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- D.Utah: Minor detours to writing up a traffic ticket didn’t unreasonably 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
D.Mass.: 17-day delay between seizure and SW was reasonable
“[T]he government’s seventeen-day delay between the warrantless seizure of Thompson’s property and the issuance of the search warrants was reasonable. The first factor favors the government because seventeen days—eleven of which were business days—is relatively short and far shorter than … Continue reading
MT: Search of electronics under SW needs to start by SW expiration, not be completed
The search warrant for numerous electronic devices (phones and tablets) was served within ten days but the search couldn’t be completed for longer than that. The grant of the motion to suppress because of the delay is reversed. The warrant … 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
S.D.N.Y.: No stay of execution of a computer and cell phone SW after def was indicted
Defendant was arrested in Malaysia and a computer and cell phones were seized. He was then indicted in NYC. The nine-day delay in getting a warrant was not unreasonable considering defendant was in custody and unable to use them. A … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Copying electronic device for delayed search is not per se unreasonable
In an electronic search, the government copied the device’s memory for later search, and the probable cause did not get stale during the delay. Because of the capacity of electronic devices, this is the most efficient manner of searching. United … Continue reading
CA8: Use of SWAT team for no-knock drug warrant not clearly established as unreasonable
The use of the SWAT team to execute a no-knock drug warrant was not clearly established to be unreasonable in 2017 when this happened. Davis v. City of Little Rock, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 30415 (8th Cir. Dec. 3, 2024):
Debra Cassens Weiss, Are police responsible for damaging home to oust suspect? Sotomayor and Gorsuch see important issue
Debra Cassens Weiss, Are police responsible for damaging home to oust suspect? Sotomayor and Gorsuch see important issue (ABAJ Nov. 26, 2024) (“The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday refused to decide whether police must compensate a Texas homeowner for damages … Continue reading
D.Utah: Positive CODIS hit justifies SW for DNA for confirmation
“Contrary to Defendant’s view, the positive CODIS hit did not ‘only amount[] to an investigative lead at best ….’ It is well-established that a blood match from a reputable, national database that links a defendant to a crime scene establishes … Continue reading
Reason: Cop who fired blindly into Breonna Taylor’s home is convicted of violating her constitutional rights
Reason: Cop who fired blindly into Breonna Taylor’s home is convicted of violating her constitutional rights by Jacob Sullum (“Former Louisville detective Brett Hankison was convicted of violating Taylor’s Fourth Amendment rights during the deadly 2020 raid.”):
CA6: Shooting at officers executing SW justified 6 level USSG increase
Shooting at SWAT officers executing a warrant justified a 6 level Sentencing Guideline enhancement. United States v. Weaver, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 27036 (6th Cir. Oct. 24, 2024). The affidavit for warrant describing two CI’s buys from defendant at his … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Four-month delay in searching lawfully seized cell phone here not unreasonable
Four month delay in searching cell phones after lawfully seizing them was not unreasonable. “Defendant relies primarily on United States v. Smith, a Second Circuit case. … There, in assessing whether a thirty-one day delay between police seizing a tablet … Continue reading
M.D.Ga.: Cell phone search started before SW’s completion date isn’t unreasonable
The fact execution of the warrant on defendant’s cell phone took longer than the time limitation in the warrant doesn’t justify suppression if the search process started before its expiration. United States v. Hewlett, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189371 (M.D. … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Even if electronic search protocol is a const’l requirement, GFE applies
The lack of an electronics search protocol in the warrant, even if it was constitutionally required, doesn’t even have to be decided because of the good faith exception. “Okafor suggests that the Constitution might nonetheless demand that a warrant specify … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Electronic devices seized in California could be searched in Pennsylvania
Electronic devices seized in California could be searched in Pennsylvania. United States v. Carter, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168014 (W.D. Pa. Sep. 18, 2024). Under established precedent, the smell of marijuana alone coming from defendant’s car permits a search of … Continue reading
CA6: Minor property damage from executing a SW doesn’t make it 4A unreasonable
Minor property damage from executing a search warrant does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Carnett v. Chester Cty., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 22720 (6th Cir. Sep. 5, 2024):
CA6: Some reasonable property damage during an arrest is not subject to 5A takings clause
As long as the police were reasonable in their actions, some damages to an arrestee’s property is not subject to the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause. Slaybaugh v. Rutherford Cty., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 22277 (6th Cir. Sep. 3, 2024):
CA11: Week’s delay in getting SW for cell phone was reasonable; def in custody and didn’t ask for it back.
The warrant for defendant’s cell phone wasn’t issued for a week, but the delay was reasonable. He was in jail with a diminished privacy interest, and he didn’t ask for it back. United States v. Watson, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Without showing no PC on remainder of affidavit, Franks challenge fails
Defendant’s Franks challenge fails because he doesn’t show that the affidavit does not show probable cause on the remainder. United States v. Chappell, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140479 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 7, 2024).* The officers apparently didn’t know that the … Continue reading
MT: SCA grants state courts authority to issue SWs for out-of-state data
Because the internet uniformly crosses state lines, the Stored Communications Act, 18 U.S.C. § 2703(a), grants state courts additional jurisdiction over search warrants for information that is stored out of state. State v. LeVine, 2024 MT 169 (Aug. 6, 2024):
Reason: The FBI Raided This Innocent Woman’s House. Will She Ever Get Justice?
Reason: The FBI Raided This Innocent Woman’s House. Will She Ever Get Justice? by Billy Binion (“The FBI detonated a flash grenade in the house and ripped the door from its hinges in a raid to arrest a man, Joseph … Continue reading