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Recent Posts
- CA8: Def’s 20 prior arrests helped show voluntariness of consent
- TX1: No standing to challenge seizure of ketamine off co-def, but PC was lacking for his own arrest
- KS: 13 days pole camera surveillance violated no REP
- E.D.Va.: WaPo reporter’s SW was overbroad and 1A protected
- CAAF: GFE applies to cell phone’s geolocation data because of substantial basis for the search authorization
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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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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)
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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: GPS / Tracking Data
PA: GPS tracker and audio recorder worn by CI for safety reasons not prohibited by Jones or 4A
The CI had a recorder and GPS tracking device placed on him for his safety while he was riding with the defendant. This is not a “tracking device” under state statute or Jones because it wasn’t planted on defendant’s property, … Continue reading
CA4: Unlawfully placing GPS on def’s car was flagrant 4A violation; no attenuation found
The government unlawfully placed a GPS device on defendant’s car and two days later stopped him. It argued in the district court a lack of standing, which prevailed there, and then conceded they were wrong on appeal. The constitutional violation … Continue reading
WI: GPS warrant is not subject to execution in 5 days requirement because it is for information not something physical
Because placement of a GPS device gathers information and not something physical or digital or a document, it is not subject to the execution in five days requirement of state law. State v. Pinder, 2018 WI 106, 2018 Wisc. LEXIS … Continue reading
NC reverse to satellite monitoring sex offender conditions for lack of findings
“The trial court ordered Defendant Aaron Lee Gordon to enroll in lifetime satellite-based monitoring following his eventual release from prison. Defendant appeals. Because the State cannot establish at this time that Defendant’s submission to satellite-based monitoring will constitute a reasonable … Continue reading
Ars Technica: Cheese danish shipping, warrantless GPS trackers, and a border doctrine challenge
Ars Technica: Cheese danish shipping, warrantless GPS trackers, and a border doctrine challenge BY Cyrus Farivar:
TN: Because a probation search doesn’t require PC, staleness of information is not an issue
A probation search does not require probable cause, so staleness is not an issue. State v. Ward, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 666 (Aug. 30, 2018). Defendant had a GPS put on his vehicle and thermal imaging of his building, … Continue reading
SC: GPS on a probationer has to be properly authenticated, and PO isn’t the way
Defendant was accused of robbing a Zaxby’s restaurant with a probationer wearing a GPS monitor. The probationer pled. Defendant went to trial, and the probation officer was used to authenticate the GPS information. It was inadequate. However, the court applies … Continue reading
CA8: Gratuitously drawing weapons after initial stop was unreasonable
The initial drawing of weapons at the beginning of a stop was not unreasonable under all the facts. Doing it again gratuitously without apparent justification was unreasonable. Wilson v. Lamp, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 24386 (8th Cir. Aug. 28, 2018). … Continue reading
NC: Failure to object in trial court to satellite monitoring of sex offender was waiver
Defendant didn’t object in the trial court to his satellite monitoring condition of his sentence as a violation of the Fourth Amendment, so it can’t be reviewed on appeal. State v. Lindsey, 2018 N.C. App. LEXIS 747 (Aug. 8, 2018). … Continue reading
CA2: Def wore GPS for two years for parole, but parole officers turned over monitoring to feds; monitoring not unreasonable
Defendant was on state parole and wore a GPS ankle monitor for two years. Parole turned over monitoring to the feds who monitored him to see what he was doing. The district court suppressed (United States v. Lambus, 251 F. … Continue reading
CA3: NJ bail reform act doesn’t violate 4A or 8A
New Jersey’s bail reform act which shifts emphasis away from money bail to other restraints and conditions to assure release and return to court does not violate the Fourth Amendment. Not all restraints are unreasonable, given a probable cause finding … Continue reading
OH9: ER’s blood draw for medical diagnosis didn’t require compliance with statute on DWI blood draws
Defendant was in a fatal accident and taken to the ER. The state trooper there tried to get him to consent to a blood test, and he declined. While the officer went to get a search warrant for this blood, … Continue reading
CA9: Prior illegal entry into home doesn’t void subsequent SW if observations removed from SW affidavit
Assuming, without deciding, the warrantless entry into defendant’s home was invalid, there still was probable cause for issuance of the search warrant based on the remainder of the affidavit, excising the product of the prior entry. Inclusion of information from … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: 28 days of warrantless GPS tracking of a boat suppressed under Jones
Defendant’s boat was adrift off West Palm Beach, Florida for a few hours when the Coast Guard found him and boarded the boat. It was towed to the Coast Guard station and a border search was conducted. Nothing was found, … Continue reading
SC: Failure to register offense didn’t justify electronic monitoring condition under Grady
Defendant was convicted of a sex offense in 1979. In 2011 he was convicted of a sex offender registration offense. An electronic monitoring condition was unreasonable and a violation of the Fourth Amendment on this record under Grady v. North … Continue reading
NC: On remand from Grady, realtime satellite based monitoring of a sex offender on release was unreasonable under 4A
On remand from Grady v. North Carolina, 135 S. Ct. 1368, 191 L. Ed. 2d 459 (2015), the state failed to prove that continuous realtime satellite based monitoring of defendant was unreasonable. The lack of a warrant requirement without any … Continue reading
OH9: GPS tracking previously imposed for parole wasn’t a violation of 4A
GPS tracking as a condition of parole was based in substantial part on findings in a prior sentencing involving defendant, and that did not violate the Fourth Amendment in imposing those release conditions. That GPS information was used in this … Continue reading
CA10: Three CIs corroborated each other and were independently corroborated
The affidavit for the arrest warrant was based on three CIs who corroborated each other and which were independently corroborated by the police. A Franks challenge was included that a prior search resulted in finding drugs that were not mentioned … Continue reading
OH8: No standing in a package neither sent nor to be received by def
Defendant lacked standing to challenge the placing of the GPS tracking device on the package because she was neither the sender nor addressee of the package and demonstrated no reasonable expectation of privacy in the package. The police could validly … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: SW for premises for “other evidence of distribution” of drugs permitted search of def’s pockets
The search warrant was for “drugs, drug paraphernalia, owe sheets, cell phones, firearms, stolen merchandise, or other evidence of distribution of a controlled substance.” That permits a search of defendant’s pockets, and the cash found there was subject to potential … Continue reading