September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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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Section 1983 Blog -
"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: Probable cause
D.Neb.: CI report led to controlled buy and that was PC
A CI with a reliable track record reported defendant was selling ecstacy. That alone was likely at least reasonable suspicion, but then police used him to make a controlled buy, and that was probable cause for the stop. United States … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Uncorroborated CI, criminal history, and inconclusive trash pull didn’t support SW for house; no GFE
“Pending before the court is Defendant’s motion to suppress 48 pounds of methamphetamine, $41,000 in cash, and all other evidence seized during a search of his residence by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (‘MDENT’). I find that neither the … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Out past curfew during BLM protests was PC for stop
Officers seeing defendant driving during a BLM protest curfew in June 2020 in Louisville had probable cause for the stop. United States v. Shrivers, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77047 (W.D. Ky. Apr. 21, 2021).* A CI with a reliable track … Continue reading
W.D.Mich.: 1983 suit over state detention without bond barred by Younger abstention
Plaintiff detainee’s 1983 case he was being held without bond in a state prosecution is barred by Younger absention. Snowden v. Schipper, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76275 (W.D. Mich. Apr. 20, 2021). “Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable … Continue reading
WI: Officer inquiring of pill bottle in plain view during traffic stop did not unreasonably extend stop
Officer in a traffic stop inquiring of a pill bottle in plain view wasn’t unreasonable under Rodriguez. State v. Crone, 2021 Wisc. App. LEXIS 192 (Apr. 20, 2021). The officer’s sticking his head inside defendant’s car and smelling marijuana was … Continue reading
OH12: EPIC check on passenger exceeded permissible bounds of traffic stop
EPIC check for picture of passenger exceeded the permissible basis of the traffic stop. There was no reason for it. Motion to suppress properly granted. State v. Shaibi, 2021-Ohio-1352, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1323 (12th Dist. Apr. 19, 2021). Police … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Officer’s reach into car was search, but justified by automobile exception
The reach into defendant’s car was a search, but it was justified by the automobile exception. United States v. Joyner, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68324 (E.D. N.C. Mar. 15, 2021). Defendant’s stop wasn’t unreasonably extended. “Although Officer Hambrock walked back … Continue reading
S.D.Ala.: Younger doctrine precludes ptf’s 4A claim over pending state criminal case
Plaintiff’s false arrest claim claiming, inter alia, a Fourth Amendment violation, two years into his pending state criminal case was barred by the Younger doctrine. Sweeting v. Garrett, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66705 (S.D. Ala. Apr. 6, 2021). Under Washington’s … Continue reading
OH12: Stop of bicyclist for no light produced arrest warrant; valid under Strieff
Defendant was stopped on his bicycle for no headlight, and that led to finding an arrest warrant for him. Under Strieff, the legality of the stop becomes almost irrelevant to the search incident for the arrest warrant as attenuated. State … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: SW for drug proceeds properly included jewelry it could have been converted to
A search warrant for drug proceeds properly included jewelry that the officer, in his experience, believed drug traffickers converted cash to. United States v. Thomas, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65553 (W.D. Pa. Apr. 5, 2021). The officer here saw a … Continue reading
CA3: There was PC on the totality of the SW affidavit despite its alleged “slapdash” format; courts don’t grade warrant requests except for totality
There is probable cause on the totality of the affidavit. Defendant challenges the lack of order and “slapdash” nature of the showing. Courts don’t grade warrant applications for style, just substance. United States v. Wilson, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 9619 … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: No possessory interest in UM property ptf had for access to buildings
Plaintiff did not have a sufficient possessory interest in property of the University of Michigan that he’d been entrusted with. It belonged to the University who could recapture it. Hoeltzel v. Pillsbury, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62371 (E.D. Mich. Feb. … Continue reading
MS: Taking car key from DUI detainee wasn’t a custodial interrogation; it was reasonable to maintain status quo
“Johnson argues that by taking his keys, Parker transformed the routine traffic stop into a custodial interrogation. We disagree. The traffic stop was the equivalent of a ‘Terry stop.’ Berkemer, 468 U.S. at 439. ‘During a Terry stop, officers are … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Calling def to scene of SW execution does not permit search of def’s phone in SW for house
Defendant came to meet the police at their request after talking to them on his cell phone. They had probable cause to believe that the phone had evidence on it. Since he came in without the phone on him, it … Continue reading
CA6: Driving from home to scene of drug deal is PC and nexus for the home
“To obtain a search warrant under the Fourth Amendment, the police must have “probable cause” that the ‘place’ they seek to search contains the ‘things’ they seek to seize. U.S. Const. amend. IV. Applying this test, we have repeatedly held … Continue reading
CA9: CP SW affidavit didn’t have to exclude possibility of IP spoofing to show PC
Affiant didn’t have to exclude the possibility of IP spoofing in a child pornography case search warrant request to show probable cause . Moreover, it wouldn’t be apparent until the forensic analysis if there was. United States v. Saterstad, 2021 … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: SW for email on devices as evidence of wire fraud permits seizure and search of the devices
Where the crux of a wire fraud is provable by email, a search warrant for defendant’s electronic devices was reasonable because cell phones and computers would likely have email access on them. That was just common sense, and the affiant … Continue reading
D.Utah: Exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in false arrest civil cases
The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in false arrest civil cases. Linin v. Neff, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51836 (D. Utah. Mar. 18, 2021). [In fact, it may be the crux of the case.] Probable cause was shown for a search … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Motion to suppress SW has to plead and proffer that GFE doesn’t apply
Defendant had a duty to address the good faith exception in his motion and amended motion to suppress a search under a warrant, but he did not. United States v. Lyons, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48780 (W.D. La. Feb. 17, … Continue reading
NY, Westchester Co.: NY’s Red Flag law doesn’t violate 2A, 4A, 5A, 6A, or 14A
As to the Fourth: “This Court finds that the search conducted herein pursuant to the ERPO statute was reasonable. Contrary to respondent’s assertion, the petitioner provided a sworn statement as to the basis for his belief that respondent was recently … Continue reading