they’d still come into evidence at trial. United States v. McDonald, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11844 (N.D. Ohio Jan. 22, 2025). The trial court suppressed this cell phone search as … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Anonymous report of man threatening others with a gun didn’t provide RS
The anonymous report about a man threatening others in Queens adequately described defendant but it provided nothing to show that there was a crime in the offing. The stop and search was without reasonable suspicion. “On this record, it is … Continue reading
D.R.I.: Motion in limine about SW is denied; govt can refer to search in trial
Defendant’s motion in limine about whether a search warrant was utilized is denied. The government can refer incidentally to the search. United States v. Djan, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8285 (D.R.I. Jan. 10, 2025). Officers had reasonable suspicion for the … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Photographs could be taken during execution of SW
Photographs could be taken during execution of a search warrant. United States v. Schultz, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 236848 (D. Minn. Dec. 2, 2024), adopted, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 4918 (D. Minn. Jan. 10, 2025). In a case involving whether … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Officer seizing notebooks couldn’t authenticate them as exhibits at trial
The seizing officer could not authenticate defendant’s notebooks as evidence at the trial. He had no knowledge about how they came into being. United States v. Sherman, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5696 (E.D. Mich. Jan. 12, 2025). Defendant’s admission at … Continue reading
IA: Rental inspection ordinance not facially unconstitutional; administrative warrants required
The city’s rental property inspection ordinance does not fail under the state constitution’s search and seizure clause because it is not facially void in all circumstances. Administrative warrants can be obtained when there’s a proper showing. Singer v. City of … Continue reading
IN: Facebook SW production authenticated records for trial
The search warrant production helped authenticate defendant’s Facebook records for trial. Anderson v. State, 2024 Ind. App. LEXIS 351 (Dec. 20, 2024). The fog line statute requires a driver to stay “as nearly as practicable entirely within a single lane” … Continue reading
OH10: Foundation for Facebook exhibits provided by seizing officer
The evidentiary foundation for Facebook messages under rule 901 was established by the officer obtaining the Facebook warrant. State v. Lathon, 2024-Ohio-5886, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 4539 (10th Dist. Dec. 18, 2024). Officers had neither probable cause nor reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Multiple counts of things seized under SW not severed
In a motion to sever counts for trial, it was significant that the stuff was seized under the same search warrant. United States v. Lewis, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217086 (D.D.C. Dec. 2, 2024). There was probable cause and nexus … Continue reading
D.Nev.: In a § 242 prosecution, defense expert can’t testify to PC
In a § 242 prosecution for violating civil rights, the defense proposed expert is barred from opinion on whether probable cause existed for the arrest. “Whether a given set of facts constitutes probable cause to arrest or charge for a … Continue reading
MA: Three SWs building on each other to ultimate PC
Here there were three search warrants. The second built on the first, and the third on the second, leading to a computer search that was founded on defendant disposing of a body. “When considering the foregoing details together, there was … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Seizure of def’s car keys from his friend was without PC
“The seizure of the keys from Williams’s friend was unlawful because the officers did not have probable cause to believe that the keys were evidence of a crime and the plain view doctrine did not apply.” Motion to suppress granted … Continue reading
OR: Backpack’s inventory on admission to treatment facility was reasonable
Police could inventory defendant’s backpack when he was picked up and transported to a treatment facility. Inventory was provided for by local ordinance. The same policies apply to inventory even if defendant isn’t in jail. State v. Wilcox, 335 Or … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: There was PC before the dog stuck his nose through the window
The dog sticking his nose through the window was a search, but the officers already had probable cause by then. Therefore, no exclusionary. United States v. Newberry, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 195271 (N.D. Iowa Oct. 28, 2024). On the government’s … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: In a criminal trial against a police office for excessive force during a raid, is 404(b) evidence of other bad searches admissible?
Defendant is a police officer charged with deprivation of rights from firing a gun into a window with blinds drawn during execution of a search warrant. This is about his mistaken belief that an AR-15 was firing from inside, and … Continue reading