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- D.Utah: Minor time detours to writing up a traffic ticket didn’t unreasonable extend this stop; the dog was quickly on its way
- KY: Despite lack of nexus, SW sustained under GFE
- CO: DNA could be seized from trash
- CA8: Nebraska statute allowing SWs to cross state lines doesn’t violate 4A
- WA: Sweat patch as condition of release violated state constitution’s privacy provision
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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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General (many free):
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FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (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: Warrant execution
OH2: SW for BAC executed in 5 hrs was “as soon as possible”
The search warrant for a blood draw said it had to be within 3 hours [a statutory artifact] and as soon as possible, but it took 5. The trial court found it was executed as soon as possible, and that’s … Continue reading
N.-M.: Cell phone can’t be searched when it was directed to be brought to the place of SW execution
Having one’s cell phone on his person and being directed to come to the scene of the search under a military search authorization [equivalent to a search warrant] does not permit search and seizure of the phone under Summers and … Continue reading
TX5: Lack of a timely return doesn’t warrant suppression despite mandatory language of statute
A lack of return isn’t a basis for suppression. “Although the requirements set forth in this provision of the code of criminal procedure appears to be mandatory, courts have consistently held that ministerial violations of the search warrant statutes do … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Video of aftermath of execution of SW more prejudicial than relevant under Rule 403
In a civil case over a shooting of dogs during execution of a search warrant, the court rejects that the warrant was unreasonable but finds the bodycam of shooting the dogs and the aftermath irrelevant and inflammatory under Rule 403. … Continue reading
CA8: Presenting def with DNA SW after he lawyers up wasn’t attempt to reopen interrogation
Presenting defendant with a search warrant for DNA swabs during an interrogation after he lawyered up was a statement of fact and not an attempt to get him to talk again. Thus, Miranda not violated. United States v. Zephier, 2021 … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Brady violation included govt’s review of “raw state search warrant returns” disclosed during trial
The government disclosed an exculpatory document during trial and buried in a disclosure of previously disclosed information. “Astonishingly, even in its latest filings, the Government has informed the Court of yet another failure of disclosure in this case related to … Continue reading
CA1: Controlled buys were RS for a later stop
“Based on the previous controlled drug sales in which agents had seen Ochan participate — including the sale that day — agents had specific knowledge that Ochan sold drugs. From there, the sequence of events on the day of Tom’s … Continue reading
SD: Inverse condemnation doesn’t lie for damage caused by execution of SW
Surveying cases from other jurisdictions, the South Dakota Supreme Court decides that inverse condemnation claims do not lie under the state’s eminent domain provision ( “[p]rivate property shall not be taken for public use, or damaged, without just compensation[.]”) for damage to … Continue reading
IN: Cell phone seized under SW could be searched later than the deadline in the warrant
The state had the forfeiture claimant’s cell phone in hand, but didn’t actually search it within the limit of the warrant. This was reasonable, following Wolf v. State, 266 P.3d 1169, 1174 (Idaho Ct. App. 2011). Brown v. Eaton, 2021 … Continue reading
AL: A visitor to premises targeted by a SW who is more than a “transient visitor” is subject to search
Defendant was a visitor at a house that was searched under a warrant for drugs. Her purse was searched, too. “Because Powers was more than a ‘transient visitor’ at Moyers’s house and had a known relationship to the premises, and … Continue reading
WaPo: Slaying of FBI agents in Florida raises questions about tactics, intelligence
WaPo: Slaying of FBI agents in Florida raises questions about tactics, intelligence by Matt Zapotosky and Tom Jackman (“The shooter may have seen the agents through a doorbell camera before opening fire, officials said.”). Ring doorbell cameras are apparent. Others … Continue reading
M.D.N.C.: SW materials remain under seal
The government showed sufficient grounds to have the search warrant application remain under seal to protect the integrity of the investigation. United States ex rel. Childress v. Carolina Comprehensive Health Network, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18389 (M.D. N.C. Feb. 1, … Continue reading
GA: Paperwork during stop was returned and stop should have ended, but it didn’t
The stop was unreasonably extended for a dog sniff. The paperwork had been returned and they were told they were free to go. “Thus, the officers prolonged the traffic stop after the mission of the stop was completed in order … Continue reading
WA: Raiding wrong house stated claim under state tort of negligent law enforcement
Police raided the wrong house based on an uncorroborated CI. Under Washington’s tort of negligent law enforcement, plaintiff was awared $250,000 by the jury. Affirmed: “we hold that police executing a search warrant owe the same duty of reasonable care … Continue reading
D.Mass.: 15 month delay in getting SW for cell phone seized with PC was unreasonable, but GFE applies
The 15-month delay between seizure of a cell phone with probable cause is was unreasonable, applying United States v. Smith, 967 F.3d 198, 202 (2d Cir. 2020). However, the court finds that the good faith exception applies, and the court … Continue reading
CA6: CoA denied for federal defense counsel not pursuing claim SW violated state law
CoA denied for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim that defense counsel didn’t investigate the claim that the state court search warrant hadn’t been properly issued and then filed and was thus invalid. It wouldn’t be because there was essentially … Continue reading
MI: Separate SW for cell phone contents required when another potential crime discovered during search
Execution of a search warrant on a cell phone for one crime doesn’t permit a search of the cell phone for another crime. A separate warrant has to be obtained. The first warrant does not extinguish the owner’s reasonable expectation … Continue reading
D.V.I.: Not showing target a “particularized list” of things to be seized doesn’t justify exclusion
Failure to tell the target of a search warrant or his lawyer who showed up what’s being seized by showing the warrant itself doesn’t justify applying the exclusionary rule. The attachments incorporated into the affidavit were present at the scene … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Failure to produce SW at scene of search doesn’t violate Rule 41 or 4A
Failure to produce a search warrant at the time of the search doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment or Rule 41. Also, the search was particular. “In our case, a San Francisco Superior Court issued the search warrant, which federal ATF … Continue reading