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- Bloomberg Law: Texas’ 100-Plus Year Investigatory Tool Ruled Unconstitutional
- D.Minn.: State law permits POs to conduct “unannounced visits” and that includes unannounced warrantless searches
- E.D.Va.: Three images from ALPR in 30 days wasn’t enough for a Carpenter violation
- CA5: The 4A doesn’t limit the number of officers that show up for an administrative search
- D.Idaho: The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations
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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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (27,400+ on WordPress as of 7/23/24) -
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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: Exclusionary rule
D.Idaho: The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations
The exclusionary rule does not apply in pretrial release revocations. Indeed, previously suppressed evidence can be considered on the factors for release. United States v. Cuevas, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185724 (D. Idaho Oct. 9, 2024). “Assuming without deciding that … Continue reading
CA10: State officers investigating murder on an Indian reservation without jurisdiction does not lead to suppression of evidence
State law enforcement officers investigated a murder on the Muscogee Creek Reservation which at the time was not necessarily legal but two years later was not. The murder was prosecuted in federal court. There is no dispute the officers lacked … Continue reading
CT: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases, here one over animal neglect
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to civil cases, here an action over who gets possession of neglected animals. State ex rel. Dunn v. Connelly, 2024 Conn. App. LEXIS 268 (Oct. 8, 2024). This is a DUI on federal property. Even … Continue reading
CO: Unlawfully obtained cell phone PIN used to search phone required suppression
The police unlawfully obtained defendant’s cell phone’s 6-digit PIN number to access his phone after a failed “brute force attack” attempting to get into the phone. That required suppression of the cell phone. People v. d’Estree, 2024 COA 106, 2024 … Continue reading
CA6: New evidence of possible Franks violation for successor habeas not adequate to possibly alter outcome
2255 petitioner’s successor petition claims newly discovered evidence from an FOIA response that casts doubt on the affidavit for the search warrant obtained in 2011. “So Duval has not shown that the search warrant affidavit contained a false statement. Nor … Continue reading
AK: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases in Alaska. Alaska R.E. 412. O’Brien v. Delaplain, 2024 Alas. LEXIS 99 n.35(Sep. 27, 2024). The officer’s observations on a table near the door from outside the dwelling during a knock-and-talk provided … Continue reading
PA: The Rule of Law here counsels against suppression for a jurisdictional violation
A stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction in violation of statute should not lead to suppression of evidence. The rule of law counsels against suppression. The jurisdictional statutes are for accountabiliy. Commonwealth v. Eakin, 2024 PA Super 222, 2024 Pa. Super. … Continue reading
D.Conn.: LEO accessing public social media accounts doesn’t implicate 4A
A prison security official’s accessing a potential visitor’s social media accounts to determine whether the visitor is some kind of security threat doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. Lawrence v. Zack, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161377 (D. Conn. Sep. 9, 2024). … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Fictitious tags stop justifies SI
Based on circuit authority, a stop and arrest for fictitious tags justifies a search incident on the driver. United States v. Jones, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 161352 (E.D. Wis. Sep. 9, 2024), quoting United States v. Travis, 2023 U.S. App. … Continue reading
MA: Investigative equal protection claim can be enforced by DA’s discovery failure
Defendant raised an equal protection claim about discovery of ShapChat search warrants. Defense counsel stated that an informal survey of defense lawyers handling about 1/4th of the cases in Suffolk County showed that 85% of the warrants were against black … Continue reading
NM: Def’s new crime after arrest not to be excluded
“We agree with the Court of Appeals that the new crime exception to the exclusionary rule applies and we agree with its analysis of the issue. The exclusionary rule applies only where its deterrence benefits outweigh its societal costs. Strieff, … Continue reading
HI: Failure to litigate application of Posse Commitatus Act was IAC under state law
Defense counsel was ineffective for not raising the Posse Comitatus Act where his offense was just outside the Pearl Harbor base and the military was the first to respond. Other courts disagree, but the state exclusionary rule shows that there … Continue reading
KS: Ptf’s criminal case reversed and dismissed for a 4A violation was not factually innocent for wrongful conviction compensation
Plaintiff had his conviction reversed for an illegal search. On remand, the prosecutor dismissed. He sought compensation for his unlawful conviction. He gets no relief. State law only provides for compensation for the factually innocent, and that’s not this. In … Continue reading
MI: Unreasonable mistake of law justifies exclusion
Defendant was stopped based on what the court previously found was a lack of reasonable suspicion from an unreasonable application of law. It previously remanded to the court of appeals to determine whether the exclusionary rule should apply. The court … Continue reading
D.P.R.: A cell phone found with drugs had its incriminating nature immediately apparent for plain view
A cell phone found with drugs had its incriminating nature immediately apparent for plain view. United States v. Fernandez-Santos, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 121462 (D.P.R. July 8, 2024). In an illegal entry case, identification evidence allegedly illegally seized is not … Continue reading
LA4: Exclusionary rule not applied in civil service hearing
Applying a balancing test, the court concludes that the exclusionary rule should not apply in a civil service hearing. (However, the punishment for the offense of allegedly drinking on the job based on a BAC test of .03 was excessive.) … Continue reading
W.D.Wis.: Jurisdictional issue in SW wasn’t enough to suppress here
In a domestic terrorism investigation, USMJs have the authority to issue search warrants outside their court’s jurisdiction. Defendant disputes that this investigation was not that, but it’s close enough. Even if the officers were mistaken, the court won’t suppress an … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: State knock-and-announce statute, if it applies at all, doesn’t confer standing on an alleged guest
Plaintiff said she was an overnight guest at the house searched and thus had standing, except that was never proved. “None of those facts are present here, as there is no record evidence showing that James had personal belongings in … Continue reading